Dessert Recipes

Boiled cocoa cookies: no-bake oatmeal drop cookies made on the stovetop with cocoa, sugar, milk, and vanilla. Old-school fudgy bites that set on waxed paper in minutes.

Double chocolate cream cheese cake with a coffee-spiked cocoa batter and a tangy cream cheese chocolate chip swirl baked right in. A one-pan dessert that disappears at potlucks.

Chocolate carrot cake made with whole wheat flour, cocoa powder, grated carrots, and cinnamon. Egg-free, dairy-free, and naturally moist from the carrots and boiling water.

Serve with vanilla icecream or a dollop of best available double cream

Peanut butter brownies baked in a jelly roll pan with a melted chocolate chip topping spread over the warm bars and a crunch of chopped peanuts. Easy bar cookies built for a crowd.

Simple eggless spice raisin cake with cinnamon, nutmeg, and plump raisins. A pantry-staple loaf cake with no eggs, no milk, ready in an hour. Great for surprise visitors.

Almond paste macaroons studded with coconut and walnuts, piped into rosettes and crowned with candied cherries. Chewy, fragrant Italian-style cookies for the holiday tin.

Moist banana layer cake studded with grated white chocolate and topped with a banana-white chocolate frosting. Use up those overripe bananas in style.

Cream cheese marbled brownies with chopped nuts. A sweet chocolate batter swirled with tangy cheesecake filling, topped with more brownie batter, and zigzagged into marble. Old-fashioned bakery classic.

Crustless fudge pie with just seven pantry ingredients. A brownie-meets-flourless-cake dessert with a crackly top and dense, fudgy middle. Ready in under an hour, no pie crust required.

Truffled chocolate cake made by layering store-bought pound cake with a rich chocolate ganache frosting. Just four ingredients and no baking needed.

Different apple pie made with orange juice, margarine, and sugar cooked into a citrusy glaze before filling the shell. A unique twist on classic apple pie with a bright, tangy filling.

Singing cake, a heritage spice-and-chocolate Bundt loaded with raisins, nuts, strawberry jam, and unsweetened chocolate, in a buttermilk batter lifted by whipped egg whites. Named for the hissing sound it makes baking.

This co-winner in the filled-cookie category from Gerry Cofta of Milwaukee has a great, rich flavor in the filling.

Frozen pumpkin mousse ice cream pie layered over vanilla ice cream in a buttery gingersnap crust, finished with caramel-pumpkin topping. A make-ahead Thanksgiving dessert.

Pineapple lemon fruit filling for Japanese fruitcake, cooked custard-style in a double boiler with toasted pecans. The signature Southern holiday cake glue.