Dessert Recipes

Grandma's red velvet cake: a true vintage Southern recipe with cocoa, buttermilk, and vinegar reacting with baking soda to give the cake its tender, tangy crumb. Two 9-inch layers, ready in 45 minutes.

Granny Smith applesauce tarts with golden hot-water pastry shells filled with honey-sweetened, lemon-brightened chunky applesauce. A lighter, old-fashioned dessert.

Hazelnut double fudge pie with cocoa, chocolate chips, hazelnut liqueur, and cream baked in a flaky shell. Dense, wet-brownie texture with intense fudge richness. Slice thin, it's that decadent.

Soft honey carrot cookies with shredded carrots, nutmeg, and real honey for natural sweetness. Shaped into 1-inch balls for a tender, cake-like bite.

Chewy honey date cookies with chopped nuts, baked in a sheet pan, cut into strips, and rolled in powdered sugar. No butter needed, just honey, eggs, and dates.

Honey pecan snaps spiced with cloves, cinnamon, and ginger, rolled in sugar and baked golden. Crisp edges with a chewy, honey-sweet center.

Rich cocoa chocolate cake with buttermilk and boiling water, frosted with a fluffy marshmallow icing. Triple-sifted dry ingredients and a double boiler frosting make this a showstopper.

Glossy chocolate icing made with butter, sugar, evaporated milk, and chocolate morsels. Boils in one minute, sets up firm on warm brownies. Just 4 ingredients.

Jeweled walnut cookie bars studded with spiced gumdrops and chopped walnuts. A chewy, colorful bar cookie with no butter or oil, baked in a square pan and cut into bars.

Johnny Appleseed cake made with whole wheat flour, applesauce, honey, raisins, and walnuts. An egg-free spice cake sweetened naturally without refined sugar.

Jumbles are old-fashioned filled sandwich cookies, two rolled rounds enclosing a smear of grape jelly with three peek-a-boo windows cut into the top. Vintage pantry treat.

Kalyan made this for us while visiting for Christmas. He called it "paravannam."

Light-as-air meringue kisses and edible shells made from egg whites, powdered sugar, and almond extract. Fill the shells with whipped cream and fresh fruit.

Lemon cats' paw cookies piped from almond dough with lemon zest and vanilla, sandwiched and dipped in dark chocolate. An elegant bakery-style cookie worth the effort.

Little boats in sauce are old-fashioned pastry dumplings shaped like boats, baked in a sweet brown sugar and molasses sauce. A nostalgic Canadian dessert.

Individual baked chocolate fig puddings with cocoa, stewed California figs, and vanilla, topped warm with marshmallows and walnut halves. A vintage dessert with old-fashioned charm.