Dessert Recipes

Mocha crumb cake built on a boxed cake mix spiked with cold coffee and warm spices, finished with a broiled brown sugar granola topping. A quick-to-mix sheet cake with bakery-style crunch.

Mocha mousse made with semi-sweet and unsweetened chocolate, brewed coffee, cocoa powder, and whipped cream. A triple-chocolate coffee dessert that's airy, rich, and intensely dark.

Old-fashioned molasses cake baked in a 9-inch square pan with raisins, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. Lard and boiling water give it that dense, sticky pioneer-kitchen crumb.

Molasses whoopie pies: cake-like ginger molasses cookies sandwiched with a sweet ginger-molasses buttercream filling. The Pennsylvania Dutch lunchbox classic with a warm-spice twist on the chocolate original.

Molletes are traditional Mexican cookies made with cornmeal, butter, egg yolks, and pine nuts. Lightly sweet with a sandy, crumbly texture from the cornmeal.

Buttery spritz-style cookies flavored with vanilla, lemon and almond extracts. Tender, golden and ready to be pressed, cut, or tinted for holiday cookie trays. A family classic with a triple extract twist.

Old-fashioned strawberry shortcake biscuits made with shortening, folded with melted butter, and cut into diamonds. Flaky, tender, and baked at high heat.

Double chocolate peanut butter cookies with melted semisweet chocolate swirled into peanut butter dough, loaded with milk chocolate chips, and topped with a whole peanut. Thick, fudgy, and bakery-sized.

A light, airy baked cheesecake made fluffy by folding in whipped egg whites, with tangy sour cream, cream cheese, lemon, and vanilla over a graham crust. The dessert worth saying yes to.

Spritz dainties for the cookie press, made with brown sugar instead of white for a deeper butterscotch note. Buttery shaped cookies brushed with egg white wash and decorated for the holidays.

Fresh strawberry pie with whole berries standing in glossy cooked syrup. The cornstarch glaze sets clear and ruby-red around the fruit, then whipped topping finishes the slice. Diner-style summer pie.

Low-fat brownies made with cottage cheese instead of butter, egg whites instead of whole eggs, and real unsweetened chocolate. Fudgy and rich with far less guilt.

No-oil spice cake using a box cake mix with applesauce replacing the oil and cinnamon for warm spice. A 5-ingredient, lower-fat cake hack that stays moist.

No-egg applesauce cake with cocoa, warm spices, raisins, and nuts. Three cups of hot applesauce replace the eggs and most of the fat for an incredibly moist, spiced sheet cake.

Nut refrigerator cookies (icebox cookies) with brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and chopped nuts. Slice-and-bake dough that chills overnight and yields crisp, buttery cookies with caramel notes.

Oatmeal cookies with orange zest, walnuts, and yogurt for a lighter, citrusy twist. Chewy, nutty cookies with brown sugar and a hint of orange in every bite.