Dessert Recipes

Single-crust maple pie with cream cheese pastry, thin-sliced Granny Smith apples, and maple-sour cream topping. Nutmeg finish adds warmth.

Chocolate pepper cookies bring a slow, smoky heat from black pepper, cayenne, and cinnamon layered into deep unsweetened cocoa. Rolled thin and cut into shapes, they bake crisp with a warm spiced finish.

Chocolate thumbprint cookies studded with mini chocolate chips and filled with a creamy peanut butter center. The chocolate-peanut butter combo makes these vanish from any cookie tray.

Mom Stern's noodle kugel with wide egg noodles, sliced apples, raisins, and a sweet egg custard baked until crispy on top and springy inside. A classic Jewish comfort dessert.

Chewy oat cookies loaded with dried blueberries, white chocolate chips, and crystallized ginger, plus wheat germ for a wholesome twist. Puffy, golden-edged, and baked in under 10 minutes for a cookie that's equal parts treat and fuel.

Maple nut butter whips toasted hazelnuts (or walnuts or pecans) into softened butter sweetened with real maple syrup. A spreadable, nutty, sweet finishing butter for toast, pancakes, scones, or warm biscuits.

Witch hat Halloween treats made from chocolate cookies, sugar cones, and chocolate frosting with hidden candy inside. A no-bake kids' craft activity with a candy surprise.

Cinnamon apple bundt cake made with whole wheat flour, fresh apple slices, walnuts, and apple juice. A lighter oil-based cake dusted with powdered sugar, best served warm.

Salzburger Nockerln: Austrian meringue souffle baked into three fluffy peaks over a pool of butter and jelly. A centuries-old Salzburg dessert meant to be eaten the moment it leaves the oven.

Almond spice cookies with allspice, orange zest, and ground almonds in a tender cake-flour dough. Brushed with egg glaze for shine, these bake up delicately spiced and shortbread-soft.

Chocolate-filled fruit oatmeal bars: a buttery brown-sugar oat crust with a rich melted chocolate, condensed milk, raisin, and coconut filling. Sheet-pan bars for crowds and cookie swaps.

Bakery-sized chocolate chunk cookies loaded with macadamia nuts and pecans. Hand-chopped chocolate creates melty pockets in a buttery, chewy cookie.

Indian sago and vermicelli kheer with golden raisins and cardamom simmered in milk. A creamy, fragrant pudding dessert served hot or chilled.

Cola cake: a Southern chocolate sheet cake made with real cola, melted marshmallows, cocoa, and tangy buttermilk. Fudgy, fizzy, and a one-bowl Saturday afternoon project.

Canned apple pie filling made with tart sliced apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a cornstarch sugar syrup. Water bath canning recipe yields 6 quarts, each jar fills a two-crust pie.

Harvest pumpkin torte layers a fluffy chocolate sponge with spiced pumpkin filling four times over, then finishes with a glossy chocolate glaze. Fall baking that looks like a bakery-case showpiece.