Dessert Recipes

French-style almond macaroons piped from almond paste, filled with rum-spiked chocolate ganache, and dipped in a semisweet chocolate glaze. An elegant three-part cookie.

Saure Kartoffel, a traditional Swabian sour potato dish with a tangy butter-onion sauce flavored with bay leaf, lemon zest, clove, and caraway. German comfort food.

German chocolate pretzel cookies (Schokoladenpretzel) hand-shaped from cocoa dough and topped with cocoa frosting. A fun baking project that makes about 2 dozen pretzel-shaped cookies.

Scotcheroos: classic no-bake peanut butter rice crispy bars topped with melted chocolate and butterscotch chips. The chewy Midwest church-basement bar that disappears in minutes.

Rich bittersweet chocolate cake that makes its own mousse-like frosting from the same batter. Just 8 ingredients, no mixer tricks, and it keeps in the fridge for days.

No-mix seven layer bars with graham cracker crust, coconut, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, walnuts, and sweetened condensed milk. Just layer, bake, and slice into gooey, crunchy bars.

Classic short pastry crust with cold butter and shortening cut into flour. The flaky, buttery, all-purpose pie shell that works for sweet pies, quiches, and tarts alike.

Ultra-tender shortbread cookies with a full pound of unsalted butter, sweetened condensed milk, and cornstarch for a melt-on-your-tongue crumble. Baked low and slow until barely golden.

Traditional Norwegian anise syrup cookies made with honey, dark corn syrup, and star anise, finished with a warm powdered sugar glaze. Soft, fragrant, and sweetly spiced. Makes 4 dozen.

Slice and bake gingersnap cookies with molasses, ginger, and cinnamon. Make the dough, freeze in logs, and bake fresh cookies anytime for up to six months.

Lightened key lime pie made with fat-free condensed milk, gelatin, and whipped skim evaporated milk. Graham crust, tart lime filling, and tiny piped meringues perched on lime slices.

Oatmeal coconut cake with a soft cinnamon-spiced crumb and a broiled brown-sugar coconut-nut topping that bubbles into a chewy caramel crown. Lazy Daisy-style, the way grandma made it.

Soft chocolate chunk cookies with a hidden boost of peanut butter for tenderness, plus chunks of dark chocolate and chopped walnuts in every bite. Baked low and slow for chewy centers.

Soft molasses cookies use sour cream and a generous pour of molasses for the pillow-soft texture grandmas swore by. Spiced with ginger and nutmeg, rolled and cut from a chilled dough.

Sour cream bundt cake with a hidden layer of cinnamon, brown sugar, and chopped pecans. Made with whole wheat flour for a heartier crumb. Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm for brunch.

Sour cream coffee cake is a tender, moist brunch cake with a cinnamon-walnut sugar topping layered both through the middle and on top. Sour cream keeps the crumb soft and fine, with a gentle tang.