Dessert Recipes

Dense apricot bars sweetened with maple syrup and loaded with dried apricots, walnuts, and cashews. No eggs, no butter, finished with powdered sugar icing and optional chocolate drizzle.

Caramel chocolate chip cheesecake with an oat-walnut crust, dark brown sugar and corn syrup filling, and chocolate chips scattered on top. Rich, dense, and deeply caramelized.

Classic homemade apple pie from scratch: a flaky double crust packed with cinnamon-spiced McIntosh and Granny Smith apples, thickened just enough and dotted with butter. The all-American dessert done right.

Moist applesauce cake spiced with cinnamon and cloves, spiked with instant coffee, and topped with a creamy coffee buttercream frosting. A one-bowl spice cake that bakes in 30 minutes.

Chocolate madeleines: classic French shell-shaped tea cakes made with semi-sweet chocolate, butter, and cake flour. Delicate, buttery, and with a tender crumb under a crisp edge.

Microwave coconut-graham pie crust with toasted sweetened coconut, crushed graham crackers, butter, and sugar. A no-bake crust ready in 20 minutes without heating up the oven.

Lady Baltimore cake is a tender white layer cake filled with boiled frosting studded with walnuts, currants and figs. The famous Southern Charleston confection from 1906.

Zuleika cake is a flourless almond cake with a tender, macaroon-like base crowned with a rich cooked egg yolk cream and toasted almonds. Naturally gluten-free and best made a day ahead.

Praline sauce made with dark brown sugar, toasted pecans, and vanilla, thickened with cornstarch and skim milk. A lighter take on the classic Southern dessert sauce.

First prize chocolate fudge cake, a flourless-style dense chocolate cake with semisweet chocolate, coffee, and folded egg whites. An award-winning showstopper with deep fudgy texture.

Old-fashioned oatmeal chocolate chip cookies made with shortening for extra-chewy texture. A from-scratch drop cookie recipe that makes three dozen.

Loaded with 4 cups of blueberries and kissed with almond extract, this sheet pan cake bakes up golden with a juicy berry filling and sweet lemon glaze drizzle.

Impressive apple pie with cinnamon crust, sour cream filling, and crunchy walnut-brown sugar topping. Three distinct layers of flavor and texture.

Macaroon meets chocolate chip cookie in this co-winner in the drop cookie category, with a twist of cinnamon, nutmeg and mint; it's from Jessica Wall-Valadez of Milwaukee.

A from-scratch blueberry lemon cobbler with a flaky buttermilk biscuit crust brushed golden and sprinkled with sugar. Lemon zest and warm spices make 3 pints of berries sing.

Coffee-spiked red devil's food cake with cocoa, hot coffee, buttermilk, and a hit of red food coloring. Deep chocolate flavor with a striking red-tinted crumb.