Dessert Recipes

That cherry stuff, the classic no-bake dessert salad with cherry pie filling, crushed pineapple, sweetened condensed milk, whipped topping, and chopped nuts. Five-minute potluck classic.

Low-fat applesauce oatmeal muffins with rolled oats soaked in skim milk, whole wheat flour, and egg whites. No butter, no oil, and just 95 calories each.

Classic lemon squares with a shortbread base and a tart-sweet lemon curd topping baked on a pre-baked crust. Powdered sugar dusted. Twelve squares per batch.

Slice-and-bake molasses cookies with brown sugar, ginger, and a deep rich molasses flavor. Chill the dough, slice thin, and bake until the edges crisp up beautifully.

Chocolate amaretto cheesecake with a chocolate wafer crust and a lightened filling that blends cream cheese with cottage cheese, cocoa, almond liqueur and chocolate morsels. A small 7-inch springform pan dessert.

Chocolate zucchini tube cake using a cake mix hack with shredded zucchini folded in for extra moisture. Topped with cream cheese frosting and chopped nuts.

A four-layer Snickers pie: graham cracker crust, fudgy chocolate brownie layer studded with Snickers chunks, creamy cheesecake, and drizzled milk chocolate ganache on top. Decadent dessert overload.

Viennese chocolate torte for Passover uses ground walnuts, cake meal, and potato starch in place of flour. A flourless-style torte split and filled with apricot-orange preserves and finished with a chocolate-orange glaze.

Moravian Christmas loaf is a soft yeast bread studded with raisins, currants, and citron, topped with sliced almonds. Traditional Pennsylvania Moravian holiday bread with an overnight sponge.

Chewy Rolo cookie bars: a yellow cake mix base studded with halved Rolo candies that melt into rivers of chocolate caramel. Five-ingredient bake-sale magic.

Peace Pie layers mincemeat and spiced pumpkin custard in a single pie shell for a holiday mashup that combines two Thanksgiving favorites in every slice.

Vermont apple pie with layered tart apples, gingersnap-crumb streusel, crunchy walnuts, and a final pour of pure maple syrup. A New England-style heritage pie with deep fall flavors.

Zucchini mock apple pie with sweet raisins folded through and a buttery crumb topping. Lemon juice, cinnamon, and nutmeg fool the taste buds into reading squash as apple, with chewy raisins adding depth.

Orange pistachio Bundt cake made with yellow cake mix, pistachio pudding, and orange juice, marbled with chocolate syrup and topped with a cocoa glaze. A stunning retro dessert.

Bulls eye cheesecake layers vanilla and mocha batters poured one into the center of the next, baking up into striking concentric rings. A water-bath-baked, crustless cheesecake that wows when you slice it.

Chocolate pumpkin layer cake with a warm brown-sugar frosting that sets to a fudgy crust. Cocoa and pumpkin pie spice make this two-layer cake rich, moist, and irresistible for fall baking.