Dessert Recipes

Frosted spice fruit cookies are old-fashioned molasses-spice rolled cookies loaded with walnuts, golden raisins, and dates, finished with an orange juice glaze. Holiday cookie tin staple.

Lebkuchen (German honey cakes) blend honey, brown sugar, lemon, almonds, citron, and warm spices into a chewy spice cookie cut into fancy holiday shapes. Traditional Christmas cookie from Nuremberg.

Pina colada sheet cake: a yellow poke cake soaked with cream of coconut, sweetened condensed milk, and rum, topped with crushed pineapple, whipped cream, and coconut. The cocktail in cake form.

Maple pumpkin cheesecake on a graham cracker crust, topped with a maple pecan glaze. Creamy, warmly spiced, and rich with real maple syrup, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Frozen raspberry souffle with strained berry puree, framboise liqueur, and billowy whipped cream. Assembled tall in a collared dish so it rises above the rim like a baked souffle.

Decadent amaretto chocolate cheesecake with an amaretti cookie crust, dark chocolate-almond filling spiked with liqueur, and crunchy amaretti folded into the batter. Italian-inspired showstopper.

Easy pound cake creams sugar with margarine, beats in eggs and vanilla, then bakes in a tube pan starting from a cold oven for a tender, tall crumb. Six ingredients, no leavening, no fuss.

Eggnog bread pudding baked in a water bath with cinnamon-raisin bread, brandy, nutmeg, and half-and-half, served with a cranberry-maple bourbon sauce. A festive holiday dessert.

Twice-baked Italian biscotti with fresh ginger, Dutch cocoa, and toasted almonds. Crisp, dunkable cookies with warm spice and a deep chocolate undertone.

Low-fat carrot fig cake that replaces oil and butter with pureed dried figs for moisture. Loaded with grated carrots, crushed pineapple, and raisins, drizzled with a simple pineapple juice glaze.

Anise almond biscotti are twice-baked Italian cookies with toasted almonds and warm anise seeds. Crisp, dunkable holiday treats that keep up to 4 weeks. Makes about 2 dozen.

Three-layer raspberry pretzel dessert with a buttery pretzel crust, cream cheese whipped cream filling, and raspberry Jello topping. A potluck favorite that chills overnight.

Three-layer Southern coconut cake with a tangy crushed-pineapple filling and billowy seven-minute frosting. An almond-scented butter cake stacked with grated coconut between every layer.

Kushli are deep-fried Indian half-moon pastries stuffed with toasted coconut, almonds, semolina, sugar, cardamom, and raisins. Crisp, fragrant sweets for festivals and tea-time treats.

Buche de Marrons au Chocolat, a French chestnut and chocolate log (no-bake variation of buche de Noel) with Calvados, wrapped in whipped cream bark and garnished with candied violets. A show-stopping Christmas dessert.

Passover apple cake made with matzo meal and potato starch instead of flour. A fluffy, flourless sponge layered with grated cinnamon apples and lemon.