Dessert Recipes

Self-filled chocolate cupcakes with a cream cheese and chocolate chip center baked right in. No frosting needed when the filling does double duty.

Chocolate-almond sandwich cookies with ground almond cocoa wafers and whipped white chocolate ganache filling. An elegant, slice-and-bake cookie that keeps for a week.

Cherry-berry-peach pie with sweet cherries, blueberries, and sliced peaches under a buttery brown-sugar streusel topping. A summer fruit pie that combines three orchard favorites in one slice.

Shaker honey almond cake bakes a spice-warmed honey-sour cream batter under a crown of almonds, then ripens 2 days for deeper flavor. Heritage New England keeping cake.

Shamrock cookies for St. Patrick's Day, a tender mint-scented shortbread tinted green, shaped from three little dough balls plus a stem and dusted with green sugar. A fun holiday baking project.

Peanut-shaped peanut butter cookies with orange zest and a classic crisscross top. A fun, hand-shaped cookie that kids love to help make. Crisp edges, chewy centers.

Old-fashioned apple cake loaded with sliced apples, walnuts, and cinnamon in a moist oil-based batter. No mixer needed for this rustic 9x13 sheet cake.

Buttery pretzel-shaped cookies made with powdered sugar, egg whites, and vanilla, baked golden and drizzled with an optional chocolate frosting. A fun twist on classic butter cookies.

Texas-style sheath cake (sheet cake) baked on a cookie sheet with cocoa, buttermilk, and a full half pound of butter. Thin, fudgy, and frosted while still warm. A potluck legend.

Chocolate sheet cake (Texas sheet cake) with hot cocoa-buttermilk batter and a poured cocoa-buttermilk icing finished while the cake is still hot. The Southern church-supper crowd-feeder cut into 24 squares.

Sheila's apple pie tops green apples with a buttery batter made from pancake mix, sugar, egg, and butter. The unconventional shortcut topping bakes into a tender, cake-like crust over tart apple filling.

Pineapple sherbet dessert folded with thawed strawberries, chopped bananas, and pecans. A 4-ingredient frozen fruit treat ready in 15 minutes with no cooking.

Easy sherry cake made with yellow cake mix, vanilla pudding, and real sherry wine baked in a bundt pan. Moist, boozy, and warmly spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg.

Buttery Italian-style shortbread cookies made with powdered sugar, vanilla, and three-quarters of a pound of real butter. Chill the dough, roll it out, cut your favorite shapes, and bake until golden.

Classic three-ingredient shortbread made with just butter, superfine sugar, and flour. Knead until smooth, chill, then bake low and slow for a crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth Scottish-style cookie.

Classic shortbread wedges with almond extract, cornstarch for extra tenderness, and a whole almond pressed into each piece. A buttery, crumbly Scottish-style cookie baked in a round pan.