Dessert Recipes

Gooey butter pecan bars layered with melted marshmallows, chocolate chips, and coconut on a cake mix crust. A 5-minute prep, no-fuss dessert bar that disappears at every potluck and bake sale.

Blue ribbon cheesecake with a graham cracker crust, rich orange-scented cream cheese filling, and a final flourish of fresh orange zest. A short-bake cheesecake with the texture of mousse.

Seven-layer cookie bars with a chocolate graham crust, sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, coconut, and nuts. Makes 36 bars with just 10 minutes of hands-on work.

Creamy vanilla cheesecake swirled with a cocoa-rich chocolate layer for a gorgeous marbled effect. A slow-cool oven method keeps the top crack-free and silky smooth.

Classic ranger cookies packed with crisp rice cereal, flaked coconut, and chopped dates for triple texture in every bite. Crunchy outside, chewy middle. Bakes a batch in about 25 minutes.

7-Up Refrigerator Dough: a soft, enriched make-ahead yeast dough where lemon-lime soda stands in for some of the sugar. Mix today, bake tomorrow for tender rolls or coffee cakes.

These easy to make popcorn balls can be kept for a week, you can make them before Halloween comes, not only just kids love them!

Classic Italian pizzelle cookies flavored with anise and vanilla, pressed thin and crisp in a pizzelle iron. A simple batter that refrigerates well for baking anytime.

Danish rice pudding (risalamande) with almond extract, folded whipped cream, and fresh raspberry sauce. A light, creamy Scandinavian Christmas dessert topped with whole almonds.

A two-layer Jello salad with a cherry pie filling base topped by a creamy lemon layer of cream cheese, pineapple, whipped cream, and marshmallows. Serves 12 from a 9x13 pan.

Whipped shortbread cookies that practically melt on the tongue. Beaten with cornstarch and powdered sugar for a cloud-light, almost feathery crumb. Top with a candied cherry or pecan half.

No-bake fruitcake packed with candied cherries, pineapple, dates, raisins, and nuts, bound with sweetened condensed milk and crushed graham crackers. Refrigerate and slice.

Famous Brown Derby red velvet cake with buttermilk-cocoa cake layers, vinegar reaction, and the original cooked-flour ermine frosting. Hollywood diner classic from the 1940s Wilshire icon.

Got his recipe in an email. From the Harvest restaurant, Cambridge, MA

Marbled chocolate pistachio bundt cake with orange juice and almond extract. A cake-mix shortcut that bakes into a gorgeous swirled showpiece in about an hour.

Old-fashioned peach gingerbread upside-down cake: molasses-spiced gingerbread baked over fresh sliced peaches, then topped with butter-glazed peaches and a preserves brush. Late-summer dessert perfection.