Dessert Recipes

Chinese-American almond cookies with butter, ground almonds, and almond extract for double the nutty flavor. Egg-washed and baked golden, these are the takeout-restaurant cookies you can finally make at home.

Brown bag French apple pie: a cinnamon-spiced apple pie with a buttery streusel top, baked inside a paper bag that traps steam for meltingly tender apples and a crisp, golden crumb. No top crust needed.

Rice Krispies treats elevated with nougat candy bars, marshmallows, toasted almonds, and butter. No-bake squares with chewy-crispy texture.

Microwave grape jelly made in 30 minutes with four ingredients. No canning kettle needed, just grape juice, sugar, pectin, and a quick lemon juice brightener.

Mix this vanilla crazy cake right in the baking pan with no butter, no mixer, and minimal cleanup. Pecans add crunch and swirled chocolate chips on top finish it off.

Classic cream cheese cheesecake sweetened with condensed milk instead of granulated sugar, brightened with lemon, finished with a baked-on sour cream layer and fresh strawberries.

These sweet treats are easy to make, and they taste amazingly rich, chocolaty, and delicious!

Low-fat apple oat crisp with applesauce in the filling and a whole wheat oat topping with just a tablespoon of margarine. Only 85 calories per serving.

Alice's chocolate cake bakes a moist two-layer cocoa cake using boiling water for extra-deep chocolate flavor, then frosts with a from-scratch buttery cocoa-powdered sugar icing. The reliable birthday cake home bakers swear by.

From-scratch bundt cake with brown sugar and chocolate chips baked inside, topped with a glossy chocolate glaze. One bowl, five minutes of prep, and it serves 20. The kind of cake that disappears at potlucks before you set the knife down.

Whole wheat herb bread with cottage cheese, scallions, dill, and V8 juice: soft yeast loaves enriched with eggs, kneaded until elastic, and baked until golden hollow-sounding.

Raspberry chews layer buttery shortbread, seedless raspberry jam, coconut, and almond meringue into chewy bar cookies. A vintage bar cookie that's equal parts soft and crunchy.

Fruit cocktail cake is a one-bowl dump cake mixed straight in the pan with canned fruit cocktail, flour, sugar, and eggs. Old-fashioned potluck dessert with zero fuss.

Custard-rich bread pudding made with egg bread, vanilla, and warm nutmeg. Customize it with jam swirls, cherries, raisins, or a sprinkle of coconut and cinnamon.

Sour cream chocolate chip cake: a tender, coffee-cake style cake made with cold-cut butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a generous cup and a half of chocolate chips. Sinks slightly in the center as it cools.

Tangy rhubarb and sweet strawberries baked under crunchy oat topping spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. Classic spring dessert ready in 50 minutes with minimal prep.