Dessert Recipes

Soft, moist velvet pumpkin cake made with Bisquick, canned pumpkin, and vanilla, served warm with sweetened whipped cream. A cozy fall dessert ready in one hour.

Mexican Yuletide cookies (polvorones) with butter, oatmeal, and pecans rolled in powdered sugar while warm. A crumbly, nutty holiday cookie that makes 6.5 dozen from one batch.

Buttery brown sugar bar cookies with chopped walnuts and a hint of rum extract, baked in one pan and cut into squares. Serve warm with ice cream or stash them in a tin for later.

Old-fashioned walnut pound cake started in a cold oven for a tall, even crumb. Buttery vanilla base studded with finely chopped walnuts, baked in a tube pan.

Frosted pecan cuplets, bite-sized butter cookies rolled in chopped pecans with a tinted buttercream center. A festive thumbprint cookie for holiday cookie trays.

Potato Cake is a classic chocolate sheet cake with mashed potatoes folded into the batter - creating a tender, moist crumb without any potato flavor. Walnuts, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Homemade rugelach filled with ground walnuts, raisins, cinnamon, and sugar, rolled into crescent shapes from a buttery honey-enriched dough. A classic Jewish bakery cookie.

No-bake rice cereal snowball cookies bound with marshmallow and butter, rolled in powdered sugar for sweet treats kids can help make.

Thick, chewy blondies with melted butter and a full pound of brown sugar, studded with chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and pecans. Baked in a jelly roll pan for crispy edges on every piece.

These macarons are sandwiched with strawberry-rhubarb cream.

Instead of store-bought pie crust, we made our own with most whole wheat flour and olive oil, which made the crust a lot healthier with flaky texture and delicious flavor. Now enjoy this juicy-fruity pie without feeling guilty at all.

A key lime chiffon pie: tart key lime curd lightened with gelatin, fluffy meringue, and whipped cream, set in a graham crust. An airy, cloud-light take on key lime pie, far lighter than the condensed-milk version.

My brother's Sticky Toffee Christmas pudding recipe that he serves with homemade Chai Latte Ice cream.

Old-fashioned tube cake packed with fresh apples, nuts, and raisins, then doused with brandy while still warm. Moist texture that improves overnight.

Simple cake-like cookie bars swirled with strawberry jam and drizzled with a vanilla glaze. Be sure not to over-bake them so as not to dry them out.

A light, chilled papaya milk pudding, a silky gelatin-set custard folded with whipped egg whites and fresh papaya puree. Tropical, airy, and turned out of the mold for a cool, refreshing dessert.