Baked Good Recipes

This authentic Pastel de Tres Leches soaks a fluffy sponge cake in a rich trio of milks until every forkful melts on your tongue. Crowned with billowy meringue and fresh berries, it's the showstopper your next fiesta needs.

Sweet corn kernels stud tender drop biscuits with a kick of red pepper and honey. Quick buttermilk biscuits with cornmeal texture that pair perfectly with chili or BBQ.

Drop sugar cookies with cardamom or nutmeg, soft and tender with lightly browned edges. No rolling or chilling needed. Makes six dozen and freezes beautifully.

Loaded drop cookies packed with chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, coconut, oatmeal, nuts, and candy-coated chocolates on top. These kitchen sink cookies have everything but the sink.

Granny Smith apple pie packs tart sliced apples between flaky shortening crusts with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and lemon zest, finished with a honey-spiced whipped cream on the side.

Simple butter cookies that earned honorable mention: just butter, sugar, flour, and vanilla rolled in sugar and stamped flat, no chilling or cutting required for crisp golden edges.

Banana fritters in a nutmeg-spiced batter, deep-fried until golden and tossed in powdered sugar. A quick stovetop dessert ready in under 25 minutes.

Fallen chocolate souffle cake: a dense, fudgy flourless-style cake of bittersweet chocolate, almond, and egg whites that puffs then collapses into a crackled top. An elegant, almost gluten-free dessert.

Traditional German sand tarts rolled paper-thin, cut into diamonds, brushed with egg white, and topped with cinnamon sugar and a pecan half. Crispy, buttery holiday cookies.

Soft chocolate drop cookies packed with maraschino cherries and topped with a glossy chocolate frosting. Buttermilk keeps them tender. Makes 4 to 5 dozen in about 30 minutes, so they're built for holiday cookie trays and bake sales.

Three-layer toasted coconut cake with a buttermilk crumb, coconut and vanilla extract, and a cream cheese frosting loaded with toasted coconut. A classic Southern bake for birthdays and holidays.

Moist, light and delicious plum bread is good for breakfast, or can be a light and refreshing dessert after the main course.

Half moon cookies with a soft, cake-like buttermilk crumb, frosted half white and half chocolate. The classic upstate New York holiday cookie, also known as a black-and-white.

Homemade pumpernickel bagels with rye flour, pumpernickel flour, and a homemade caramel for color and depth. Chewy, dark, and deeply flavored yeast bagels.

Moist carrot date nut bread with a blended carrot-orange puree, slivered dates, and walnuts. Spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, this recipe makes two loaves that slice even better the next day.

Millionaire's shortbread with a buttery shortbread base, chewy homemade caramel middle, and a smooth chocolate top. Three layers of British confection in every square.