Dessert/4 recipes

Traditional German drop donuts (Tropfkrapfen) made with a buttermilk batter, fried golden and dusted in powdered sugar. Crispy outside, tender and cakey within. Simple old-world charm.

Fried Egg dessert made with homemade clabber from milk and buttermilk, topped with a peach half to mimic a sunny-side-up egg. A fun, three-ingredient no-cook treat.

Eggnog gelatin mold sets chilled eggnog with ground almonds, then unmolds onto a platter with mandarin oranges and whipped topping. A nostalgic holiday dessert.

7-layer brownie ice cream cake with thin homemade brownie rounds stacked with vanilla ice cream and frozen in a springform pan. A make-ahead frozen dessert that slices like a dream.

Brownie refrigerator cake layers a fudgy brownie base with sweet cream cheese, chocolate-vanilla pudding, and billows of whipped topping, all finished with chocolate. A make-ahead, chilled layered dessert that's pure indulgence.

The famous Tom Cruise Cake: a German chocolate poke cake soaked in condensed milk and butterscotch, piled with whipped cream and crushed Heath bars. Outrageously rich, dead simple, and worth every sticky, toffee-laced bite.

Southern chess pie with eggs, sugar, butter, vinegar, and cornmeal in a single-crust pastry shell. Classic 45-minute Southern pantry pie.

Traditional steamed cranberry pudding with suet, breadcrumbs and brown sugar. Dense, moist old-fashioned holiday dessert steamed for 2 hours.

The cake is so moist and buttery, with the creamy cream cheese topping, absolutely stunning. And it is so easy to make, everyone loves it.

An old-fashioned blueberry pie that makes its own crust from crushed soda crackers and butter. No pie dough, no rolling pin. Just layer, bake, and serve with whipped cream.

Parisienne fruit tart layers crisp puff pastry with vanilla cream and bananas, glazes it with apricot, then crowns it with whipped cream, grapes, and pineapple. A showpiece French pastry from simple shortcuts.

Triple berry compote made from frozen strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries with a thickened fruit juice glaze and fresh orange sections. A year-round dessert.

No-bake fig and coconut candy balls with ground nuts and bright lemon zest. Naturally sweet, chewy, and rolled in finely chopped coconut for a vintage confection.

I found this recipe in a magazine and the lady was talking about making them with her two daughters, it was such a nice story, I thought I would try them and they are so yummy, I have made them over and over. They would be great to take camping or on a picnic or just eat them with a loved one, and if you have help making them what could be better.

Whole apples wrapped in pastry and baked in cinnamon sugar syrup. Fill cored apples with spiced sugar and butter, wrap in pastry, bake in hot syrup.

A light, cloud-like Swiss souffle made from dried chestnuts simmered in milk, laced with grappa, and lifted by fluffy egg whites. Dusted with icing sugar and served straight from the oven.