Dessert/5 recipes

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.

A glossy cherry rum sauce made with dark sweet cherries, rum extract, and a squeeze of lemon. Ready in 20 minutes, it's the finishing touch for ice cream, cheesecake, or crepes.

Rustic drop biscuit shortcakes topped with two quarts of maple syrup-soaked strawberries and frozen vanilla yogurt. A lighter spin on the classic that's ready in 20 minutes.

White chocolate mousse made with Italian meringue, imported white chocolate, and whipped cream, served over a fresh strawberry-kirsch sauce. An elegant restaurant-quality dessert.

Aunt Catherine's Italian Cookies: a heirloom cookie with almond extract, cinnamon, and chopped nuts, finished in pastel-colored powdered sugar icing. Stores for months in tins.

Carthusian dumplings made from stale kaiser rolls soaked in lemon-milk custard, breaded, deep-fried, and rolled in cinnamon sugar. A classic German dessert.

Make your own tasty dill mustard with this simple recipe that's easy to follow and understand.

Frosted Christmas brownies baked in a pizza pan, topped with vanilla buttercream and decorated with piped holly leaves and red candy berries. A festive holiday dessert.

Exotic fresh lychee sorbet with raspberry coulis. Sweet floral lychee gets a bright orange juice boost, then freezes silky-smooth in your ice cream maker.

A delicious little cake recipe we got from our Cozumel cruise. Best served warm.

Chinese fried pecans soak whole pecan halves in boiling water, coat them in sugar, dry overnight, and fry to a crackling glazed shell. Restaurant-style sweet appetizer or party snack.

Cream cheese tiramisu skips the pricey mascarpone for a no-bake Italian classic: ladyfingers soaked in strong coffee and Kahlua, layered with a sweet cream cheese filling and dusted with cocoa.

Bulls eye cheesecake layers vanilla and mocha batters poured one into the center of the next, baking up into striking concentric rings. A water-bath-baked, crustless cheesecake that wows when you slice it.

Lemon hazelnut torte stacks toasted hazelnut meringue rounds with tangy lemon curd folded into whipped cream. Frozen overnight and topped with fresh raspberries and raspberry sauce.

Blushing Bunny is a vintage cheese toast made with sharp cheddar melted into tomato soup, spiked with dry mustard and enriched with egg. The rosy cousin of Welsh Rarebit, ready in 15 minutes.

Cream filbert cookies with a whole hazelnut hidden inside each shortbread ball, glazed in vanilla icing and rolled in sugar. Vintage Pacific Northwest holiday cookie with a sweet crackly finish.