Dessert/7 recipes

Coca-Cola marshmallow cake with hot nut icing: a Southern sheet cake made with cola in the batter, mini marshmallows folded through, and a warm fudge-pecan glaze poured over while still hot.

Buttery thumbprint cookies filled with Milky Way and Snickers slices, with a hint of almond extract. Chill the dough, press, bake, and watch the candy melt into gooey perfection.

Ethereally light layer cake where whipped cream and beaten egg whites replace butter for cloud-like texture. Vanilla and almond extracts add delicate flavor to this unique dessert.

A buttery, custard-like chess pie loaded with earthy black walnuts and baked until the center is just set. Simple Southern baking with a rich, caramelized filling that needs no fancy technique.

Chocolate cream pie cooks a silky cocoa-egg yolk custard on the stove, pours it into a baked shell, and crowns it with billowy meringue. Old-school Southern dessert classic.

Classic four-ingredient shortbread cookies with just flour, butter, sugar, and salt. Pressed into a sheet pan, pricked with a fork, and baked until set.

Ice cream crunch bars layered with vanilla ice cream between a crunchy mix of crisp rice cereal, toasted coconut, nuts, brown sugar, and melted butter. A no-bake frozen dessert.

No-bake chocolate cereal bars layered with a chocolate-ganache filling between peanut butter Cocoa Krispies cereal crusts. Kid-friendly snack bars ready in under 30 minutes.

This buttery and fluffy upside-down plum cake will for sure make everyone who has it want a second slice.

Tropical cheesecake with a coconut-almond crust, creamy pineapple filling, and fresh fruit on top drizzled with chocolate. A showstopping dessert worth the overnight chill.

This is ungodly rich. Serve in very small wedges. Even heavy eaters can't eat much at once.

Chocolate chip snack cake with cream cheese pockets: a no-egg, no-butter chocolate cake topped with dollops of sweetened cream cheese, chocolate chips, and walnuts. The retro depression-era "crazy cake" upgraded.

Chinese Chews are old-fashioned date and nut bar cookies baked low and slow, then cut into squares and rolled in granulated sugar. Chewy, dense, and butter-free.

Classic lemon squares with a shortbread base and a tart-sweet lemon curd topping baked on a pre-baked crust. Powdered sugar dusted. Twelve squares per batch.

Clare's meringue roulade: a soft, marshmallowy meringue rolled around whipped cream, fresh strawberries, and ripe mango. A crackly-crusted, gluten-free showstopper dessert.

Old-fashioned sour milk jumbles cut with a doughnut cutter and sprinkled with sugar straight from the oven. Buttermilk and nutmeg give these ring-shaped cookies a tender crumb and warm spice.