Dessert/4 recipes

No-bake cream cheese pie with condensed milk, whipped cream, pineapple, and pecans in a graham cracker crust. Fluffy, tangy, and ready after a quick chill.

Barbara Bush's signature chocolate chip cookies with a quirky splash of hot water in the dough that yields a crisp-edged, soft-centered cookie. A small-batch White House classic.

A double-crust caramel walnut pie: walnuts simmered into a reduced-cream caramel and sealed in a tender shortcrust, served a la mode with from-scratch vanilla bean ice cream. A restaurant-worthy dessert.

Classic butter pound cake: rich, tender, golden loaf made the proper old-fashioned way with butter, sugar, eggs, flour and vanilla. Just five ingredients and a long, careful cream.

Diabetic-friendly cocoa cake made with liquid sweetener, egg whites, and minimal sugar. A meringue-folded chocolate layer cake for diabetic dessert needs without sacrificing flavor.

Alice's white cake is a tender vanilla and almond-scented layer cake leavened with whipped egg whites for an airy, snowy crumb. The kind of from-scratch white cake that makes box mixes look amateur.

Old-fashioned Nantucket molasses cookies with brown sugar, butter, and a soft, cake-like texture. Six pantry ingredients and no eggs, just like the New England whaling-era originals.

A delicious and rich dessert to let everyone indulge!

Italian nut ball cookies coated in chopped pistachios with a jelly-filled center. Almond extract and vanilla give these thumbprint cookies classic Italian bakery flavor.

Banana pineapple pecan cake (Southern hummingbird-style) with crushed pineapple folded right into the batter, finished with a pineapple buttercream. Moist, fruity, and a potluck winner.

Golden amaranth shortcake made with amaranth flour, whole wheat pastry flour, tahini, and almonds, topped with crushed pineapple and a blended tofu cream. Dairy-free and honey-sweetened.

Magic Fruit Cake bakes up tender and jewel-bright with mincemeat, sweetened condensed milk, red and green cherries, and chopped walnuts. A no-fuss holiday tube cake that mixes in one bowl and slices into glossy, fruit-studded rounds.

Mom's Heath Bar cake with a brown sugar buttermilk batter topped with a crumbly streusel and crushed frozen Heath bars. A one-pan toffee-studded coffee cake in under an hour.

Tropical coconut poke cake soaked with cream of coconut and warm crushed pineapple, then piled high with whipped topping and shredded coconut. A potluck showstopper that starts with a box mix.

Cognac cookies, no-bake bourbon-ball cousins made with melted semisweet chocolate, crushed vanilla wafers, finely chopped pecans, and a generous splash of cognac. Roll in sugar and let them mellow.

Diabetic-friendly date nut cookies sweetened with sugar-free orange marmalade instead of sugar. Chopped dates, nuts, and cinnamon in a simple drop cookie.