Dessert recipes

Perfect for Halloween, chocolate cake decorated like black widow spiders.

A quick one-bowl blueberry oatmeal breakfast cake that's ready in 35 minutes. Lightly sweet with a tender crumb from the oats, best served warm straight from the pan.

Cookies and cream pie is a no-bake freezer dessert: chocolate pudding folded with whipped topping and crushed cookies, piled into a chocolate crumb crust. No oven, just a whisk and a freezer.

Fresh strawberry pie with a glossy cornstarch glaze made in the microwave. Whole berries folded into a cooked strawberry filling, chilled until set. No oven needed for the filling.

Add a European touch to your Christmas baking skills with these scrumptious snacks made with cream cheese, walnuts and dark rum.

Classic Toll House chocolate chip cookies with butter, shortening, brown sugar, and semi-sweet chips. The original recipe that started the chocolate chip cookie craze.

Lemon meringue pie from cooking school is the textbook version with a hand-rolled crust, cornstarch-and-flour curd, and a stable French meringue sealed to the crust. Detailed technique guarantees no weeping.

Soft chocolate drop sugar cookies made with cocoa powder and buttermilk, scooped large and dusted with sugar while warm. Cake-like, chocolatey, and ready in 30 minutes.

Loosely related to a dessert from the English-speaking islands of the West Indies, this makes a wonderful - and legal - winter fruit pudding. Despite its richness, it has next to no fat and, if you use eggs modified with omega 3 oil, it couldn't be more nutritionally sound.

Favourite Texas Sheet Cake with Cocoa Nut Frosting recipe

Almond cream cheese biscotti with toasted sliced almonds and a hint of anise. Cream cheese gives these twice-baked Italian cookies a softer, more tender bite while keeping the signature crunch for dunking in coffee.

Chocolate mint cake with a light peppermint sponge topped with whipped chocolate mint frosting. The fat-free batter uses applesauce and egg whites for an airy, tender crumb.

Ginger cheesecake with a gingersnap crust, triple ginger punch from fresh ginger root, candied ginger, and orange peel. Lighter than classic cheesecake with reduced-fat cream cheese.

Mississippi Mist Pie with fresh strawberries hidden under a lime cream cheese filling in a vanilla wafer crust. A no-bake showstopper with creme de menthe and piped whipped cream.

A British-style crumble cake with a buttery almond and cinnamon base, a layer of stewed blackberries and apples, and a golden crumble topping. Warm, fruity, and brilliant served with cream or custard.

Deep dish peach pie features ripe summer peaches under a single golden crust with cinnamon, nutmeg and a sugar-crackled top. The classic peach dessert at its most extravagant.