Dessert/7 recipes

Oven-fried apple hand pies with a pizza-crust dough wrapped around a spiced dried apple filling. Easier than rolling pastry, golden in 17 minutes, ideal for lunchboxes and picnics.

Deep chocolate cookies spiced with cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, made lighter with yogurt instead of butter. Crisp edges with chewy centers at just 41 calories per cookie.

Cottage cheese pie is an old-fashioned custard pie with a tangy curd filling lightened by beaten egg whites and warmed with vanilla. A simple, frugal dessert with a creamy texture between cheesecake and custard.

No-bake pina colada wedges with cream cheese, rum, pineapple, and coconut frozen into a creamy dessert and cut into slices. A tropical frozen treat that tastes like a cocktail in dessert form.

Chewy fig bars made with dried figs, brown sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla in a simple one-pan batter. A homemade alternative to store-bought fig cookies with real fruit flavor.

The original NYT plum torte: a quick one-bowl butter cake topped with halved plums and cinnamon sugar that sink into a jammy, custardy top as it bakes. The most-requested recipe in Times history.

Granny's spice cookies are buttery rolled cookies warmed with cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, brightened by orange zest and a touch of corn syrup. A classic holiday cut-out cookie ready for ribbons and sprinkles.

Haselnussmakronen-Hazlenut Macaroons Germany recipe

Best Sex in a Pan is a retro layered icebox dessert with a walnut shortbread crust, sweet cream cheese filling, vanilla and chocolate pudding stripes, and a Cool Whip topping finished with shaved chocolate.

Delicately flavored orange cookie cups, topped with an orange, almond-paste filling.

Godiva ultimate chocolate layer cake: three buttermilk cocoa layers brushed with Godiva chocolate liqueur and stacked with a cocoa-liqueur buttercream. Boozy, deep, unapologetically chocolate.

Meet your chocolatey death with this decadent cake made with unsweetened chocolate and caramels.

Two-ingredient Grape-Nuts pie crust made with just cereal and orange juice. No baking, no butter. Press into a pan and freeze for a crunchy, low-fat base.

Easy citrus cranberry cake spoons alternating light yellow and deep red batters into a loaf pan, using cranberry juice, orange zest, and cranberry-orange relish for marbled holiday color. A festive boxed-mix shortcut perfect for tea or gifting.

Light basmati rice pudding made with skim milk, raisins, and vanilla, folded with whipped topping for a creamy, airy texture. A low-fat Indian-inspired dessert.

Buttery melt-in-your-mouth cookies made with cornstarch for an impossibly tender crumb. Rolled in powdered sugar and pressed with a fork, they practically dissolve on your tongue.