Baked goods recipes

Louisiana banana cake with mashed bananas in a buttermilk batter, topped with sliced fresh bananas and a broiled coconut-brown sugar topping. A Southern sheet cake served warm.

Traditional Tuscan cavallucci spice cookies built from a hot sugar syrup kneaded with walnuts, candied orange peel, and warm spices like clove, anise, and cinnamon. Chewy, perfumed, and unmistakably medieval.

A deep dish apple pie with homemade crust and a secret: heavy cream poured through the slits mid-bake, creating a luscious sauce around every cinnamon-spiced slice.

Ice cream cone cupcakes: chocolate cake batter baked right inside flat-bottom ice cream cones, then swirled with sweet almond buttercream and showered in sprinkles. The kid party showstopper.

Buttery spice cookies with crystallized ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and a dusting of powdered sugar. Pressed thin and baked until light golden, these make-ahead cookies keep for a week or freeze for a month.

Vintage Cocomalt macaroons with shredded coconut, sweetened condensed milk, and chocolate-malt powder. A Depression-era cookie with chewy edges and a soft, malty center.

Easy chocolate chip cheesecake in a graham cracker crust with a glossy ganache topping. Mini chocolate chips studded throughout a creamy filling that bakes in under 35 minutes.

Basic Italian focaccia from scratch: a slow-risen yeast dough dimpled and drizzled with olive oil, then topped with tomato, basil, and parmesan. Crisp outside, airy and chewy inside. The foundation every focaccia lover should know.

Caramel surprise cake, individual molten chocolate cakes hiding frozen caramel candies that ooze when cut. Served over pooled caramel and feathered chocolate sauce.

Classic chocolate refrigerator cookies made with real unsweetened chocolate. Shape the dough into a log, chill overnight, then slice and bake for 72 crisp, thin cookies.

Cocoa branana muffins blend bran flakes, ripe bananas, and unsweetened cocoa for high-fiber chocolate muffins. Egg whites and skim milk keep them lighter than typical bakery banana bread.

Chocolate walnut filled cake bakes a cocoa tube cake with a hidden ring of walnut filling running through the middle. Sugar-replacement-friendly tube pan dessert sweetened with fructose for low-sugar baking.

Mexican wedding cookies (polvorones) made with butter, finely chopped pecans, vanilla, and a hint of cinnamon, rolled in powdered sugar while still warm. Tender, crumbly, and melt-in-your-mouth.

Moist coffee orange fudge bundt cake doctored from a German chocolate cake mix with Kahlua, orange zest, sour cream, instant pudding, and chocolate chips. Bakery-quality from a box.

Chocolate-dipped pretzels with white chocolate drizzle. Four-ingredient Christmas treat that comes together in under an hour, no oven required. Salty-sweet, beginner-friendly, gift-tin ready.

Some best cookies I have ever had, and they were so buttery and orange-y. No wonder it's named Florida cookies :)