Baked goods recipes

Gingerbread cookies in a gingerbread bowl: edible holiday centerpiece of spiced gingerbread shaped into a fluted bowl and filled with matching cut-out cookies. A holiday gift-giving showstopper.

Holiday chocolate butter cookies with cocoa, almond extract, and just 6 ingredients. Perfect for cookie presses, rolling into balls, or decorating with melted chocolate and sprinkles.

Carrot cake cupcakes with walnuts, chocolate chips, and warm spices, topped with cream cheese frosting. Orange juice in the batter adds a bright, unexpected twist.

Double-cocoa chocolate cookies studded with mint chips, then drizzled with a glossy homemade chocolate glaze. Fudgy, minty, and intensely chocolatey with crispy edges that shatter on the first bite.

Hearty colonial brown bread made with three flours, dark molasses, warm spices, and plump raisins. A rustic no-yeast quick bread your whole family will love.

Microwave coconut-graham pie crust with toasted sweetened coconut, crushed graham crackers, butter, and sugar. A no-bake crust ready in 20 minutes without heating up the oven.

Luscious caramel banana pie layers oven-caramelized sweetened condensed milk over fresh banana slices in a graham crust, finished with whipped cream and crumbled toffee. Banoffee-style without the stovetop work.

Authentic Chinese almond cookies made with lard for that traditional sandy crumb. Each cookie gets a whole blanched almond pressed in the center and a glossy egg yolk wash before baking. Includes sesame variation.

Applesauce spice cake, low-fat Bundt with whipped egg whites for lift, warm cinnamon-nutmeg-clove-ginger spice, and dark corn syrup for moisture. No butter, no whole eggs, still tender and richly flavored.

A no-bake coconut cream pie with a sticky pecan praline layer on the bottom, fluffy vanilla pudding filling loaded with flaked coconut, all in a pre-baked pastry shell. Chill, slice, and swoon.

Caramel-pecan cake made with buttermilk chocolate batter, folded egg whites for lift, and a gooey caramel-chocolate chip topping baked right on top.

Chocolate mocha pie with a silky French silk-style filling whipped from butter, chocolate, and instant coffee, set in a crunchy walnut-chocolate crust and crowned with coffee whipped cream. A make-ahead showstopper.

Pan di Spagna is the classic Italian sponge cake, made with just eggs, sugar, flour, and cornstarch. No butter, no leavening. The base for tiramisu, zuppa inglese, and Italian layer cakes.

Thin, crispy lacy almond cookies with just five ingredients: blanched almonds, sugar, butter, flour, and milk. Delicate, caramelized, and ready in under 30 minutes.

Truffled chocolate cake made by layering store-bought pound cake with a rich chocolate ganache frosting. Just four ingredients and no baking needed.

Intensely fudgy brownie cookies loaded with chocolate chips and cocoa. Brown sugar and a short bake time keep these thick, chewy, and soft in the center. The key: pull them before they look done.