Dessert/9 recipes

Italian cheesecake blends silky mascarpone with creamy ricotta, brandy, and vanilla, then bakes into two graham cracker pies with a tender, lightly set filling. A no-water-bath cheesecake with old-country flavor and zero fuss.

Old-fashioned lemon meringue pie with a cornstarch-thickened filling, real lemon juice and zest, and a golden billowy meringue topping. Tart, sweet, and absolutely classic.

Braune Zucker Platzchen, traditional German brown sugar cookies with cinnamon, cloves, orange zest, raisins, and nuts. Spiced drop cookies that store well in airtight tins.

Cream cheese lemon pound cake from a doctored boxed mix with cream cheese, lemon zest and lemon gelatin. Tender, tangy bundt cake that tastes anything but boxed.

Kiwi fruit gelato made without an ice cream machine, using a simple syrup, fresh kiwi puree, and lemon. Bright green, tangy, and dairy-free.

Polvorones: traditional Mexican pecan cookies made with butter and lard, spiced with cinnamon and anise seed. Sandy, crumbly, and sugar-coated.

Apple raisin sour cream crumb pie nestles sliced apples and plump raisins under a tangy sour cream custard and a buttery cinnamon crumb topping. A Dutch-style fall pie with three textures in one slice.

British style chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

Chocolate pudding studded with chopped Almond Joy candy pieces fills a graham cracker-candy crust for a no-bake pie that tastes like your favorite candy bar in dessert form.

Impossible chocolate pie: blend everything in a blender, pour into a pie plate, and bake. The pie forms its own crust as it bakes. A crustless chocolate custard pie with 2 minutes of prep.

No-bake strawberry lemonade bars: a creamy, tangy filling of cream cheese, marshmallow creme, and fresh strawberries over a graham crust. A cool, no-oven summer dessert.

A decadent and delicious Passover layer cake. The center is filled with apricot preserves and the cake frosted with a rich whipped chocolate frosting.

Indiana fresh rhubarb creme pie with scalded rhubarb in a custard of egg yolks, sugar, and flour, optionally topped with meringue. A heritage Midwestern spring pie.

A warmly spiced sheet cake made with sour cream, raisins, and walnuts, sweetened with brown sugar replacement. Cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg fill every moist slice with cozy fall flavor. Diabetic-friendly and feeds a crowd.

Pear and anise skillet tart with caramelized sugar, fresh pears arranged spoke-fashion, and a lemon-anise pastry crust baked on top then flipped. A tarte tatin-style dessert with warm licorice notes.

Cookies in a bag combine chocolate chips, chocolate-covered raisins, and brown sugar in one ziptop bag for kid-friendly mixing. Soft, chewy drop cookies with no creaming required.