Dessert/9 recipes

Traditional British Christmas plum pudding with cognac-soaked dried fruit, walnuts, suet, and warm spices, steamed in a mold and served with brandy butter sauce. A Victorian holiday classic.

Peanut butter bars for a crowd yields 8 dozen from three sheet pans. A big-batch recipe with a chewy, dense peanut butter cookie base dusted with powdered sugar.

Buttery caramel macadamia shortbread made with brown sugar, rice flour, and cornstarch for a melt-in-your-mouth crumble. Bakes in one pan and cuts into 25 bars.

Fresh figs poached in port and creme de cassis, the wine reduced to a glossy syrup, served over vanilla frozen yogurt. An elegant, low-fat dessert with deep berry and fig flavor from just a few ingredients.

Stovetop fudge made with semisweet chocolate, butterscotch coating, and marshmallow cream for a two-toned candy that is rich, nutty, and smooth in every bite.

Simple butter cookies with just six ingredients roll, cut, and decorate easily for endless holiday shapes that stay soft and tender straight from the oven.

Pina colada sheet cake: a yellow poke cake soaked with cream of coconut, sweetened condensed milk, and rum, topped with crushed pineapple, whipped cream, and coconut. The cocktail in cake form.

Elegant individual tiramisu parfaits layered in stemmed glasses with mascarpone Italian meringue, coffee-soaked crumbs, dark rum, and bittersweet chocolate triangles.

Jello sugar cookies made with gelatin mix for colorful, flavored drop cookies ready in 25 minutes. A retro classic that yields 2 dozen soft, buttery cookies kids absolutely go wild for.

Old-school lard pie crust with egg, vinegar, and a touch of brown sugar. One batch yields four disks for double-crust pies. The flakiest crust comes from cold lard worked into the size of tiny peas.

Apple brunch cake hides a cinnamon-sugar apple ribbon inside a buttery cake-mix base, baked in a tube pan and dusted with powdered sugar. An easy, cozy coffee cake for brunch or an afternoon treat.

Zucchini pie that tastes like apple pie. A classic garden-glut mock apple pie with peeled zucchini, cinnamon, brown sugar, and a buttery streusel top, perfect for end-of-summer harvests.

Four-ingredient peanut butter cookies using yellow cake mix as a shortcut. Just blend, roll, fork-press, and bake for golden cookies in 30 minutes flat.

Soft orange drop cookies made with frozen orange juice concentrate and powdered sugar, topped with a bright orange frosting. A retro citrus cookie with a tender bite and clean orange flavor.

Lemon icebox cookies made with fresh lemon juice and zest, shaped into logs and chilled overnight before slicing and baking. A crisp, buttery slice-and-bake cookie with bright citrus flavor.

Traditional German almond cookies shaped into hearts, with a tender flourless crumb made from ground almonds, egg yolks, and lemon extract, topped with a bright lemon icing. Naturally gluten-free and irresistible.