Dessert/7 recipes

Vintage spice cake layered with sweet stewed figs and crowned with vanilla frosting and toasted coconut. This retro two-layer beauty transforms humble ingredients into pure nostalgia.

French cherry clafouti with brandy-macerated cherries baked in a puffy, golden custard scented with allspice and lemon zest. Rustic elegance that looks far harder than it is.

Raspberry poppy seed cookies are tender butter thumbprints studded with crunchy poppy seeds and filled with jewel-bright raspberry preserves. A bakery-style classic with two textures in every bite.

Fried diamond twist cookies with egg yolk dough, deep-fried crisp and dusted with powdered sugar. Scandinavian rosettes-meets-krumkake pastry also known as chrusciki or rosettes in other traditions.

Taffy apple cookies: tender shortbread cookie balls dipped in melted caramel and rolled in crushed peanuts, with a toothpick stick so each one looks like a miniature caramel apple. A fun, nutty fall treat, no apple required.

Gingerbread dough made the old-fashioned way with boiled molasses, shortening, allspice, and cinnamon. Perfect for rolled cookies, houses, or cut-out shapes.

Cinnamon rugelach made with a tender cream cheese pastry dough, rolled crescent-style around a cinnamon filling and dusted with cinnamon sugar. Flaky, buttery little cookies for the holidays and cookie trays.

Polynesian bombe is a three-layer frozen dessert of mango, raspberry, and lime ices molded into a showstopper dome. Make-ahead tropical finale with zero baking.

Strawberry granita made from just three ingredients, no ice cream machine needed. Fresh strawberry puree and simple syrup frozen and scraped into glittering, refreshing ice crystals. Pure summer in a glass.

Flaky, buttery pastry triangles filled with jam and kissed with orange zest. A classic Austrian cookie that uses hard-cooked egg yolks for an impossibly tender dough.

Strawberry cream pie layered with toasted almonds, a from-scratch vanilla cream filling, fresh halved strawberries, and a glossy strawberry glaze. Diner-counter classic done properly.

British rhubarb fool with stewed rhubarb, orange, and a light fromage frais or yogurt fold-in. Tart-sweet pink dessert that's lighter than a traditional cream fool. Spring on a spoon.

Microwave rum cake with devil's food layers soaked in rum, apricot preserves in the middle, and fluffy Italian-style meringue frosting. Retro dessert, updated speed.

Kissing in the clouds cookies: crisp coconut and popcorn meringues with a Hershey's kiss pressed into the center. A fun, fluffy retro dessert kids love to make.

Flaky butter pastry tartlets filled with chopped apples and topped with golden melted cheddar. A sweet-savory bite-sized treat that pairs fruit and cheese in every nibble.

A spice cake mix upgraded with rolled oats, low-fat yogurt, and chopped apples, finished with a crunchy brown sugar and oat crumble topping. Bakes in one pan, ready in an hour.