Dessert/7 recipes

Coconut fluff peaches with a cloud of meringue-like topping made from beaten egg white, coconut syrup, and lemon zest, heaped into peach halves. A light, retro dessert.

Traditional British coconut ice with a white and pink layered look. Just sugar, water, desiccated coconut, and vanilla cooked to soft-ball stage and pressed into squares. A classic Christmas sweet that's dead simple to make.

Apees are a classic Pennsylvania Dutch sugar cookie made with butter, sour cream, and just five ingredients. Tender, lightly sweet rolled cookies with golden edges and a soft center.

Mom's red velvet cake with old-fashioned ermine frosting (the original red velvet topping). Buttermilk, cocoa, and vinegar give the cake its signature tang and tender crumb.

Nut gingerbread with molasses, brown sugar, and ground ginger topped with chopped nuts and a brown sugar crust. A warmly spiced, old-fashioned cake that fills the kitchen with aroma.

Pears baked in honey with lemon juice, oven-poached until tender and served chilled with a reduced honey syrup. A refined British dessert with just four ingredients and elegant simplicity.

Homemade mint jelly with fresh mint leaves, vinegar, sugar, and pectin. A classic condiment for roast lamb that sets up crystal clear and bright green in about 20 minutes.

Frozen tortoni with cream cheese, Amaretto, whipped cream, and crushed peanut brittle in foil cups. An elegant Italian-style frozen dessert with no ice cream maker needed.

Pumpkin cake doughnuts with bran flakes and pumpkin pie spice, deep-fried until golden and rolled in cinnamon sugar. A spiced fall doughnut made from scratch with real pumpkin.

Sweet noodle kugel with egg noodles, raisins, walnuts, and lemon juice baked until golden with a bread crumb topping. A classic Jewish comfort dish for holidays or any day.

One-bowl brownies made with melted unsweetened chocolate, butter, and chopped nuts. Fudgy, rich, and minimal cleanup with the chocolate melted right in the mixing bowl.

Bath cookies made with sea salt, baking soda, cornstarch, and essential oils. Fizzy, skin-softening bath treats shaped like cookies. NOT for eating, for bathing only.

Fresh strawberries baked under a flaky single-crust pastry with just sugar, flour, and butter. This rustic deep-dish strawberry pie is simple, juicy, and begs for a dollop of whipped cream.

Maryanne's cheesecake: a low-and-slow New York-style cheesecake with cream cheese, sour cream, butter, and lemon zest on a buttery graham cracker crust. Baked gently for an ultra-silky texture.

Taffy apple cookies are buttery bite-sized cookies on toothpicks, dipped in melted caramel and rolled in chopped nuts. Holiday party trick that looks like mini caramel apples.

No-bake raspberry yogurt pie with fresh crushed berries folded into raspberry yogurt and whipped topping, frozen in a graham cracker crust. Four ingredients, zero oven time.