Dessert/4 recipes

Upside-down apple gingerbread with caramelized apples over a dark, molasses-rich gingerbread cake spiced with cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. A warming autumn dessert.

Old-fashioned brown sugar crumb cake uses a single mixture for both the cake and the crumb topping. A coffee-cake classic with cinnamon spice and a streusel-like crown, dusted with powdered sugar.

Chocolate marshmallow fudge made with marshmallow cream, evaporated milk, and chocolate chips for foolproof creamy fudge every time. A massive 60-piece batch perfect for holiday gifting.

Kay's apple pie is a classic double-crust pie with pared apples tossed in sugar and cinnamon, dotted with butter and finished with a milk-brushed, sugar-dusted top crust.

Black Forest ice cream cake: two layers of moist chocolate-coffee cake sandwich a slab of vanilla ice cream, frosted with whipped cream and crowned with cherry pie filling. A frozen showstopper.

Crustless fudge pie with just seven pantry ingredients. A brownie-meets-flourless-cake dessert with a crackly top and dense, fudgy middle. Ready in under an hour, no pie crust required.

Vera's buttermilk cookies use powdered buttermilk and a half-sugar, half-sweetener blend for a lower-sugar tangy sugar cookie. Crisp edges, soft centers, ready in 35 minutes.

Filled lemon cookies sandwich thin, buttery shortbread rounds with a bright lemon filling. Slice-and-bake icebox dough with a tea party finish dusted in powdered sugar.

Swedish rosettes are crisp, lacy fried cookies shaped by a decorative iron dipped in batter and flash-fried until golden. A Scandinavian holiday tradition dusted in powdered sugar.

Crazy cake, also known as wacky cake, is an egg-free and dairy-free chocolate sheet cake made with vinegar and oil. Depression-era one-pan recipe that bakes in 35 minutes.

Citrus Molasses Candied Bananas with Coconut recipe

Josephine's pineapple salad: retro molded gelatin salad with cream cheese, crushed pineapple, and whipped cream. A classic potluck centerpiece from grandma's recipe box.

One-bowl chocolate sheet cake that bakes up tender and moist thanks to melted butter, cocoa powder and milk. Everything goes in one bowl, beat just until blended, then into a 13x9 pan. No mixer gymnastics, no fuss.

French lemon pie is a simple rustic tart: a whole wheat butter crust filled with a buttery fresh lemon custard and baked golden. Tart, glossy, and finished in an hour with pantry basics.

Basler Brunsli are flourless Swiss chocolate almond cookies spiced with cinnamon and cloves, cut into festive shapes. A traditional Basel Christmas cookie, chewy inside with a crackly crust.

German-style fruit kuchen with sliced nectarines and plums arranged over a buttery almond-scented press-in crust, finished with a warm peach jam glaze.