Dessert/9 recipes

Microwave fudge made in just 2 minutes with milk chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate, and sweetened condensed milk. Velvety smooth, no candy thermometer needed, and loaded with chopped nuts.

Fattigmann, a traditional Norwegian fried cookie flavored with cardamom, lemon zest, and brandy. Diamond-shaped, paper-thin, and dusted with sugar.

Paintbrush sugar cookies decorated before baking with egg yolk paint in bright colors. A fun roll-and-cut cookie with almond extract, great for kids and holiday baking.

Mocha layer cake built with cake flour, cocoa, and strong brewed coffee, sandwiched with sweetened whipped cream folded with dates and nuts. A vintage two-layer dessert dusted with powdered sugar.

Hundred-dollar chocolate cake made with mayonnaise-style salad dressing instead of eggs and butter. Moist, fudgy, and topped with a boiled cocoa frosting.

Diabetic-friendly date nut cookies sweetened with sugar-free orange marmalade instead of sugar. Chopped dates, nuts, and cinnamon in a simple drop cookie.

Fig brownie pudding made with crumbled fig cookies, melted chocolate, chocolate chips, and walnuts baked in sweetened condensed milk. A warm, fudgy dessert served with whipped cream.

Classic Swedish spritz cookies made with a cookie press from a rich butter dough. Decorate with candied fruits or colored sugar for a festive holiday cookie tin that yields 3-4 dozen.

Jam cake with caramel icing, a three-layer Southern spice cake built around blackberry jam, cinnamon, and allspice, blanketed with soft-ball-stage caramel icing made from brown sugar, butter, and cream.

Individual pineapple upside-down cakes baked in small Pyrex dishes with a homemade cinnamon-pineapple syrup and a pineapple ring in each. Buttery, caramelized, and portion-perfect.

Crazy cake (also called wacky cake or depression cake) needs no eggs, no milk, no butter. Mixed straight in the pan with vinegar for chemistry-class lift. A Depression-era favorite.

Wacky cake, a Depression-era chocolate cake made with no eggs, no butter, and no milk. Vinegar and baking soda provide the rise, and cocoa powder delivers deep chocolate flavor from pantry staples.

Orange potato bread with fresh orange juice, orange zest, riced potatoes, and chopped nuts. A moist, citrusy quick bread where potato keeps the crumb tender for days.

No-bake chocolate mint torte with a chocolate cookie crumb crust and a silky chocolate-peppermint filling lightened with whipped cream. A dinner-party finisher that chills 3 hours and slices like silk.

Two-layer fudge cake built on a cooked cocoa-milk paste with brown sugar for depth. Old-fashioned chocolate layer cake from-scratch and a perfect blank canvas for any frosting.

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.