Dessert/5 recipes

Pretty pink jelly combining apple juice and fresh crushed strawberries with liquid pectin. Boils for just 1 minute. Seal with paraffin wax for shelf-stable preserves. Makes 3.5 cups.

Fudgy brownie filling loaded with chocolate chips, pecans, and a splash of Kahlua, baked in a pie crust and topped with billowy whipped cream and chocolate curls.

Individual fruitcake cupcakes studded with dates, golden raisins, pecans, and citrus zest, soaked in brandy and topped with a pineapple chunk. Just 2 tablespoons of brown sugar in the whole batch. Diabetic-friendly holiday baking at its finest.

Buttery pecan shortbread cookie balls dipped in vanilla frosting and rolled in tinted coconut. Melt-in-your-mouth tender, baked low and slow, and perfect for holiday cookie exchanges. Makes 48.

Boston banana cream pie, a soft vanilla cake split and stuffed with fresh banana slices and homemade vanilla custard, then topped with a glossy chocolate-almond glaze.

Nutty carob chip cookies sweetened with honey and made with whole wheat flour. Caffeine-free chocolate-chip-cookie alternative for the carob-loving, health-conscious snacker.

A novelty cake shaped like a giant hamburger! Golden pound cake topped with toasted sesame seeds, penuche frosting, cocoa "meat," and strawberry preserve "ketchup." A total showstopper for kids' parties.

Almond slices are loaded with chopped almonds in an oil-based dough and sliced warm. A pareve mandelbrot-style cookie that travels well, keeps for weeks, and gets better with time.

Mom's yellow cake with butterscotch frosting is a three-layer buttermilk cake with folded egg whites for lightness, topped with a boiled brown sugar and butter frosting. A true from-scratch heirloom recipe.

Crisp meringue tart shells baked low and slow, filled with fresh sliced strawberries. Light, airy dessert cups with a Pavlova-like crunch and soft center.

No-bake orange upside-down cheesecake with fresh orange segments set in gelatin, a cream cheese and whipped cream filling, and a vanilla wafer cinnamon crust.

No-bake holiday almond treats with vanilla wafer crumbs, pumpkin puree, amaretto, cinnamon, and ground almonds. Rolled into balls and coated in toasted almonds.

No-bake banana vanilla wafer pie layered with sliced bananas and vanilla whipped cream. Just four ingredients, chilled overnight for a soft, creamy icebox dessert.

Fortune Christmas Cookies, tiny marble-sized dough balls baked into bite-sized holiday treats. A simple, quick-baking variation of the Mysticandy cookie dough for the Christmas tin.

Waldorf red velvet cake with buttermilk, cocoa, and a cooked flour frosting that tastes like whipped cream. The original Waldorf-Astoria recipe from scratch.

Classic butter pecan snowball cookies rolled in powdered sugar while warm for melt-in-your-mouth tender bites packed with toasted nuts.