Dessert/9 recipes

No-bake chocolate pudding pies in single-serve graham cracker crusts with cinnamon, whipped topping, and chocolate curls. Ready in 10 minutes flat.

Crunchy Italian biscotti loaded with hazelnuts, lemon zest, sambuca, and rum. Twice-baked for that signature snap, these tozzetti are built for dunking in espresso or a glass of vin santo.

Rich chocolate truffles with crunchy pecan centers, dipped in smooth melted chocolate and topped with chopped nuts. Easy microwave method makes 3 dozen elegant candies.

Two-ingredient mango cream dip made with cream cheese and mango chutney. A sweet, tangy, and spiced dip that works with fruit, crackers, or as a spread for chicken sandwiches.

Port wine blueberry cake reduces ruby port into a syrupy concentrate, then folds it into a low-fat buttermilk cake studded with fresh berries. A sophisticated grown-up dessert.

No-crust Easter pie made with ricotta and cream cheese, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. An Italian-American crustless ricotta cheesecake baked in a springform pan.

Old-fashioned apple ring fritters: peeled apple slices dipped in a quick milk-and-egg batter, pan-fried in shortening until golden, and dusted with cinnamon sugar. A 30-minute dessert from grandma's kitchen.

Molasses cookies are soft, chewy spice cookies rolled in sugar before baking, with cinnamon, ginger, and cloves balancing rich molasses. Crinkly tops, chewy centers, classic holiday cookie tray staple.

Old-fashioned Southern sour cream cookies with chopped walnuts and a cinnamon-sugar crunch. Soft, cakey, and perfect for cookie swaps, these drop cookies freeze beautifully and make 3 dozen in just 30 minutes.

Six thin cake layers stacked high with cream cheese frosting and blueberry pie filling between each one. A showpiece dessert that's much easier to make than it looks.

This old-fashioned cookie from Gretchen D'Antico of Merton has a nice flavor and is even better dipped in white chocolate.

Homemade chocolate walnut cream candies with marshmallow cream, fondant, and heavy cream cooked to the soft ball stage. Old-fashioned candy shop fudge you can make at home.

Upside-down chocolate cake layers marshmallows and a cocoa-walnut syrup under boxed devil's food batter, baking into a gooey self-saucing chocolate dessert.

Soft, cakey cranberry drop cookies loaded with whole fresh cranberries, walnuts, and a touch of lemon juice. Makes 3 dozen festive holiday cookies with a tender crumb.

Pecan angel pie folds toasty pecans and graham cracker crumbs into stiff meringue, then bakes into a chewy-crisp dessert topped with whipped cream or ice cream. No flour, no fat in the base, just nuts and crumbs holding sweet meringue together.

Easter chip cookies loaded with pastel candy-coated chocolate pieces in a chewy brown sugar dough. Festive, colorful drop cookies the kids will love decorating Easter baskets with.