Dessert/9 recipes

Maraschino heart cookies with a chocolate chip thumbprint center topped with a cherry. Heart-shaped Valentine's Day cookies that are as pretty as they are sweet.

Mint cheesecake with chopped Junior Mints baked into a creamy vanilla filling on a buttery graham cracker crust. Cool, minty chocolate pockets in every rich, velvety slice.

Honey lemon sponge cake is a take on Japanese castella (kasutera): a tall, springy, honey-sweetened sponge brightened with lemon. Whipped eggs alone give it lift, no butter needed, for a delicate, fine-grained crumb.

Cherry cheesecake pie with tart red cherries baked under a creamy vanilla cream cheese topping in a pie shell. Almond extract adds a subtle, fragrant finish. Two desserts in one.

Southern Carolina apple cake packed with 3 cups of diced apples and chopped nuts, finished with a warm brown sugar butter sauce poured right over the top. Dense, moist, and deeply comforting.

Austrian butter cookies: simple four-ingredient nut shortbread rounds. Roll plain for tea time or sandwich with jam and chocolate frosting for traditional Austrian dessert.

Buttery shortbread cookies topped with caramel, coated in melted chocolate, and pressed with chopped pecans. Homemade Turtle-style candy cookies that make a gorgeous gift box treat.

A towering four-layer strawberry cake made easy with a box mix, fresh berry glaze between each layer, and tangy cream cheese icing all over. Semi-homemade and stunning.

Simple Southern chess pie filled with chopped apples, butter, and cinnamon. Cream together five basic ingredients, fold in apples, then bake until set with a two-temperature method.

Pfefferneusse are traditional German pepper cookies with molasses, star anise, cinnamon, allspice, and black pepper, rolled in powdered sugar. This old-world recipe mellows for weeks in stoneware for the best flavor.

Chocolate applesauce cake baked in canning jars and sealed while hot. A moist, fudgy cake with almond extract that makes a unique homemade gift.

Mocha cake with chocolate buttercream frosting. An airy sponge cake soaked in orange syrup, filled and frosted with a coffee-chocolate buttercream made from Italian meringue.

Meringue pecan pie binds Ritz cracker crumbs and chopped pecans into a stiff egg-white meringue, then bakes into a chewy-crisp slice. No pie crust required. Top with ice cream or fresh fruit and whipped cream.

Savory peanut butter and sharp cheddar cookies with a buttery crumble. No sugar needed. These crispy, golden bites are the snack you didn't know you were craving.

This Tex-Mex style tres leches splits a golden sponge cake in half and drenches both layers in a vanilla-rum milk bath. Topped with crunchy pecans, it's pure indulgence that only gets better overnight.

Old-fashioned applesauce cake: applesauce and oil keep it moist and tender, warm cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg give it autumn spice, and raisins and nuts add chew. An easy one-pan cake.