Dessert/8 recipes

Flaky pastry squares layered with spiced apple filling and crumbly streusel topping, drizzled with vanilla glaze. These hand-held treats bake up golden and taste like portable apple pie.

Peanut butter cup cookies made in mini muffin tins from store-bought cookie dough, with a chocolate peanut butter cup pressed into each warm cookie center. Two ingredients, 30 minutes, 48 cookies.

Classic creamy cheesecake with a graham cracker crust, vanilla and almond extract, and sour cream for tang. Baked low and slow with a cooling oven rest for a crack-free top.

Sweet and tart with the perfect flake-to-crunch ratio. It's all about the butter pats.

Kolache cookies with a cream cheese pastry dough folded around fruit jam and dusted with powdered sugar. A three-ingredient Czech-style pastry that melts in your mouth.

Mint macaroons with shredded coconut, chocolate chips, and peppermint extract in a crispy meringue base. Naturally gluten-free and light as air. Makes about 4 dozen.

Nut horns are Eastern European cream cheese pastries filled with a sweet walnut meringue filling. The dough chills overnight for a flaky, tender bite that melts in your mouth.

A basic, delicious cookie that will satisfy the tastes of butterscotch-lovers everywhere.

White chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies made with both butter and shortening for a chewy-crisp texture. Loaded with chopped macadamias and white chocolate in a brown sugar-vanilla dough.

Chocolate cookies with a secret ingredient: fresh chopped mushrooms that keep them incredibly moist for days. Brown sugar, sour cream, unsweetened chocolate, and macaroon crumbs in every bite.

Danish rice pudding (risalamande) with almond extract, folded whipped cream, and fresh raspberry sauce. A light, creamy Scandinavian Christmas dessert topped with whole almonds.

Rolled oat icebox cookies. Slice-and-bake dough with butter, brown sugar and quick oats for crisp, lightly caramelized cookies made from a log you can keep in the fridge.

Buttery shortbread cookies studded with spiced mincemeat and finished with sweet vanilla glaze. Festive holiday treats that taste like Christmas in every crumbly bite.

Chocolate raspberry brownies hide a ribbon of raspberry jam baked into the center of a dense, fudgy walnut brownie. A clever freezing trick suspends the jam mid-batter so every square has a tart raspberry surprise.

Traditional German muffins laced with rum, studded with almonds and raisins, scented with orange zest. Rich, tender crumb with old-world spice and fruit.

Fluffy no-bake orange Jello salad with cream cheese, whipped topping, mandarin oranges, and crushed pineapple. A retro potluck side that chills overnight and feeds a crowd.