Dessert/2 recipes

Chocolate custard chocolate cheesecake combines a rich pudding-based chocolate filling with cream cheese and folded egg whites, topped with sour cream over a graham cracker crust. Deeply chocolatey, custard-soft.

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.

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.

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.

Frozen pumpkin ice cream pie in a gingersnap crust with cinnamon-spiked vanilla ice cream and pumpkin whipped cream, finished with warm caramel pecan sauce poured over each slice.

Mandel rolls (mandelbrot) made with cake meal, matzo meal, potato starch, and chopped nuts. Twice-baked Jewish biscotti that are crisp, cinnamon-spiced, and Passover-friendly.

Moist, spiced fruit cake loaves sweetened naturally with boiled raisins and unsweetened applesauce, plus just a touch of liquid sweetener. Warm cinnamon and nutmeg fill every slice. A diabetic-friendly take on a holiday classic.

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.

Rich sour cream cheesecake with four packages of cream cheese, six eggs, cinnamon, and a vanilla wafer crust. Baked in a springform pan for 70 minutes. Dense, creamy, and tall.

Chocolate snickerdoodles rolled in a cocoa-cinnamon-sugar coating with chewy oats baked right into the dough. Soft centers, crinkly tops, and a double hit of chocolate.

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Strawberry frost blended from frozen strawberries, low-fat yogurt, ricotta, and orange juice concentrate. A no-sugar-added frozen dessert that doubles as a diabetic-friendly treat.

Maple-walnut pound cake baked in a tube pan with a cinnamon-walnut streusel layer through the middle and on top. Dense, buttery, and loaded with maple and brown sugar flavor.

Pecan tassies with cream cheese pastry shells filled with brown sugar, pecans, and egg. Bite-size pecan pies baked in mini muffin tins until golden and set.

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.