Dessert/5 recipes

Southern buttermilk meringue pie with a tangy custard filling sweetened with brown sugar, topped with light whipped meringue. A heritage pie from old Appalachian and Southern kitchens.

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.

Old-fashioned honey drop cookies with cinnamon, cloves, and raisins. No refined sugar at all. Soft, chewy, and warmly spiced with a caramel-like sweetness.

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.

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.

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

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.

This pie is the perfect balance of sweet and tart with a lovely lattice crust:)

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.

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.

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.