Baked goods recipes

Reduced-sugar oatmeal cake with rolled oats, raisins, molasses, and warming cinnamon and nutmeg. Egg whites and a sugar substitute keep things lean. The lighter take on a Southern church-supper classic.

Friendship-starter prune cake spiced with cinnamon and studded with chopped walnuts and stewed prunes. A moist, sourdough-tinged sheet cake from the Amish friendship-bread tradition.

Old-fashioned yeast ferment bread with a simple dough of flour, sugar, salt, and shortening. Double-risen and baked hot for a crisp crust and chewy crumb.

Pastry cheesecake crust with butter, sugar, egg, and flour. A sturdier, cookie-like base for springform cheesecakes when graham crumbs feel too crumbly.

Slice-and-bake cream cheese cookies sweetened mostly with fructose for a lower-sugar treat. Tender, lightly sweet refrigerator cookies that bake up in 10 minutes.

Macadamia pie swaps pecans for buttery Hawaiian macadamia nuts in a classic corn syrup and brown sugar custard. Crisp salted nuts on top, gooey caramel below in a single-crust shell.

Crustless New York-style cheesecake with cream cheese, sour cream, and six eggs baked in a water bath. Dense, creamy, and freezer-friendly with no crust to fuss over.

Chocolate sour cream fudge cake gets its dense, moist crumb from melted unsweetened chocolate, brown sugar, and a splash of hot coffee that deepens the cocoa without tasting like coffee.

Date pecan snowball cookies rolled in powdered sugar with a buttery, crumbly shortbread base. No eggs, no leavening, just butter, flour, dates, and pecans.

Chocolate coconut cake topped with a boiled coconut-coffee-cocoa glaze that soaks into the warm crumb. Simple pantry ingredients for a rich, fudgy everyday cake with tropical coconut finish.

Three-layer white chocolate cake with coconut, pecans, and buttermilk topped with a pourable white chocolate frosting. Includes the frosting recipe.

Lemon blueberry pie with a tangy lemon curd base topped with a glossy blueberry compote in a baked pie shell. No-bake filling that chills to a silky set.

Double death by chocolate bundt cake built from a chocolate cake mix doctored with chocolate pudding, sour cream, and a full bag of chocolate chips. A no-fail rich chocolate bundt for parties and potlucks.

Pumpkin pecan pie layers a spiced pumpkin custard under a classic pecan pie filling for two desserts in one slice. Looks like pecan, eats like Thanksgiving, balanced sweetness throughout.

Christmas surprise cookies: brown sugar drop cookies with a hidden jam center and a dusting of sweet coconut on top. A vintage holiday thumbprint for the cookie tin.

Traditional Slovak yeast doughnuts enriched with egg yolks, butter, and a hint of lemon rind. Light, pillowy fried dough rooted in Eastern European baking traditions. Makes 36.