Dessert/8 recipes

Deep-fried fruit cookies with a jelly center, spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, then dusted in powdered sugar. Crispy outside, jammy inside.

Praline sauce made with dark brown sugar, toasted pecans, and vanilla, thickened with cornstarch and skim milk. A lighter take on the classic Southern dessert sauce.

When I go to potlucks, family gatherings or on hunting and fishing trips with my husband and son, this cake is one of my favorite desserts to bring. The flavorful cake stays moist as long as it lasts, which isn't long!

Biscotti nocciole cioccolato, Italian hazelnut chocolate biscotti twice-baked with Frangelico liqueur. Crisp, dippable, coffee-shop style cookies that keep for weeks.

Moist, tasty and light. A perfectly delicious cake to finish up the meal without feeling guilty.

Belgian spice crisps are paper-thin, shatteringly crisp cookies scented with cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, ginger, lemon, and rum. A European Christmas classic rolled ultra-thin for maximum crunch.

No-bake chocolate cheesecake with a graham cracker crust, cream cheese, melted chocolate chips, and whipped cream set with gelatin. No oven needed for this rich, silky dessert.

Four-layer spiced chocolate torte filled with apricot jam and frosted with a cocoa-espresso ricotta cream. Warm cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg give this butterless cake a complex, grown-up flavor.

Mini apple pies use refrigerated biscuit dough as a fast pastry shortcut. Each rolled biscuit wraps a tablespoon of cinnamon-sugar apple-raisin filling and bakes in muffin cups. Ten warm hand pies in 15 minutes.

Lime fluff pie folds whipped chilled evaporated milk into a hot applesauce-and-lime gelatin base for a cloud-light no-bake filling. A retro mid-century freezer pie that makes two.

A classic chocolate souffle from Eunice Kennedy Shriver's kitchen, made with unsweetened chocolate, a touch of coffee, and billowy whipped egg whites. Elegant enough for any holiday table.

Super moist and chocolaty sponge cake with a hint of coffee flavor.

Milky Way layer cake melts eight candy bars with butter into a chocolate-caramel-nougat batter for a moist Southern celebration cake. Tender crumb, rich frosting-friendly base, layered or sheet style.

Cheesecake squares with a brown sugar and walnut crumb crust that doubles as a streusel topping, a creamy cream cheese center, and M&M's tucked in for chocolate crunch and color. Easy bar-form cheesecake, no springform needed.

Four-ingredient cherry dump cake with a buttery yellow cake mix crust, two cans of cherry pie filling, and a nutty crumble topping. Served warm with ice cream.

No-bake chocolate cheesecake built on a toasted almond wafer crust with a silky milk chocolate, cream cheese, and whipped cream filling. No oven required.