Dessert/7 recipes

Chocolate turtle cheesecake: vanilla wafer crust topped with melted caramel, toasted pecans, and chocolate cheesecake filling. A layered showstopper dessert for serious occasions.

No-bake Rice Krispie balls combine melted peanut butter and butter with crisp rice cereal and chopped nuts, rolled in powdered sugar. Five ingredients, 15 minutes, zero oven time.

Coconut brownies: chewy chocolate brownies loaded with flaked coconut in the batter and crowned with chocolate chips and walnuts. The fudgy chocolate-coconut bar that beats any candy.

This two-layer banana cake with buttermilk and chopped pecans bakes up incredibly moist and tender. Made with cake flour for a fine, soft crumb, it's the kind of from-scratch banana cake that wins blue ribbons.

Chocolate sauerkraut cake that sounds wild but bakes up incredibly moist and tender. The sauerkraut disappears into the cocoa batter, and a creamy chocolate frosting seals the deal.

Scotch shortbread is a 5-ingredient buttery Christmas cookie cut into festive shapes. Powdered sugar gives a melt-in-the-mouth crumb; tender, sandy, and made for sprinkling with colored sugar.

Light, airy angel food cake drizzled with a buttery cinnamon-apple glaze. Made from scratch with egg whites, cake flour, and a hint of almond extract.

This is a simple, quick, and easy recipe for cookies. The children will love to help with this one.

Sugar and spice layer cake with cinnamon, cloves, brown sugar, and buttermilk in a tender two-layer round cake. A warmly spiced classic with buttercream frosting.

Upside-Down Pineapple-Raisin-Carrot Cake bakes a spiced carrot batter over caramelized pineapple rings and raisins in a cast iron skillet. Two classics in one.

Spiced grapefruit upside-down cake with brown sugar, walnuts, cinnamon, and cloves baked on a caramelized grapefruit base. Served with grapefruit-zest whipped cream.

Mocha spice roll cake is a warmly spiced sponge rolled around billowy coffee-cocoa whipped cream, then frosted and fork-scored to look like a bark log. A holiday-ready bûche de Noël with cinnamon, clove, and allspice woven through.

Curry buttered popcorn tossed with golden raisins and fresh diced apple. A sweet, savory, and warmly spiced snack ready in 10 minutes flat.

Olive oil and Sauternes cake with orange zest and whipped egg whites for a tender, airy crumb. A grown-up dessert cake that shows off two bold flavors without being heavy.

Low-fat cocoa brownie bars made with egg whites, nonfat yogurt, and cocoa powder instead of butter and chocolate. Fudgy brownie cookie bars dusted with powdered sugar.

Dark chocolate buttermilk cupcakes filled with whipped white chocolate ganache. These cream-filled chocolate cupcakes are tender, moist, and hideously good, with a surprise center in every bite.