Dessert/7 recipes

Christmas is never complete without a visit from the aromatic, sweet-tasting gingerbread kids.

Warm flour tortillas baked with fresh strawberries, bananas, and cinnamon brown sugar butter, then topped with vanilla sour cream whip. A fun 30-minute dessert the whole family will love.

No-bake holiday chocolate cake layered with orange juice-soaked macaroons, bittersweet ganache, chopped prunes, and toasted almonds. Dusted with cocoa and chilled overnight for deep, complex flavor.

Fresh pineapple with rum cream pairs ripe sliced pineapple with a silky rum-spiked sabayon-style sauce of egg yolks, butter, and whipped cream. An elegant New York chef-style fruit dessert.

Brown sugar sour cream cookies wrapped around walnut-stuffed dates, baked and topped with a vanilla sour cream icing. A unique, old-fashioned holiday cookie.

Hot fig pudding with molasses, buttermilk, dried figs, and ginger baked in a tube pan, served with a warm sherry-butter sauce with nutmeg and lemon. A British-style steamed pudding baked in the oven.

No-bake pumpkin patch pie with orange sherbet, whipped topping, and chopped Oreos in a chocolate cookie crust. A frozen Halloween dessert kids decorate themselves with candy pumpkins.

Rhubarb and blueberry double-crust pie with a hint of nutmeg. Tart rhubarb and sweet blueberries balance each other in this classic spring-to-summer fruit pie.

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.

A lighter marble cheesecake baked right in a pie pan with nonfat cream cheese and a chocolate wafer crust. Swirls of vanilla and chocolate in every creamy, guilt-free slice.

Light, fluffy coconut cupcakes made with coconut syrup, cake flour, and whipped egg whites folded into a scalded milk batter. Topped with guava frosting for a tropical Hawaiian-style treat.

Layered banana, mixed fresh fruit, non-fat vanilla yogurt, and chopped walnuts assembled in 10 minutes. A light, no-cook dessert or breakfast parfait with no added sugar.

Plum good pie with fresh plum wedges arranged like petals over a buttery from-scratch crust, dusted with cinnamon sugar, and bound with beaten eggs into a custard-fruit hybrid.

Pumpkin macaroons made with ground pecans, coconut, pumpkin puree, and maple syrup. Light and chewy egg white cookies sweetened naturally without refined sugar. Baked low and slow.

New York-style persimmon cheesecake with a buttery shortcrust pastry, dense cream cheese filling swirled with persimmon puree, and an overnight chill. A seasonal showstopper for fall.

Make these delicious brownie cupcakes for your Easter party, not only kids will love them, but also grown-ups.