Dessert recipes

Classic thumbprint cookies with brown sugar dough rolled in egg white and chopped nuts, indented mid-bake, then filled with icing, cherries, or chocolate kisses.

A boozy chocolate sheet cake laced with peppermint schnapps and sweetened condensed milk, topped with a minty schnapps frosting. Big batch, bold flavor, and ready in an hour.

Melt-in-your-mouth semolina butter cookies made with ghee, powdered sugar, and orange zest, topped with a whole blanched almond. Baked low and slow for a sandy, crumbly texture.

Caramel apple cookies are buttery shortbread balls on toothpick sticks, dipped in melted caramel with apple juice concentrate, and pressed into chopped walnuts. Miniature caramel apple treats.

Glazed lemon squares with a Bisquick shortbread base, a tangy lemon-coconut custard filling, and a sweet lemon glaze on top. A bright, citrusy bar cookie with three distinct layers.

These biscuits are called bones to chew because they are hard and pale. They are traditionally baked on All Soul's Day in Italy.

Rolled poppy seed cookies with fresh orange juice and zest in an oil-based dough. Thin, crisp, and nutty with a bright citrus flavor in every bite.

A favorite throughout the South, chess pie takes its name from the description given by a cook who was asked what sort of pie it was, and replied, "jes pie, honey."

Spritzgeback, the traditional German pressed butter cookie made with rich butter, powdered sugar, and almond or lemon extract. Tender, melt-in-your-mouth shapes pressed through a cookie gun for the holiday tin.

Homemade shortcake biscuits made with real butter, eggs, and milk. These flaky, golden rounds split open to cradle fresh strawberries and whipped cream for the ultimate strawberry shortcake.

Lemon raisin cookies made with cake flour, fresh lemon juice, and lemon zest for a bright citrus flavor and tender crumb. Rolled thin and cut, ready in 40 minutes, makes 2 dozen.

Old-fashioned oatmeal icebox cookies made with brown sugar, lard, butter, and buttermilk. Slice-and-bake dough that chills overnight for thin, crispy oat cookies.

Fresh bananas and Bartlett pears drizzled with melted vanilla ice cream as a ready-made custard sauce, topped with chopped pecans. No cooking, no custard-making. The ice cream is the sauce.

Lemon chiffon pie folds whipped egg whites into a tart lemon-gelatin custard for a cloud-light, no-bake pie filling. Crowned with sweetened whipped cream in a baked shell.

Blueberry drop cookies fold fresh blueberries and bright lemon zest into a soft cake-style dough, then bake into pillowy, fruit-studded rounds. A summer cookie that's halfway to a muffin top.

Spritzgeback are classic German pressed butter cookies flavored with almond extract. Pipe them through a cookie press for decorative shapes, then bake until just golden.