Dessert/5 recipes

Classic white cake with buttermilk and egg whites for a pure white, tender crumb. Easy two-layer recipe with a marble cake variation built in.

Mandel-Halbmonde are German almond crescents: buttery shortbread cookies shaped like half-moons, baked pale, then rolled twice in powdered sugar. The kind of melt-in-your-mouth Christmas cookie every German bakery puts on the holiday plate.

Chocolate meringue pie with a silky cooked custard filling and a billowy sweetened meringue topping baked golden. The diner-counter classic done from scratch with unsweetened chocolate for that unmistakable old-fashioned cocoa flavor.

Koala Kookies are buttery walnut shortbread balls dusted in powdered sugar. Five ingredients, no eggs, and a melt-in-your-mouth texture that puts these in the same family as Mexican wedding cookies, Russian tea cakes, and Greek kourabiedes.

No-bake chocolate pie made with melted Hershey's almond bars folded into whipped cream and chilled overnight. A four-ingredient dessert that turns candy bars into a silky chilled chocolate-almond mousse pie.

Sheila's apple pie tops green apples with a buttery batter made from pancake mix, sugar, egg, and butter. The unconventional shortcut topping bakes into a tender, cake-like crust over tart apple filling.

Lighter pound cake made with egg whites instead of whole eggs and buttermilk for a tender crumb. Flavored with vanilla and a hint of mace, no yolks needed.

Slice and bake sugar cookies: a make-ahead dough rolled in wax paper and chilled, then sliced and baked into tender cookies. Yields nearly eight dozen.

Italian pizzelles with butter, sugar, eggs, and a hint of anise pressed in a hot pizzelle iron into delicate snowflake-patterned wafer cookies. Traditional Italian holiday cookie.

Sesame seed cookies are an Italian-American holiday classic with a tender shortbread-like dough rolled in toasted sesame seeds before baking. Massive batch (240 cookies) for cookie tins.

Nut refrigerator cookies (icebox cookies) with brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and chopped nuts. Slice-and-bake dough that chills overnight and yields crisp, buttery cookies with caramel notes.

Classic walnut-crusted thumbprint cookies with tender shortbread base and jewel-toned jelly centers perfect for cookie swaps and holiday gift boxes.

Layered mocha chocolate torte with bloomed cocoa cake, espresso-spiked ermine filling, pecans, and creamy white frosting. Four-layer celebration cake.

Glazed ribbon cookies with buttery shortbread dough rolled into strips, filled with raspberry jam, and drizzled with vanilla glaze. Holiday cookie tray classic.

Buttery shortbread-style nut fingers with toasted walnuts and cornstarch for a melt-in-your-mouth texture. Rolled into ropes, baked golden, and dusted with confectioners' sugar.

Maple pecan crisps with brown sugar, vanilla, and maple extract baked thin until golden and snappy. An egg white wash and minced pecans give each cookie a glossy, nutty crunch.