Dessert/5 recipes

Finnish pecan balls (Finnish snowballs) made with butter, cake flour, and toasted pecans, rolled twice in powdered sugar for a melt-in-your-mouth holiday cookie.

Soft honey carrot cookies with shredded carrots, nutmeg, and real honey for natural sweetness. Shaped into 1-inch balls for a tender, cake-like bite.

It is an excellent choice for February parties or for any occasion where a deluxe cake is desired.

Chocolate sheet cake (Texas sheet cake) with hot cocoa-buttermilk batter and a poured cocoa-buttermilk icing finished while the cake is still hot. The Southern church-supper crowd-feeder cut into 24 squares.

A marbled angel food cake with swirled white and lemon-yellow batters, topped with a tangy lemon glaze. Light as air and gorgeous for spring.

Two-layer white cake filled with lemon curd, covered in fluffy seven-minute frosting, and pressed with shredded coconut. A classic Southern-style coconut cake with a tangy lemon surprise inside.

Liebes-Knoten are German love knots, thin strips of egg-and-cream dough twisted into bows, fried golden, then dusted with powdered sugar. Crisp like a beignet, tender like an Italian fritter. A traditional wedding-and-festival treat.

Pavlova: a crisp meringue shell with a soft, marshmallow-like center, topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit. The Australian summer dessert that lets seasonal berries and stone fruit shine.

Mile high peach pie with a graham cracker crust and a frozen peach mousse beaten from finely chopped peaches, sugar, and egg whites. The 15-minute beat gives the filling its signature towering height.

Easy sugar pie with sweetened condensed milk, corn syrup, and vanilla, finished with a sprinkle of nuts. Three-ingredient filling that bakes into a chewy caramel crown.

Decadent double chocolate Bundt cake made with melted Hershey's chocolate bars and a full bottle of chocolate syrup. Buttermilk gives a moist, tender crumb that lasts. Bakes in an angel food pan and serves a crowd.

Chewy walnut squares made with brown sugar, one egg, and just half a cup of flour. A no-butter bar cookie that stays soft in the center with a crackly top.

Slice-and-bake Swedish coconut cookies with golden edges and a buttery, tender crumb. Shape the dough into logs, chill, slice thin, and bake. Makes a whopping 8 dozen from one batch. Ideal for holiday cookie swaps.

Norwegian krumkaker are crisp cardamom-scented waffle cookies pressed thin in a special iron and rolled into cones while still hot. A traditional Scandinavian Christmas treat.

Sesame biscotti with toasted sesame seeds baked into a crisp, twice-baked Italian cookie. Low-fat with no butter or oil, just eggs and vanilla. Perfect for dunking in coffee or tea.

Oatmeal sesame crisps with brown sugar, butter, rolled oats, and sesame seeds baked into a thin slab and snapped into pieces. Crunchy, nutty, no-flour cookie bars in under 25 minutes.