Dessert/5 recipes

Classic Italian fruit tart with a lemon-scented shortcrust, silky crema pasticcera, seasonal fresh fruit, and an apricot glaze. A pasticceria showpiece you can make at home.

Old-fashioned brownies with unsweetened chocolate, butter, pecans, and a simple creamed batter. A vintage one-bowl recipe that bakes in 25 minutes flat.

Bewitching cookies with orange zest, orange juice, buttermilk, and chocolate chips in a soft brown sugar drop cookie. A citrus-chocolate combination that's hard to resist.

Meringue chocolate chip cookies: light, crisp meringue cookies dotted with chocolate chips and nuts. Naturally gluten-free, fat-free, and dramatically airy.

Toffee crisps are light, golden drop cookies studded with almond brickle chips. A crispy, buttery cookie with caramelized toffee bits in every bite.

Caramel pecan pie with homemade caramel pastry cream, chopped pecans, and a golden meringue topping. Old-school holiday Southern pie tradition.

Light-as-air sourdough chiffon cake with a subtle tang from sourdough starter, brightened by lemon juice and vanilla. Baked in a tube pan for sky-high lift and a cloud-soft crumb.

Buttery pretzel-shaped cookies made with powdered sugar, egg whites, and vanilla, baked golden and drizzled with an optional chocolate frosting. A fun twist on classic butter cookies.

Homemade fig newtons with a chewy brown-sugar cookie wrapped around real fig jam cooked with lemon. The classic lunchbox cookie made fresh, no preservatives required.

Chocolate chip tea sandwiches: a chewy brown-sugar blondie bar studded with chocolate chips, baked in a sheet pan and cut into dainty squares for tea, showers, or bake sales.

Soft, cake-like apricot cookies with jewel-toned jam centers that bake up tender and light. Chopped dried apricots in the dough add chewy bits of fruit throughout each cookie.

Classic rolled sugar cookie cutouts with a tender butter-and-cream dough, sprinkled with red and green colored sugar before baking. Holiday cookie-tin staple.

Fancy spritz cookies are tender, buttery pressed cookies enriched with ground almonds and almond extract for a marzipan-like flavor. Shape them with a cookie press into pretty holiday wreaths and stars.

Frozen toffee butter torte with a chocolate-ganache center, crushed Heath bar crust and crown, and whipped butter-brown sugar filling. An elegant no-bake make-ahead dessert.

Krumiri: Piedmontese piped butter cornmeal cookies from Casale Monferrato, Italy. Crisp, mustache-shaped shortbread with a distinct golden crunch and subtle vanilla flavor.

Chewy oatmeal cookie dough shaped into snowmen and decorated for the holidays. A fun winter baking project for kids that makes four big cookie snowmen.