Dessert/9 recipes

Almond spice cookies with allspice, orange zest, and ground almonds in a tender cake-flour dough. Brushed with egg glaze for shine, these bake up delicately spiced and shortbread-soft.

Orange pecan slice-and-bake cookies with fresh orange zest, orange juice, brown sugar, and chopped pecans. A buttery icebox cookie with bright citrus flavor. Makes 4 dozen.

Buttery cocoa crescent cookies loaded with ground pecans and rolled in powdered sugar. Melt-in-your-mouth tender with a deep chocolate twist on the classic Mexican wedding cookie. Makes about 3.5 dozen.

Spiced date drop cookies with chopped dates, toasted walnuts, cinnamon, and cloves baked into a soft, chewy drop cookie. An old-school holiday tin classic that bakes in just 10 minutes.

Mayonnaise spice cake with raisins, cinnamon, cloves, and chopped nuts. No eggs or butter needed. The mayo keeps this old-fashioned cake incredibly moist with a tender, spiced crumb.

Cooked coconut pecan icing made with evaporated milk, sugar, and margarine. A thick, buttery frosting with toasted coconut and pecans, poured over hot cake.

Strawberry lemon trifle layered with homemade genoise cake, lemon curd filling, kirsch-soaked strawberries, toasted almonds, and whipped cream.

No-bake holiday almond treats with vanilla wafer crumbs, pumpkin puree, amaretto, cinnamon, and ground almonds. Rolled into balls and coated in toasted almonds.

Froggers are oversized soft molasses cookies from old Nantucket whaling kitchens, spiced with ginger, cloves, nutmeg and allspice, flavoured with dark rum and dotted with raisins. Cut into 4-inch rounds for a proper hand-sized cookie.

Soft persimmon cookies with warming cloves and cinnamon, packed with raisins and nuts. Old-fashioned fall harvest treat.

Danish almond cookies (Mandel Kager) with cardamom and cinnamon, brushed with egg wash and topped with a blanched almond half. A traditional Scandinavian Christmas cookie.

Sugar and spice layer cake with cinnamon, cloves, brown sugar, and buttermilk in a tender two-layer round cake. A warmly spiced classic with buttercream frosting.

Eggless cake made with brown sugar, raisins, and warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. No eggs, no butter, no dairy needed for this old-fashioned spice cake.

Finnish sticks are buttery almond shortbread cookies rolled into finger-thin ropes, brushed with egg, and topped with chopped almonds and sugar before baking crisp.

Ossi di Morti (Bones of the Dead) Italian cookies flavored with cinnamon and clove oil, baked hard and meant to be dunked in coffee or tea. A traditional Italian All Souls Day treat.

Mexican-style bread pudding (capirotada) with orange juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins, Monterey Jack cheese, and toasted almonds. A sweet-savory dessert tradition.