Dessert/5 recipes

Old-fashioned mincemeat pie filling made with real ground beef, apples, raisins, cider, and warm baking spices. A blue-ribbon recipe that freezes in batches so you're always ready for pie season.

Easy layered buckeyes with a peanut butter and powdered sugar base topped with melted chocolate, pressed into a pan and cut into squares. All the flavor of buckeye candy without rolling individual balls.

Classic apricot sweet simmers dried apricots with cardamom, ginger, and almonds into a fragrant, spiced compote, much like Hyderabad's qubani ka meetha. Naturally fruit-sweet, served chilled. A make-ahead Indian dessert.

A two-layer chocolate almond torte with whipped egg whites for lightness and a glossy chocolate chip glaze. Bake it in heart-shaped pans for a Valentine's Day stunner.

Italian-style cheesecake with cream cheese and sieved cottage cheese, flavored with espresso and amaretto, baked in a lemon shortcrust shell with a lattice top.

A rich, fudgy chocolate sheet cake made with whole wheat flour, cocoa, butter, and sour cream, then drenched in warm pourable cocoa frosting while still in the pan.

Chocolate snickerdoodles rolled in a cocoa-cinnamon-sugar coating with chewy oats baked right into the dough. Soft centers, crinkly tops, and a double hit of chocolate.

A classic oatmeal cookie recipe yielding chewy, golden treats with warm cinnamon notes. Optional add-ins like raisins or chocolate chips make it versatile.

Linzer Augen are Austria's almond shortbread sandwich cookies: two tender, nutty rounds glued with apricot jam, the top cut with a little window that frames the glistening preserves under a snowfall of powdered sugar. A Christmas cookie tin classic.

Broiled banana chocolate pudding with instant chocolate pudding topped with sliced bananas and brown sugar caramelized under the broiler. A 4-ingredient, low-fat dessert.

Nutty apricot bars with a coconut-pecan crumble crust and jammy dried apricot filling. A layered fruit bar that's part cookie, part shortcake, chilled and sliced from the pan.

Punch bowl cake layered with yellow cake, cherry pie filling, chocolate and vanilla pudding, pineapple, bananas, whipped topping, and nuts. A retro layered trifle for a crowd.

Peanut butter meringue cream pie with a silky stovetop custard, a whisper of ginger, and golden-peaked meringue. A diner classic with proper technique behind every step.

Peanut butter cheesecake baked inside a fudgy brownie crust with a sour cream topping. A rich, chocolate-meets-peanut-butter dessert worthy of a glass slipper.

No-bake chocolate cheesecake with a chocolate-cocoa biscuit crust, a cloud-light filling of bittersweet chocolate, whipped cream, and folded egg whites, crowned with toasted pecans.

No-starter friendship Bundt cake with brandied fruit, coconut, dates, and a hit of orange and walnut extracts. The classic friendship cake without the 30-day countdown.