Dessert/8 recipes

Triple-chocolate cheesecake with a crushed cookie crust, rich semi-sweet filling, and a silky chocolate-orange liqueur frosting. Baked low and slow for a dense, fudgy center that'll ruin you for ordinary desserts.

Dried prunes, apricots, and pears slow-cooked with vanilla bean, lemon zest, and a touch of sugar until thick and jammy. Make it on the stovetop or set-and-forget in a crockpot.

Taffy apple pie loaded with Heath toffee bits, sliced apples, and a crunchy oat-walnut streusel topping. Decorative pastry leaf cutouts ring the edge for a showstopper finish.

Mother's Holiday Cherry Squares (Christmas) recipe

Peppermint candy cookies with a buttery walnut shortbread shell hiding a pink cream cheese filling inside. Rolled in crushed peppermint and powdered sugar after baking.

Upside-down chocolate cake baked over a brown-sugar caramel with apricot halves and maraschino cherries. Cocoa-rich cake flipped onto the platter for a glossy fruit top.

Red, white, and blue berry pie with layered blueberries, cream cheese mousse, and raspberries in a gelatin-set filling. A no-bake patriotic dessert for the Fourth of July.

Official Government Chocolate Chip Cookie Units recipe

Bite-sized cream cheese pastry cups filled with walnuts, chocolate, and egg custard, served with rum-spiked whipped cream. These elegant tassies are a holiday cookie tray must-have.

This moist and flavorful cake uses is built off of a yellow cake mix and instant pudding. It is easy to make no matter how much baking experience you have!

Red velvet cake with buttermilk and vinegar baked in three layers, topped with cream cheese pecan frosting. An oil-based cake with a tender crumb and classic tangy finish.

Taffy apple pizza on a giant sugar cookie crust topped with peanut butter cream cheese, sliced Granny Smith apples, caramel drizzle, and chopped peanuts. A party-size dessert.

Sugarless cake leans on simmered raisins for natural sweetness instead of refined sugar, with oats, cinnamon, and a touch of artificial sweetener. Diabetic-friendly snack cake that still tastes like dessert.

Triple chocolate oatmeal cookies with cocoa in the dough, semi-sweet chips throughout, and white chocolate dipped edges. Thick, chewy, and built for serious chocolate lovers.

Senior winner in Cake Division of 1953 Pillsbury Bakeoff.

Authentic Danish pastry (Dansk Wienerbrod) dough: laminated yeast pastry rolled and folded multiple times to create flaky, buttery layers. The base recipe for Cocks' Combs, Spandauers, Cremeboller, and every other classic Danish bakery treat.