Dessert/6 recipes

Santa Claus cookies decorate flat sugar cookies with red sugar caps, miniature marshmallow tassels, currant eyes, cinnamon candy noses, and coconut beards. A festive holiday craft cookie kids can help build from baked rounds.

Kookie Cookies: no-bake peanut butter corn chip bars with corn syrup and sugar. A salty-sweet, crunchy 4-ingredient treat that kids can help make in 15 minutes.

Thin, crispy wafer cookies rolled into delicate tubes while warm, then dipped in melted chocolate and crunchy pecans. A show-stopping holiday cookie that bakes in just 6 minutes.

Rich chocolate walnut cookies with melted semi-sweet chocolate, espresso, and chocolate chips. Shiny, crackle-topped, and fudgy inside like a brownie in cookie form.

Rich milk chocolate cheesecake spiked with Kahlua coffee liqueur on a chocolate-hazelnut-cornflake crust. Silky, boozy, and built for dinner party finishes.

Wendy Lindsey of Wauwatosa sent this winning no-bake cookie, which any date and coconut lover will find irresistible.

Peach cake with sliced summer peaches dredged in flour and folded into a thick, oil-based cinnamon batter. Bakes up moist with a tender crumb, finished with a powdered sugar glaze or a dollop of whipped cream.

This is a rich, interesting cookie, made with nuts, raisins, cinnamon, and jam rolled into a tender cream-cheese pastry.

Soft apricot cream cheese cookies with flaked coconut. Butter and cream cheese creamed with apricot preserves for a tender, fruity drop cookie in 30 minutes.

Unique apple pie with corn syrup custard and crunchy praline pecan topping spiked with apple brandy for sweet-rich Southern-style dessert.

Chewy oatmeal cookies loaded with white chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, candied cherries, and toasted almonds. A bakery-style drop cookie with almond extract for extra depth.

Sour cream brunch cake with a cinnamon-pecan-brown sugar swirl baked in a tube pan. A tender, rich coffee cake with two layers of crumbly, spiced filling throughout.

Dense chocolate tube cake loaded with melted chocolate bars plus chocolate syrup for double the flavor. Crunchy pecans throughout, no icing needed for this fudgy beauty.

Low-cal cheesecake made with cottage cheese, skim milk, whipped egg whites, and gelatin instead of cream cheese and butter. A light, no-bake cheesecake with graham cracker crumb topping.

Kahlua pecan pie cookies with a buttery brown sugar cookie cup filled with a caramel pecan center spiked with coffee liqueur. A two-bite spin on pecan pie.

Swedish apple cake with cinnamon, cloves, and chopped nuts, baked in a 9x13 pan with a brown sugar crumble topping. A dense, spiced fall cake loaded with fresh apples.