Dessert/3 recipes

Sweet potato pie with warm brandy, fresh lemon zest, and a sprinkle of chopped citron over the top. The brandy-citrus brightness lifts the spiced filling into something more sophisticated than typical sweet potato pie.

Classic hamantashen with a tender oil-based dough scented with orange zest, folded into triangles around your favorite filling. The traditional Purim cookie.

The ultimate sweet-and-salty cookie: buttery dough loaded with butterscotch chips and crushed potato chips. Crispy edges, chewy centers, totally addictive. Makes 5 dozen.

Mocha swirl pound cake: a buttery, coffee-spiked pound cake batter marbled with melted chocolate and baked in a tube pan. Tight, tender crumb shot through with bittersweet ribbons.

Oatmeal lace cookies from a 1930s recipe with just seven ingredients. Thin, crispy, and caramelized with no flour at all. Quick or regular oats, never instant.

A four-layer chocolate butter cake with ganache filling, whipped cream frosting, and a glossy dark chocolate glaze poured over the top. Bakery-level elegance made at home.

Choux pastry puffs studded with chocolate chips and dusted with powdered sugar create elegant French-inspired cookies that look harder to make than they are.

Old-fashioned walnut pound cake started in a cold oven for a tall, even crumb. Buttery vanilla base studded with finely chopped walnuts, baked in a tube pan.

Brownie cookies are roll-and-cut chocolate cookies with melted semi-sweet and unsweetened chocolate, walnuts, and a tender, fudgy bite. Doubles as a press-in crust for ice-cream pies.

Impossible coconut pie: a self-crusting magic pie that separates into custardy filling, golden top, and chewy crust as it bakes. Just dump everything in a blender, pour, and bake.

Winner of the 1991 Michigan Chocolate Cake Contest Created by Linda Theil

Raisin bourbon pie folds whiskey-soaked golden raisins into a creamy chiffon custard set with gelatin in a flaky shell. A boozy Southern-style chilled pie for grown-up dessert tables.

Cookie brittle with chocolate chips and walnuts pressed into one pan, baked, then snapped into snappy shards. Sugar-substitute friendly with crisp, candy-like edges.

Soft chocolate oatmeal cookies made with cocoa, yogurt, and chocolate extract instead of butter. Low-fat, slightly puffy, and rich in chocolate flavor without the guilt.

Peachy pinwheels swirl a soft butter cookie dough around a nutmeg-spiced dried peach filling, then slice and bake into spiral cookies. A pretty pinwheel cookie for the holiday tin.

Fudgy cocoa brownie cookies packed with chocolate chips, baked just until set for a soft, chewy center. Brown sugar and cocoa powder deliver intense chocolate flavor in every bite.