Dessert/8 recipes

Harvest pumpkin bars with canned pumpkin, cinnamon, and a smart soy flour boost for extra protein. Soft, moist sheet pan bars perfect for fall potlucks.

Crunchy cornmeal biscotti with hazelnuts, lemon zest, and cinnamon, shaped into fingers and baked until golden. A lighter cookie made with egg whites only.

Chocolate torte sweetened with fruit-based concentrates instead of refined sugar, layered with cream cheese filling and whipped cream, topped with sliced strawberries.

Appalachian stack cake is a 10-layer mountain heirloom: molasses-spice cookie layers pressed together with dried apple filling. Best after three days of resting.

Stack cake is an Appalachian multi-layer molasses cake with applesauce filling spread between thin layers, topped with whipped cream and chopped nuts. A pioneer wedding-table classic.

Vermont apple pie with layered tart apples, gingersnap-crumb streusel, crunchy walnuts, and a final pour of pure maple syrup. A New England-style heritage pie with deep fall flavors.

Strawberry ice cream pie with a spiced shortbread crust and a swirl of warm fudge topping. Make-ahead frozen dessert that comes together in under 30 minutes.

Sour cream apple pie with a cinnamon-spiced shortbread crust and a buttery walnut streusel top. McIntosh apples bake into a custardy filling that sets up creamy under the crunchy walnut topping.

Southern cream apple pie with par-cooked tart apples in a sour cream custard, finished under the broiler with a buttery flour topping. Makes two 9-inch deep-dish pies for a crowd.

Favourite sour cream apple pie tosses tart apples in a vanilla sour cream custard, then crowns it with a crunchy walnut-cinnamon sugar topping. No butter in the topping means a cleaner, crispier nut crust.

A dense, cinnamon-spiced apple cake loaded with walnuts and diced apples, soaked in a hot buttermilk sauce that seeps into every crumb. Old-fashioned baking at its finest.

Mom's pumpkin cookies loaded with chocolate chips, chopped maraschino cherries, and cinnamon. Soft, cakey drop cookies with 3 cups of pumpkin for a moist fall treat.

Soft gingerbread cake with lard and butter for tender crumb, spiced with ginger and cinnamon, baked until edges pull away from the pan.

Apple cake with a cinnamon-nut streusel topping, chopped apples folded into a brown sugar batter with sour milk. A tender, spiced sheet cake for fall baking.

M&M cookie pizza made with an oatmeal cookie base, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts, topped with colorful M&Ms. A giant cookie baked in round cake pans and sliced like pizza.

Pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with rolled oats, canned pumpkin, cinnamon, and semisweet chocolate chips. Soft, cake-like fall cookies. Yields 48.