Dessert/2 recipes

Buttery shortbread bars layered with tart raspberry jam, crowned with glossy meringue studded with toasted almonds and coconut shreds.

Buttery cinnamon nut squares baked low and slow with a shortbread-like base topped with egg white glaze and pressed pecans or almonds. A crisp, spiced bar cookie that ships and stores beautifully.

Mocha cake is a spiced coffee loaf studded with raisins, currants, and citron. Brewed coffee, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice create a warmly spiced fruitcake for any occasion.

Cherry Cheesecake Tarts with Buttery Almond Pastry recipe

Instead of being hard, dry spice cookies, these are soft, moist spicy cookies with a medium hot disposition. Their heat is derived from ground Jamaican Scotch Bonnet peppers.

Honey cardamom coffee cake with sour cream, an almond-brown sugar streusel topping, and a cinnamon icing drizzle. Tender, fragrant, and sweetened entirely with honey instead of white sugar.

Dense, moist brown sugar pound cake baked low and slow in a tube pan with maple flavoring and chopped pecans. A full package of brown sugar gives this Southern-style cake its deep caramel richness.

Italian almond-hazelnut biscotti twice-bake to crisp dipping cookies with lemon zest, almond extract, and toasted nuts. Lower-fat traditional Italian style, keeps a month in a tin.

Silky Middle Eastern milk pudding with slivered almonds, cardamom, and saffron. Elegant chilled dessert (firnee) garnished with bright green pistachios.

Apple dump cake layers canned apple pie filling under a butter pecan cake mix and chopped pecans, topped with sliced butter. No mixing required, five-ingredient dessert.

Spiced biscotti with cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and a surprising kick of white pepper. Crunchy, warmly spiced Italian cookies built for dunking in coffee or tea.

Biscotti di anise are traditional Italian twice-baked almond cookies with anise seeds and anisette liqueur. Crunchy, fragrant, and made for dunking in espresso or Vin Santo.

Old-school chocolate chip cookies built on shortening and brown sugar for crisp edges and chewy middles, studded with semi-sweet chips and toasted pecans. A throwback recipe from the original Crisco era.

Texas pecan pie with light brown sugar, corn syrup, and whole pecan halves on top. A classic Lone Star recipe with a gooey, caramel-like filling and crunchy nut crown.

Poor Man's Cake: a Depression-era boiled raisin cake spiced with cinnamon, cloves and allspice. No eggs, no milk, no butter. Just pantry basics, lard and the magic of plumped raisins.

Twice-baked Jewish biscotti loaded with crunchy almonds, mixed dried fruit, and a cinnamon-sugar crust. Crisp edges meet tender centers in this traditional cookie perfect for dunking in coffee or tea.