Dessert/2 recipes

Italian rainbow cookies (seven layer cookies): three almond paste sponge layers tinted red, green, and yellow, stacked with raspberry jam, and coated in chocolate. A classic holiday bakery tradition.

Elizabeth David's Gateau Au Chocolat Et Aux Amandes recipe

Soft, chewy banana cookies loaded with chopped pecans and a hint of molasses and cinnamon. This drop cookie recipe makes 3 dozen and disappears even faster.

Pumpkin pie layered with a sticky brown-sugar date and walnut base, then spiced with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. A holiday upgrade on the classic that tastes like pecan pie had a baby with pumpkin.

Halva gateau is a Middle Eastern layer cake with semolina-almond sponge, coffee syrup soak, and halva buttercream. Pistachio-topped elegance perfumed with cinnamon.

Dainty sandwich cookies are tender butter rounds coated with almond-sugar tops and filled with raspberry jam or chocolate. A classic European tea-cookie tray pick.

A feather-light cheesecake lightened with whipped egg whites for an airy texture, on a cinnamon zwieback crust, finished with a sour cream, crumb, and almond topping. Far lighter than dense New York style.

A chocolate cherry fruitcake made easy with quick-bread mix, maraschino cherries, pecans, chocolate chips, and a splash of kirsch. Fruitcake even skeptics will love.

Flourless chocolate cream cake made with semi-sweet chocolate, pecans, and Irish cream liqueur, crowned with a pillowy Irish cream whipped cream topping.

Buttery shortbread cookies topped with caramel, coated in melted chocolate, and pressed with chopped pecans. Homemade Turtle-style candy cookies that make a gorgeous gift box treat.

Crisp cocoa-almond cookies filled with white chocolate ganache. Slice-and-bake dough makes shaping simple, and the thin, snappy wafers pair beautifully with the creamy filling.

Soft drop cookies packed with applesauce, plump raisins, and crunchy nuts, spiced with cinnamon and cloves for old-fashioned charm.

The laziest, most crowd-pleasing dessert you'll ever make. Cherry pie filling, crushed pineapple, yellow cake mix, melted butter, coconut, and pecans. Just layer, dump, and bake.

Pecan praline cookie pizza with a buttery brown sugar shortbread crust, sour cream topping, and toasted pecans. A festive dessert that slices into wedges like a pie.

Maple-apple oatmeal cookies with real maple syrup, fresh apples, applesauce, currants, and a crunchy oat-brown sugar topping. Soft, cakey fall cookies baked low and slow.

Macerated strawberries spooned into sherbet dishes and draped with a brandy-kissed yogurt cream, then scattered with sliced almonds and chocolate shavings. An Italian no-cook dessert ready in 30 minutes.