Dessert/5 recipes

Cat-shaped chocolate chip cookies with pecan ears, pretzel whiskers, and candy eyes. A fun baking project kids will love decorating and eating.

Buttery pecan shortbread cookie balls dipped in vanilla frosting and rolled in tinted coconut. Melt-in-your-mouth tender, baked low and slow, and perfect for holiday cookie exchanges. Makes 48.

Anise almond biscotti baked twice for that signature crunch. Shaped into horseshoes, sliced, and dried low and slow. Keeps for weeks in a jar. Built for dunking.

Triple chocolate cookies with unsweetened and semi-sweet chocolate, espresso, toasted pecans and walnuts, finished with a piped chocolate drizzle. Dense, fudgy, and intensely rich.

Fat-free lemon poppy seed biscotti made with no added oil or butter. Crisp twice-baked Italian cookies powered by ground almonds, egg whites, and bright citrus.

Buttery snowball cookies with ground almonds, walnuts, and hazelnuts rolled in powdered sugar. A melt-in-your-mouth shortbread cookie also known as Mexican wedding cookies.

Holly Cluster cookies: chewy brown-sugar chocolate chip cookies topped with green marzipan holly leaves and red cinnamon candy berries. Holiday cookie tray showpiece with old-school decorating charm.

Jefferson pie with brown sugar custard, dates, raisins, pecans, and warm spices in a flaky crust topped with meringue. A forgotten Southern heirloom dessert.

Buttery pecan coconut cookie balls with a hint of almond, baked golden and finished with a tropical pineapple honey glaze or a roll in powdered sugar. Makes about 6 dozen bite-sized treats.

Warm cinnamon and nutmeg spice this tender carrot cake studded with toasted pecans. Orange cream cheese frosting crowns the bundt for a citrusy finish.

Roasted curried almonds glazed with mango chutney, turmeric, and curry powder. A 20-minute spiced snack that's golden, crunchy, and ridiculously addictive. Only 4 ingredients.

Easy apple pecan pie with chopped apples, toasted pecans, and warm cinnamon in a single open-top crust. Seven ingredients, one bowl, no top crust to fuss with.

Spiced molasses hermit bars with apple butter, raisins, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. Chewy, warmly spiced, and lighter than traditional hermit cookies.

Lebkuchen German Christmas cookies blend honey, molasses, cardamom, and clove into a dense spiced dough rolled and cut into shapes. Family tradition, ages and keeps for months.

Hidden Kisses cookies with chocolate kisses wrapped in buttery pecan shortbread and rolled in powdered sugar. A snowball cookie with a melted chocolate surprise inside.

Traditional Austrian Ischli cookies with ground almonds, sandwiched with raspberry jam and topped with mocha chocolate icing. A classic European holiday cookie worth the overnight chill.