Dessert/4 recipes

Sugarless slice-and-bake cookies made with whole wheat flour, chewy dates, toasted coconut, fresh orange zest, and crunchy pecans. Naturally sweetened by fruit alone, these make 5 dozen crisp, nutty rounds.

Austrian Ischil tartlets with a buttery almond-cinnamon shortbread, sandwiched with apricot jam, and topped with a glossy cooked chocolate icing. Elegant European cookies.

No-bake chocolate cream cheese pie with instant pudding. Add coffee powder for mocha. Topped with pecans and whipped cream, ready in minutes.

Chocolate fudge pudding cake that bakes its own sauce. Hot milk poured over cocoa batter creates a gooey chocolate sauce underneath a tender cake layer with almonds.

Vegetarian mincemeat with fresh pears, mixed dried fruit, candied peel, glace cherries, dates, almonds, citrus zest, and whiskey. A meat-free version of the British holiday classic.

Mandelbrodt with chocolate chips and pecans, topped with cinnamon sugar. A Jewish twice-baked cookie similar to biscotti, made with oil instead of butter. Crunchy, dunkable, and freezer-friendly.

Patty Ann's chocolate diamonds are dense, fudgy chocolate-pecan bars cut into diamond shapes. A short ingredient list and one bowl deliver brownie-like richness with a satisfying nutty crunch.

Elegant meringue pie shell filled with fresh strawberries, chocolate drizzle, and billowy whipped cream. This crispy, nutty crust bakes overnight in a cooling oven.

Maple meltaway shortbread crisps blend butter, cake flour, and chopped pecans with maple flavoring into delicate, snowy cookies. Five ingredients, 7-minute bake, classic Christmas tin staple.

No-bake chocolate cake with melted chocolate, butter, crushed cookies, candied fruit, cherries, and almonds. Refrigerate overnight for a dense, fudgy slice.

Jalapeno chocolate cream cake with semi-sweet chocolate, Kahlua, ground almonds, and cinnamon. A rich, fudgy, intentionally underbaked cake with a slow jalapeno heat finish.

Apricot almond chewies are no-bake bites that bind dried apricots, toasted slivered almonds, and shredded coconut with sweetened condensed milk. Refrigerator cookies, no oven required.

Lincoln almond cake: a tall white butter cake with chopped blanched almonds folded through, lifted by stiff-beaten egg whites and baked in a bundt pan. Tender, fragrant, snowy-white.

Sugar-crusted pecans spiked with habanero chile powder, folded into chocolate cake batter for a sweet-heat surprise in every bite. Five ingredients, ten minutes, and your chocolate cake will never be boring again.

Microwave pecan pie bars: shortbread base, chewy pecan filling, and a semi-sweet chocolate topping. 28 bars cooked entirely in the microwave, ready in 30 minutes.

Ischler hearts: Austrian sandwich cookies with almond shortbread, apricot jam filling, and a glossy chocolate-rum glaze. Named after the spa town Bad Ischl, favorite of Emperor Franz Joseph.