Dessert/5 recipes

Old-world apple strudel with dough stretched by hand until paper-thin, wrapped around cinnamon-spiced MacIntosh apples. The real from-scratch method, no phyllo, with bread crumbs to keep it crisp.

Oatmeal raisin cookies made with egg whites for a lighter, crisper edge. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and chewy raisins in a classic chilled-dough recipe.

Individual mini chocolate cheesecakes that freeze very well and use simple ingredients. Easy bake in a muffin tin.

Frosted fudge brownies built with unsweetened chocolate, butter, and toasted walnuts, then crowned with a stovetop boiled fudge frosting. Dense, fudgy, and unapologetically rich.

Eggy little chocolate pancakes that double as breakfast or sandwich cookies. Quick to mix, fast to cook, and finished with chocolate sauce or sandwiched with buttercream once chilled.

Have been making this chocolate fudge pudding cake for years, so chocolaty, and it never disappoints us. Fudge and pudding like texture well satisfies the sweet tooth.

Strawberry rhubarb pie layers fresh strawberries and rhubarb with a sugar-flour blend under a sparkling sugar-glazed double crust. The classic spring fruit duo at its sweet-tart best.

Vegan pumpkin pie made with silken tofu instead of eggs and cream, sweetened with date sugar and molasses. Silky custard texture with classic Thanksgiving spice.

Classic peanut butter cookies with crackly criss-cross tops, crisp edges and a soft chewy middle. A chilled dough builds deeper flavor and prevents spread.

A most excellent chocolate chip cookie recipes with oats and nutty bits of pecans.

Six-ingredient pumpkin bundt cake from yellow cake mix, eggs, oil, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, and nuts. The shortcut autumn bake for potlucks and last-minute hospitality.

Sweet pie dough (pate sucree) made in a food processor with butter, eggs, sugar, and flour. The buttery, slightly sweet pastry that elevates fruit pies and tarts.

Pumpkin layer cake with cooked fresh pumpkin, warm cinnamon, and a tender, moist crumb. A two-layer Thanksgiving and Christmas cake that's lighter than spice cake but just as comforting.

In our extended family this version of pumpkin pie has earned the title!

Czech Christmas cookies rolled paper-thin, packed with cinnamon, cloves, ginger, allspice, and nutmeg, sweetened with molasses and brown sugar. Crisp, spicy, and not too sweet.

Gingerbread men cookies with deep molasses, warm ginger and cinnamon, and currant eyes. The classic Christmas cutout cookie with a soft chewy center perfect for kids' decorating projects.