Dessert/9 recipes

Spicy applesauce cookies with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, rolled thin, cut out, and topped with a glossy homemade gelatin icing and colored sugar.

Chocolate pecan pie with melted semisweet chocolate and butter swirled into a classic corn syrup filling. Rich, fudgy, and loaded with pecan halves in a flaky pastry shell.

Mississippi mud bars layer fudgy pecan-studded brownies under a glossy chocolate frosting and another shower of toasted pecans. Cut into small bars, they yield over four dozen from one 9x13 pan. Southern bake-sale royalty.

County fair banana pie with a chocolate chip layer on the bottom, rum-spiked banana cream filling, and whipped cream with chopped pecans. A blue-ribbon worthy layered banana cream pie.

Hot fudge pie: a crustless chocolate brownie-pie hybrid baked until the center stays gooey and molten. Five minutes of prep, served warm with ice cream.

Classic fruitcake loaded with dates, pecans, walnuts, and golden raisins. Moist tender crumb with vanilla and lemon extract, baked in a tube pan for beautiful slices.

Chocolate diamond cookies with unsweetened chocolate, pecans, and vanilla. A fudgy, brownie-like holiday cookie baked in one pan and cut into festive diamond shapes.

Nusskipferl are Austrian nut crescent cookies made with a buttery sour cream yeast dough rolled around a sweet ground almond and egg white filling, baked golden.

Rum-glazed apple cheesecake with cinnamon-spiced McIntosh apples, toasted pecans, and an apple jelly-rum glaze over a graham cracker crust. A fall showstopper.

Lemon Danish dandies are delicate butter cookies made with sieved hard-boiled eggs, lemon zest, and a whole blanched almond pressed into each one. Brushed with corn syrup for a glossy finish.

Chocolate can cake uses the chocolate syrup can as your measuring cup for sugar, flour, oil, coconut, and pecans. One bowl, no precise measuring, and a rich fudgy result.

Three-layer pecan fudge cake made with unsweetened chocolate in both the batter and frosting. Rich, dense, and loaded with chopped pecans throughout.

Mexican wedding cookies shaped into crescents with butter, crushed pecans, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Tender, crumbly, and melt-in-your-mouth with just six ingredients.

Sticky pecan bars with a buttery shortbread crust and gooey brown sugar-corn syrup filling loaded with pecan halves. Like pecan pie in bar form, easier to make and easier to share.

No-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies with pecans, coconut, and orange peel made in a food processor. Drop, chill, and eat. No oven needed.

Helen's Cheesecake with a ground pecan and graham cracker crust, a lemon-kissed cream cheese filling, and a sour cream topping baked right on. Refrigerate 24 to 72 hours - patience is the secret ingredient.