Dessert recipes

This cake roll is very easy to make, simple and tastes so great!

Homemade herb yogurt cheese strained with thyme, basil, and pepper. A low-fat spread for crackers or baked potatoes that keeps for two weeks in the fridge.

Spicy applesauce brownies with unsweetened chocolate, cinnamon, and walnuts, topped with a cinnamon-powdered sugar drizzle. Fudgy, fruity, and warmly spiced.

Cranberry orange Bundt coffee cake with sour cream batter, three swirled layers of whole-berry cranberry sauce, and a tangy orange glaze. Holiday-ready bake.

Traditional yeast-raised kolachky filled with spiced prune lekvar, folded at the corners so the filling peeks through, then dusted with powdered sugar. An old-world Polish and Czech holiday pastry.

PBO snackers: peanut butter oatmeal cookies with cinnamon, nutmeg, and chocolate chips. Chewy-centered, crisp-edged lunchbox classics that bake up in 15 minutes flat.

Carrot cake spiked with vodka and orange zest, loaded with pecans and warm spices, baked in a Bundt pan and finished with a boozy orange glaze. Cocktail hour meets cake hour.

Fuzzy Navel Bundt cake with peach schnapps soaked peaches, yellow cake mix, vanilla pudding, and chopped pecans. A boozy boomer-era potluck knockout.

Schnecken are German-style cinnamon pecan rolls made from a soft yeasted dough filled with brown sugar, raisins, pecans, and cinnamon, then baked in muffin tins until golden.

Black currant vodka cheesecake on a toasted almond and graham crust, baked low in a water bath for a silky, crack-free top. Crowned with fresh strawberries and a glossy strawberry-Kurant glaze.

Mazurka cookie bars with an almond shortbread base topped with a fruity filling of apricots, figs, raisins, walnuts, and candied orange peel, finished with powdered sugar icing.

Bonnie Graber of Oak Creek sent this recipe for an old-fashioned kitchen sink cookie that would be good any time of the year.

German apple cake with tender yeast dough topped with cinnamon apples and buttery streusel crumble for a not-too-sweet dessert that's perfect with coffee.

Whole wheat oatmeal cookies with molasses, honey, raisins, and walnuts. Sweetened three ways with brown sugar, molasses, and honey for a chewy, spiced high-fiber cookie.

Freezer cinnamon fruit rolls with soft yeasted dough, a rich filling of brown sugar, golden raisins, dried apricots, pecans, and cinnamon, finished with a simple sugar glaze. Make ahead and freeze for up to 2 months.

Caramel chocolate chip cheesecake with an oat-walnut crust, dark brown sugar and corn syrup filling, and chocolate chips scattered on top. Rich, dense, and deeply caramelized.