18 sweetmeat recipes

Tiny Bohemian chocolate cookies with melted milk chocolate, grated walnuts, and butter, baked low and slow until they melt on your tongue. Makes 16 dozen bite-sized cookies for holiday platters.

Grilled lamb rib chops with a port and blackberry reduction sauce spiced with cardamom, clove, and jalapeno. An elegant dinner with a sweet-heat berry glaze.

Turtle cheesecake with a caramel-pecan bottom layer and a rich chocolate cream cheese top on a vanilla wafer crust. Three layers of indulgence, classic candy-shop flavors.

Poached orange roughy topped with a spiced tomato-orange marmalade sauce with brandy, coriander, cinnamon, and cayenne. A light, elegant fish dish with sweet-heat complexity.

Pork loin fajitas with a sweet-heat sauce of chunky salsa and peach preserves, loaded with seared peppers, onions, cilantro, and a cool sour cream finish.

Spicy green beans glazed with orange juice, brown sugar, and butter with serrano chiles. Marinated for an hour, then simmered into a sweet-heat side dish.

The full showpiece version of Bruno's flourless Italian chocolate cake: three layers filled with rum-spiked chocolate whipped cream, wrapped in alternating dark and white chocolate strips, and garnished with chocolate leaves.

Mu shu-style beef roll-ups in flour tortillas with orange marmalade-salsa glaze, spinach, mushrooms, and sliced almonds. A sweet-heat fusion wrap baked until warm.

Fresh papaya salsa with red chili, mint, lime juice, and red bell pepper. A tropical, no-cook salsa with sweet heat. Pairs with grilled fish, tacos, and chips.

Chocolate mocha mousse: a French-style chocolate mousse with strong coffee, butter, egg yolks, and clouds of whipped cream and stiff egg white. The classic dinner-party finale, made the proper way.

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.

No-bake chocolate cheesecake with a graham cracker crust, cream cheese, melted chocolate chips, and whipped cream set with gelatin. No oven needed for this rich, silky dessert.

A nearly flourless Italian chocolate cake made with melted semi-sweet chocolate, ground amaretti cookies, rum, and nine whipped eggs. Three thin, crackle-topped layers that are rich, dense, and deeply chocolatey.

Millionaire's shortbread with a buttery shortbread base, chewy homemade caramel middle, and a smooth chocolate top. Three layers of British confection in every square.

Buche de Marrons au Chocolat, a French chestnut and chocolate log (no-bake variation of buche de Noel) with Calvados, wrapped in whipped cream bark and garnished with candied violets. A show-stopping Christmas dessert.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Sweet Chocolate Cake recipe