Desserts Recipes

This is the best carrot cake recipe I have ever made! It's so moist and flavorful and makes a large quantity of cake. Since I started making it, I have been hounded to make this cake time and time again. Frost with cream cheese frosting.

This easy chocolate eggless mug cake is made with flaked almonds and no egg. It is ready in a few minutes and perfect if you're dying for something sweet. Serve dusted with confectioners' sugar and topped with ice cream or whipped cream.

These Nanaimo bars have three layers but are well worth the effort. My son is famous for making and taking these to work. I've heard other names, but everyone knows them as Nanaimo bars here in the Northwest. They are sold on British Columbia Ferries and at coffee stands.

Deliciously buttery, nut-filled Mexican wedding cookies have a crumbly texture and a sweet powdered sugar coating. These melt-in-your-mouth treats are a welcome addition to your holiday cookie tray. Make an extra batch to wrap in festive cookie bags and share as holiday gifts.

This apple-cranberry crisp is delightful combination of apples and fresh cranberries topped with a crisp, pecan topping. Serve warm or at room temperature with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

This cranberry pie makes a light, delicious holiday dessert that's super simple to make with fresh or frozen cranberries. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.

King cake is a New Orleans tradition that involves sweet cinnamon dough, a tiny plastic baby, and a party! The cake is baked with a tiny plastic baby hidden inside; whoever gets the slice with the baby in it has to host the next party. Sprinkle with purple, green, and gold sugar, or decorate with whole pecans and candied cherries.

These Russian tea cakes are rolled in powdered sugar for a sweet finish and a snowball-like appearance. My grandmother "Bubba" brought this Russian tea cake recipe with her when she came from Lithuania, and now my family has made it for many generations. I pass it on in the true spirit of the holiday season!

This rich, buttery toffee is layered with smooth chocolate and topped with crunchy almonds. The recipe is easy to make and perfect for holiday gift giving or bake sales. I always get compliments and requests for more of this toffee candy.

I made these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies by modifying Beatrice's Excellent Oatmeal Cookies recipe. My boyfriend went crazy over them! I've never seen him enjoy cookies to that extent! He said I blew his mother's recipe away.

These pecan pie cookies look and taste just like mini pecan pies! Perfect for festive cookie platters where you want to make something slightly different. You can spice up the cookies by adding cinnamon, ginger, or nutmeg to the cookie dough.

I got this from my mom. When she makes it, we all fight over it. It's delicious and easy to make.

This poppy seed and walnut roll is a version of a popular and delicious Croatian sweet yeast bread with two fillings, poppy seed-raisin, and walnut-raisin.

This rhubarb custard cake is a deliciously different cake that's very popular in Germany. The base of the cake is rich and buttery and is topped with chopped rhubarb and a decadent baked almond custard. Perfect with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

This frangipane strawberry shortcake uses one of the most delicious, and most underrated food pairings of all time, almonds and strawberries. After you take a few bites of this, you will understand.

This French almond rum cake takes inspiration from the classic Gâteau Nantais, and is one of the most elegant and delicious cakes you will ever eat. It's wonderfully moist, with a luscious lemon-almond-and-slight-hint-of-rum flavor that gets better and better the longer it sits--so if you can, make it a day in advance and give the flavors more time to meld together.

This nostalgic pistachio torte has a nutty shortbread crust layered with cream cheese filling, fluffy pistachio topping, and whipped topping. Sweet, crunchy, and creamy, it is reminiscent of the happy desserts of childhood.

This Dubai chocolate strawberry dip mimics a Dubai chocolate bar. Velvety chocolate pudding, intensified with the addition of melted chocolate chips, is topped with a crunchy, toasted kataifi and pistachio layer, and served with whole strawberries for dipping.

This pistachio chocolate baklava is crisp and golden, made of buttery layers of phyllo with pistachio cream, milk chocolate, and chopped pistachio filling.

This pistachio chip ice cream brings the flavors of the popular Dubai chocolate bar to a no-churn ice cream. Studded with roasted, salted pistachios and dark chocolate chips, this recipe is made with an easy milk syrup, invented by Chef John, instead of using the typical shortcut for no-churn desserts, sweetened condensed milk. For best results, chill all of your tools, containers, and ingredients so that everything stays cool.

These no-bake chocolate pistachio cheesecake bars require no oven or stove-top time whatsoever, and the hardest part of making them is waiting for them to chill. Chocolate and pistachios are a match made in heaven—and they get even better when cheesecake is involved!

This homemade pistachio cream is so incredible, you'll be tempted to put is on everything! Removing the skins from the pistachios is a tedious and time-consuming task, I won't lie—but it is totally necessary to achieve the best flavored, and smoothest-textured, pistachio cream. So give yourself plenty of time, have patience, and you'll be rewarded with the most delicious outcome.

This Dubai chocolate bar Watergate salad is typical of Midwestern “dessert” salads—sweet and fluffy, with no lettuce to be found. As a kid growing up in Kansas, the pistachio-pudding based Watergate salad was a staple with Easter ham, at baby showers and potlucks. This recipe melds Watergate salad with trending Dubai Chocolate bar flavors to create a new candy bar salad for potlucks and holidays. There’s an easy candy bar crunch made from a surprising cereal ingredient and mini chocolate chips.

This 5-ingredient peanut butter cottage cheese mousse, a blender mousse that you can make in minutes, is very satisfying when you want a sweet treat on the healthier side.

Poke (pronounced poke-ay), a Hawaiian word meaning "to chop" or "to cut," refers to a traditional Hawaiian salad of diced raw fish in a simple, soy-based sauce with punchy seasonings like toasted sesame and chopped scallion greens. These tuna poke bowls feature seasoned brown rice and fresh veggies for a healthy, satisfying meal packed with protein and fiber.

Single-serving pumpkin cheesecakes are the perfect way to finish off a Thanksgiving meal for two (or any other meal, given that they take just 15 minutes of active prep time!). You can make them a day or two ahead of time and keep them tucked away in the fridge in their sturdy ramekins until you're ready to enjoy them.

This custard filling is what takes this buttermilk pie recipe to the next level. It tastes like a panna cotta with a bit of attitude from the tang of the buttermilk and a generous sprinkling of cranberries on top.

Let your Crock-Pot do the work for this easy slow-cooker apple crisp. It tastes just like a classic apple crisp, with the apple combination adding a sweet and tart balance in each bite. It's sure to become a new fall favorite.

This simple apple-cinnamon galette is easy to make thanks to premade pie crust—no need to make your own dough! Serve it for Thanksgiving dessert or after any fall meal.

These delectable bar cookies are great for holiday cookie trays, to bring out at casual gatherings, or just to enjoy with a cup of coffee.

These easy apple-cinnamon fruit bars make a big batch--perfect for fall potlucks and parties.

In this healthy apple pie recipe, a touch of maple syrup spiked with lemon zest, cinnamon and ground ginger coats the apples while they bake. Serve this amazing homemade pie with lightly sweetened whipped cream or a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.

With all that delicious fruit an apple pie should be healthy, but the truth is a slice can have as much as 750 calories. For the most part, the culprit is the crust. We use whole-wheat pastry flour to add fiber and lower the saturated fat by replacing some of the butter with canola oil. The brown sugar-sweetened filling in this pie is made with two kinds of apples for the perfect balance. A slice has half the calories of a typical version—sweet!

This easy, comforting pear crumble is sure to please. Serve it as is or with low-fat ice cream.

Every panaderia (bakery) in Puerto Rico has many flavors of flan, from vanilla to guava. Reduced-fat cream cheese gives this version a rich, comforting texture.

Use whatever fresh or frozen fruit you have on hand to make this old-fashioned crumble. Typical crumble topping has as much as a half cup of butter--ours has just a bit of canola oil and, for richness, chopped almonds, which are full of healthy monounsaturated fats.

This riff on the Thanksgiving favorite combines a traditional pumpkin pie filling with swirls of sweetened cream cheese. And since it's only Thanksgiving once a year, we've topped it all off with a buttery spiced-pecan topping. This easy pie recipe will please anyone at your table this holiday.

If pumpkin pie is a must for the holidays, this version fulfills that holiday tradition without derailing your meal plan.

Here's an elegant yet simple twist on the autumn classic. Pears are oven-poached in Riesling wine, which is known for its floral accents and aromas and hints of honey and pear. Serve this dessert with lightly sweetened ricotta cheese. Delicious hot, room temperature or chilled.

While every bit as delish as the classic pie, this one has less sugar. Cane syrup, a toasty alternative to corn syrup or molasses, sweetens the pie along with brown sugar. Because the filling for the pie is wet, we brush the crust with egg white and par-bake it to create a barrier to prevent sogginess.

This cake was inspired by the one of the most popular Jamaican desserts, sweet potato pudding. Traditionally, raw shredded sweet potatoes are used, but we found that sweet potatoes sold in the U.S. don't provide the same texture as those in Jamaica. Instead, we mix mashed sweet potato with eggs and flour to get a slightly different, but equally delicious, cheesecake-like result.

Smooth and soothing; a great classic pie right down to the crust, redefined with a generous amount of lemon and fewer egg yolks in the filling.

This low-fat crustless pumpkin pie is a perfect dessert for the dieters at your holiday meal or people who are watching their carbs.

Here's a simple recipe for low-fat vanilla ice cream. Our version has all the richness you'll need but about 90 fewer calories than store-bought premium ice cream and a whopping 15 grams less total fat and 10 grams less saturated fat per serving.

Pumpkin swirl cheesecake is a delicious dessert that everyone will love, especially during the holiday season.

With all due respect to baklava, we've found a new favorite Lebanese dessert. This rich, moist cake is sweetened with carob molasses and has a hit of anise. We may or may not have fought over it in the Test Kitchen.

Make a batch of these easy homemade dried-fruit bars to tuck into your kid's lunchbox all week.

Inspired by the old-school, ultra-rich, mousselike chocolate cake that usually called for a whole pound of chocolate, half a dozen eggs and lots of butter, this enlightened rendition has deep bittersweet chocolate flavor and dense melt-in-your-mouth texture. No one will guess it's healthier. The secret is excellent natural cocoa powder and good-quality bittersweet chocolate, preferably with 70% cacao. Although the cake can be eaten once it's completely cool, it comes out of the pan much easier and even tastes better if it has been chilled at least overnight.

A velvety, light custard surrounds ripe pears in this healthy pear pie recipe. Serve with a dollop of vanilla whipped cream.

These cranberry-orange bars freeze well. Make a batch on a free afternoon and pop them in the freezer so you’ll always have a healthy dessert on hand when company calls.

This creamy sweet potato pie recipe is seasoned like a pumpkin pie with plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg and gets nice ginger flavor from the gingersnap crust. For the best results, roast sweet potatoes in the oven; in a pinch, microwave them instead.

One batch of dough does double duty as both the crust and streusel topping to make one of the easiest desserts around.

This sweet potato pound cake started out as a way to use up leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner, but quickly became its own reason to make sweet potatoes. The cake gets better as it sits, so it's a great make-ahead candidate for any occasion.

This purple version of classic sweet potato pie contains a shot of brandy, which adds another layer of seasonal flavor. Serve with a dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream.

This no-sugar-added apple pie gets its natural sweetness from antioxidant- and fiber-rich dates. Cider vinegar helps to enhance the flavor. We like Gala apples for their sweetness and crisp texture, but any sweet, firm apple will work well. If you like your apple pie on the tart side, add a Granny Smith to the mix. We use frozen pie crusts for the bottom and top of the pie. The dough should release easily from the tin for the top crust within about 10 minutes out of the freezer. If not, let it sit out a bit longer until it releases easily.

This Indonesian bingka labu kuning, or pumpkin cake, is a wonderful alternative to pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. A versatile cake, bingka’s core ingredient can comprise assorted root vegetables, from cassava to sweet potato and, yes, pumpkin. Once baked, it has a firm outer skin and a rich, custardy filling. Roasting your own pumpkin flesh is preferred, but you can use canned pumpkin in a pinch.

This cranberry nut bread brings together the tartness of fresh cranberries with the crunch of walnuts, all wrapped in a moist, tender loaf. Whether enjoyed as a breakfast, snack or dessert with coffee, cranberry nut bread offers a little bit of holiday cheer in every bite. To make it a little sweeter and to bring out more citrusy flavor, drizzle it with the optional orange glaze before slicing and serving.

Drizzle this homemade Magic Shell chocolate topping over ice cream; it will firm up and create a crunchy shell as it cools.

The perfect summertime dessert, these frozen grapes are healthy mini-popsicles. Try freezing other fresh fruit, like raspberries, peach wedges or cubes of watermelon.

Adjust these boozy, nut-stuffed, chocolate-dipped prunes to suit your taste buds. While prunes are traditional for the bite-size Greek treats, you can substitute apricots, dates or dried figs, or play with the flavor by using rum, cognac, amaretto or cherry liqueur in place of the whiskey.