Dessert
3903 recipes found
Cranberry Spice Bundt Cake
This tall and tender Bundt cake pulls off the trick of being cozy and zingy at the same time. It gets its soft crumb from yogurt (although you could use sour cream or buttermilk) and its pop from puckery fresh cranberries and a mix of cardamom, coriander and ginger. It’s festive with a cranberry icing and classic with a dusting of powdered sugar. And it’s a cake that can go through the seasons — think about swapping the cranberries for dried fruit in the winter and berries in the summer. It’s great with blueberries.
Mango Pie
When Hrishikesh Hirway was a kid, his parents, who immigrated to the United States from Maharashtra, in western India, began hosting Thanksgiving. The meal soon evolved into a hybrid of a traditional Thanksgiving and an Indian potluck. “Out of that cultural mash-up, my mom started making this mango pie,” he said. She’d gotten the idea from other Indian aunties in the States, but their versions weren’t as good. “They weren’t making it with the best kind of mango,” Hirway explained. “The Alphonsos have a stronger, more intense flavor.” That Alphonso flavor shines as brilliantly as the pie’s bright filling, made tangy and rich with the addition of cream cheese and whipped cream. And the salty, crumbly graham cracker crust is the perfect foundation for the golden cloud of custard that sits atop it. It’s so satisfying that you'll catch yourself cutting sliver after mouthwatering sliver of pie.
Strawberry Pretzel Pie
This is a wonderful but simple summer pie inspired by strawberry pretzel salad, a popular Southern dessert. The classic recipe consists of a crumbled pretzel crust, a whipped cream cheese and Cool Whip filling, and a top layer of strawberry Jell-O. In this fresher adaptation, crushed pretzels form the foundation of an easy shortbread crust, followed by a fluffy cream filling and a pile of fresh strawberries, omitting the use of gelatin. If you’re making this pie in advance — especially with juicy, height-of-season berries — complete Steps 1 to 3, then cloak the filled crust with plastic wrap and chill up to 24 hours. Just before serving, toss the berries in sugar and pile them on top.
Fresh Strawberry Bundt Cake
Strawberries from the farmers' market are tiny, packed with flavor, red all of the way through, and they put their supermarket counterparts to shame. This summery Bundt packs a double dose of strawberry flavor, so use the very best ones you can find. (You'll need 1 pound of strawberries for the cake and glaze.) A couple of tips for Bundt unmolding success: Make sure to butter and flour the pan generously and evenly, and let the cake cool for 15 minutes on a cooling rack, then flip it out on to the rack to cool completely. Don’t worry too much if your cake isn’t perfect: The blanket of pink glaze will cover many mistakes.
Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Bars
Like turtle bars with a twist, these squares are gooey, crunchy and salty in all the right places. If you can, use chopped bar chocolate as called for in the recipe. If you use chocolate chips, they will seize, and the chocolate layer will look uneven and a little chalky. That said, beauty is only skin deep, and these bars taste great either way, so if chips are all you can find, bake away.
Tropical Fruit Salad
A fruit salad is an act of kindness to your future self: Taking the time to chop your favorite fruits, especially the more labor-intensive ones, then eating them in a large bowl by the spoonful is inordinately satisfying. This version calls for golden nuggets of pineapple, mango and bananas, a smoothie in fruit salad form, but you could use whatever you have on hand. Blueberries, strawberries and peaches would be lovely, as would sliced kiwi, pomegranate arils and clementine wedges. A spritz of lemon juice and a pinch of salt — just a pinch — make all the difference in enlivening fresh-cut fruit.
No-Bake Cheesecake With Caramelized Pineapple and Coconut
Pockets of jammy caramelized pineapple are a thrilling discovery in this creamy tropics-inspired cheesecake. Coconut milk and lime zest are added to the cream cheese filling, which is set in a crisp gingersnap crust. Caramelize the pineapples ahead, if time permits — the longer they sit in the syrup, the better they’ll taste. Serve the cake sliced in squares, topped with toasted coconut flakes, if desired.
Blueberry-Rhubarb Slab Pie
This slab pie is perfect for a party because it’s easy to transport, and it serves a crowd. Convenience aside, the true draw of this sheet-pan pie is the flaky, buttery crust and its rhubarb, blueberry and crystallized ginger filling. Cooking the fruit ahead of time results in a filling that is juicy but not soupy — and prevents the crust from absorbing too much liquid. Preparing the pie dough in the food processor is effortless and helps keep the butter cold, which leads to a flakier crust, but be careful not to over-process: Stop when the mixture is moist but still crumbly.
Raspberry Nutter Butter Bars
Reminiscent of a classic, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich minus the bread, these bars hit the spot with a little youthful nostalgia. A glass of cold milk is a great accompaniment. One 16-ounce package of Nutter Butter sandwich cookies pulsed in a food processor makes 4 cups of crumbs, which is exactly enough for one recipe.
Peach and Blueberry Cobbler With Hazelnut Biscuits
Cobbler is an irresistible summer treat, with its combination of bubbling fruit and golden biscuits. This version uses sweet, nutty hazelnut flour in the biscuits, which bake up crunchy on the outside and tender in the middle. To swap whole hazelnuts for the meal, start with 1/2 cup (64 grams) hazelnuts, toasted and with skins rubbed off. Grind the cooled nuts in a food processor or coffee grinder with the 1/3 cup (65 grams) granulated sugar until finely ground, and proceed with recipe as written. Tart wild blueberries are best here; use fresh if you can find them, but frozen are widely available and can go straight into the mix, no thawing necessary. Conventional supermarket blueberries work, too, but shouldn’t be the first choice; they are watery and have a weaker flavor.
Grilled Figs With Pomegranate Molasses
These are wonderful. First you toss them in a mix of balsamic vinegar and olive oil, then you grill them on both sides just until they soften and grill marks appear (at which point they are warm all the way through and just beginning to become jammy), then you remove from the grill and brush with pomegranate molasses. It’s a match made in heaven. Serve while the figs are still warm, as a first course with goat cheese, or as a dessert with ricotta or yogurt.
Coconut Layer Cake
This impressive and wonderfully moist layer cake is less sweet than the usual coconut affair, thanks to a tangy cream cheese frosting on top and dose of orange juice in the batter. This is a great dessert to make in advance. You can bake the cake layers up to 3 days ahead and store them, well-wrapped in plastic, in the refrigerator. The frosted cake will keep for 2 days in the fridge as well, either under a cake dome or overturned bowl, or loosely tented with foil. Just make sure to bring the cake to room temperature before serving. Here are more layer cake recipes.
Cranberry Lemon Meringue Pie
All the goodness of lemon meringue pie tastes even better with cranberries in the mix. It’s not just their fruity tartness that makes them so appealing, the little berries are also full of pectin, which helps set the filling so that it’s soft yet sliceable. And, of course, they give the pie a bright magenta hue. To show it off, you can dollop the whipped egg whites only in the center, but the unanchored meringue may slide around when you cut wedges. You can cover the top completely to keep the meringue in place and surprise guests with the brilliant pink filling.
Sholeh Zard (Persian Rice Pudding)
This cozy dessert from Sara Mardanbigi and Edgar Rico, the owners of Nixta Taqueria in Austin, Texas, is a take on sholeh zard, a loose, heavily spiced Persian rice pudding Ms. Mardanbigi grew up eating. It also borrows influence from the Mexican arroz con leche of Mr. Rico’s childhood. Their take is warm and smoky with black cardamom and saffron, velvety from egg yolks and butter, and has a savory finish. It calls for arborio rice instead of the usual basmati to add a slight chew, and strawberry powder instead of rosewater to provide similar floral notes with a punch of acid.
Strawberry Jam Bars With Cardamom
These sandwich bars are a delightful mix of textures and flavors. The preference here is a red fruit jam for its acidic pop, but you can go with any jam you have on hand. The nuts give an additional crunch to the topping and may add a fun color contrast. These fruity, spiced cookies can be assembled, kept refrigerated, or wrapped and frozen. You can bake them straight out of the fridge or freezer, but if baking from frozen, add a few extra minutes to ensure a nice golden crust on the bottom. (This cookie is one of six cookies that you can make with this Butter Shortbread Dough recipe. If you make that dough, you can make a double batch of the Strawberry Jam Bars or try any of the other five recipes.)
Fruit Sandwich
The origins of the fruit sandwich are believed to go back to Japan’s luxury fruit stores and the fruit parlors attached to them. This version comes from Yudai Kanayama, a native of Hokkaido who runs the restaurants the Izakaya NYC and Dr Clark in New York. Fresh fruit — fat strawberries, golden mango, kiwi with black ellipses of seeds, or whatever you like — is engulfed in whipped cream mixed with mascarpone, which makes it implausibly airy yet dense. (In Japanese, the texture is called fuwa-fuwa: fluffy like a cloud.) Pressed on either side are crustless slices of shokupan, milk bread that agreeably springs back. The sandwich looks like dessert but isn’t, or not exactly; it makes for a lovely little meal that feels slightly illicit, as if for a moment there are no rules.
Du Jour Doughnuts
This classic yeast doughnut is a specialty of T. J. and Vera Obias, the husband-and-wife team of pastry chefs at Du Jour Bakery, in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The dough is light and airy, and the sugar crystals add crunch. After cutting out the doughnuts, test whether they have risen enough by touching them with a fingertip; if they spring back slowly, they are sufficiently proofed. Springing back fast means they need more time, and not springing back means they are overproofed.
Buttermilk-Brown Sugar Waffles
This recipe first appeared in The Times in a 2006 article Julia Moskin wrote about wedding registries and what items couples should (and shouldn't) include on theirs. A cookware set? No. Better to buy pieces individually according to a couple's needs. A waffle iron? Why yes, if there's any chance of children. These waffles are light, crisp and easy to throw together, like traditional waffles, but the buttermilk lends tang and the brown sugar an earthy sweetness. The secret ingredient here is wheat germ. It provides a lovely toothsome texture and crunch.
Saffron Pistachio Blondies
Saffron and pistachio, a combination known to many on the Indian subcontinent as kesar pista, is a classic flavoring in South Asian, Iranian and other desserts — and for good reason. The buttery richness of pistachios brings out the floral flavor in saffron. Kesar pista shines in other sweets like this nutty twist on a blondie. Seth Byrum, my partner and an avid home baker, suggested enriching the base with white chocolate, which feels reminiscent of khoya, the richly flavored milk solids in several South Asian confections. The radiantly golden frosting lets the saffron do the talking. Garnish the top with pistachios to mimic the top of more traditional South Asian sweets, like shrikhand.
Sparkling Shortbread Cookies
Classic shortbread is buttery and crumbly, with a crispness that melts as you devour it. These cookies are simple and perfect for holiday indulgence. Each gets adorned with decorative sugar around the perimeter, which adds some sparkle and an additional layer of crunch in every bite. The shaped logs can be refrigerated up to a week, or frozen for up to a month. Slice while the dough is cold, and bake. These cookies will keep in an airtight container for up to a week. (This cookie is one of six cookies that you can make with this Butter Shortbread Dough recipe. If you make that dough, you can make a double batch of the Sparkling Shortbread or try any of the other five recipes.)
Spiced Chocolate Marble Shortbread
Chocolate, toasted sesame, candied ginger and citrus! These cookies are a wonderful combination of intense flavors that pair really well together. The alternating layers of a chocolate dough and one spiked with warming spices are reminiscent of marble swirls, zebra stripes, rock strata layers — take your pick. They are as pleasant to look at as they are to eat, and they will add some flair to your holiday cookie tin. (This cookie is one of six cookies that you can make with this Butter Shortbread Dough recipe. If you make that dough, you can make a double batch of the Marble Shortbread or try any of the other five recipes.)
Honey Ice Cream With a Kick
For this velvety, sweet ice cream with a subtle but throat-tickling kick, the chef Fany Gerson draws inspiration from her favorite honey ice cream recipe, by the cookbook author and pastry chef David Lebovitz, as well as her chile-laden childhood in Mexico. Ms. Gerson serves it as part of a Rosh Hashana feast, but it is a seasonless treat. Her toppings — chunks of creamy Manila mangoes dusted with ground red chiles, plus puffed amaranth for crunch — make it an interesting, almost sundae-like dessert. The ice cream is very soft right out of the machine, like soft serve; freeze it for at least 6 hours for something more scoopable.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
This spin on an icebox pie, with its chocolaty press-in graham cracker crust and airy no-bake peanut butter filling, comes with a sheen of fudgy glaze. A splash of coffee accentuates the dark side of the bittersweet chocolate, and salted peanuts scattered on top add crunch. As fun as a candy bar and as creamy as a cheesecake, this layered dessert looks and feels special but is simple enough for anyone to pull together. And it’s even easier to serve: The whole thing can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.
Savory Shortbread Cookies With Olives and Rosemary
An unusual combination for a cookie, the flavors in this shortbread will appeal to those who appreciate a little pop of savory in their sweets. The olives used here are fruity kalamata, which when surrounded by a buttery shortbread crust and baked, become like little jewels studding each cookie. Rosemary and lemon balance the robust flavors of the olives by adding refreshing pine and citrus notes. Your cookie dough can be made ahead of time, rolled into logs and kept refrigerated or frozen. Slice and bake while cold, or from frozen, to serve.