Classic Pumpkin Pie
A silky, deeply spiced pumpkin custard in a crisp, blind-baked crust, baked low and pulled while the center still wobbles so it sets without cracking.
- Total time
- 4 hr 45 min
- Yield
- One 9 in (23 cm) pie, 8 slices
Desserts
Cakes, cookies, and everything worth turning the oven on for.
Cakes, cookies and puddings, weighted towards the easy desserts end — things you can make on a weeknight without a stand mixer.
Baking is the least forgiving kind of cooking, so these recipes are specific about the parts that matter: butter temperature, when to stop mixing, and what an underdone centre should look like.
Peanut Butter Pie
A no-bake peanut butter pie with a fluffy filling of cream cheese, peanut butter and whipped cream in a chocolate cookie crust, chilled until it slices clean.
- Total time
- 6 hr 25 min
- Yield
- One 9 in (23 cm) pie, 10 slices
Black Forest Cake
Three layers of tender chocolate sponge soaked in cherry syrup, filled with stabilized whipped cream and sour cherries, and finished with chocolate shavings and fresh cherries.
- Total time
- 5 hr 35 min
- Yield
- One 8 in (20 cm) cake, 12 slices
Chocolate Tres Leches Cake
A light chocolate sponge soaked overnight in chocolate-laced evaporated milk, condensed milk and cream, topped with cocoa whipped cream. Rich, cold and soft without ever being soggy.
- Total time
- 9 hr
- Yield
- One 9×13 in (23×33 cm) cake, 15 squares
Lemon Bars
Classic lemon bars with a crisp, buttery shortbread base baked first, a bright fresh-lemon filling baked low until just set, and a dusting of powdered sugar.
- Total time
- 4 hr 5 min
- Yield
- 16 bars
Old-Fashioned Apple Crisp
Tart and sweet apples baked soft under a crunchy oat, brown sugar and cold-butter topping, with juices thick enough to hold on a spoon.
- Total time
- 1 hr 50 min
- Yield
- Serves 8
Fruit Pizza Cookies
Sugar cookie bases, cream cheese frosting, fresh fruit on top. Assembled within an hour of eating.
- Total time
- 1 hr 42 min
- Yield
- Makes 16
Old-Fashioned Rice Pudding
Stovetop, stirred, and finished with egg yolks off the heat. Loose when it comes off, set by the time it reaches the table.
- Total time
- 50 min
- Yield
- Serves 6
Air Fryer Peanut Butter Cookies
Three ingredients, eight minutes, six cookies at a time. No flour and no oven to heat.
- Total time
- 18 min
- Yield
- Makes 18 cookies
Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake
A Depression-era cake that stays damp for four days. The mayonnaise is the eggs and the oil, and you will never taste it.
- Total time
- 50 min
- Yield
- One 9-inch cake, 12 slices
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chewy in the middle, crisp at the rim, with oats you can still see. The dough rests overnight and it matters.
- Total time
- 12 hr 32 min
- Yield
- Makes 24 cookies
Chocolate-Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
Deep cocoa dough rolled in cinnamon sugar, baked until the tops crack and the centers are still soft enough to fold.
- Total time
- 1 hr
- Yield
- Makes about 28 cookies
Caramel Banana Bread Cookies
Soft, cakey banana cookies with pockets of molten caramel — a chilled dough built to stop banana from spreading it flat.
- Total time
- 1 hr 33 min
- Yield
- Makes 20 cookies
Chocolate Pecan Turtle Clusters
Toasted pecans under a firm-ball caramel and a coat of seeded dark chocolate, cooked to a thermometer so the chew is the same every time.
- Total time
- 2 hr 15 min
- Yield
- Makes about 18 clusters
Easter Chocolate Chip Cookies
A brown-sugar chocolate chip dough handled so the candy-shelled eggs keep their pastel shells instead of bleeding into it.
- Total time
- 1 hr 1 min
- Yield
- Makes 24 cookies