Dessert recipe collection

Fall in love like the Italians do with this decadent cake that will have you wanting a second slice!

Italian meatball cookies with warm spices, cocoa, raisins, nuts, and chocolate chips rolled into small round drops. A traditional Italian-American holiday cookie that looks like its dinner-table namesake.

Italian nut ball cookies coated in chopped pistachios with a jelly-filled center. Almond extract and vanilla give these thumbprint cookies classic Italian bakery flavor.

Traditional Italian anise pizzelle cookies pressed on a pizzelle iron with orange and lemon zest. A huge batch recipe that makes up to 20 dozen crisp, lacy waffle cookies.

Classic Italian pizzelle cookies flavored with anise and vanilla, pressed thin and crisp in a pizzelle iron. A simple batter that refrigerates well for baking anytime.

Italian pound cake split into three layers and filled with sweetened ricotta and strawberries or grated chocolate, then iced with a coffee-spiked chocolate ganache.

Layered chocolate mousse dessert with a buttery pecan crust, cream cheese layer, chocolate pudding, vanilla pudding with fresh strawberries, and whipped topping with chocolate shavings.

Pistachio mint cake is a green-tinted sheet cake with chocolate chips, baked in a 9x13 pan and topped with melted Andes mints spread into a glossy chocolate glaze.

Jam-filled spice cookies with cinnamon, ginger, and cloves sandwiched with apricot or raspberry preserves. Buttery shortbread-style cutout cookies with a stained-glass window center.

Jam shortbread bars sandwich a layer of cherry or raspberry preserves between two almond-rich shortbread layers. A buttery, almond-scented sliced bar for tea trays and holiday tins.

Jamaican banana bread custard with dark rum, apricot preserves, and a rich egg custard baked over bread and ripe bananas. Warm, tropical bread pudding.

Tiramisu ("pick me up") is a modern version of a dessert first created in Siena, where it was called zuppa del Duca (the Duke's soup!). From there it migrated to Florence, where it became very popular in the nine- teenth century among the many English people who came to live in the city at that time. And so it was called zuppa inglese--English soup. Only recently, the same dessert with some variation--chiefly the substitution of rich mascarpone cheese for the original custard--has come to be called tiramisu.

Southern Japanese fruitcake: a 4-layer cake alternating plain butter cake with spiced pecan-and-raisin layers, bound by a thick lemon-coconut filling. A vintage Christmas dessert from the American South with a name that has nothing to do with Japan.

Chewy date and nut bar cookies with a crisp edge, baked thin on a sheet pan and dusted with powdered sugar. Simple, old-fashioned, and only 6 ingredients.

Light, airy coffee cheesecake with ricotta, instant coffee, and fluffy egg whites on a honey-sweetened zwieback crust. A no-bake style set with gelatin for smooth, mousse-like slices.

Jefferson pie with brown sugar custard, dates, raisins, pecans, and warm spices in a flaky crust topped with meringue. A forgotten Southern heirloom dessert.