Our Best Dessert Recipes & Ideas

They’re crispy, buttery and loaded with cinnamon sugar.

They’re unbelievably easy to make.

I grew up making this chocolate fudge with my father, who spent a fair amount of time in the kitchen (which was rare for a man of his generation). He was always welcoming, pulling up a chair to the stove and hovering close as I stirred the molten chocolate bubbling away. This chocolate fudge recipe is a family-favorite and easy to make for the holidays (or any time of the year).This fudge is not the creamy, smooth kind.

Better than classic thumbprints.

We’ve got all your favorites.

Put a little yee-haw in your holiday cookie tin.

So good you’ll go back for seconds.

You may want to make two batches because they’ll disappear quickly.

Get set for your cookie party.

It's so irresistibly creamy, you'll be coming back for more.

Every bite is a sweet surprise.

I suspect that a great many of us regard the gingerbread contingent of the holiday cookie tray with a healthy amount of suspicion. Will it taste like cardboard? Will that icing crack my teeth? Will the spices make me sneeze? Can I trust this cookie? I’m here today to share a recipe for gingerbread cut-out cookies that you can trust. This is the gingerbread we’re all hoping we get when we reach toward the cookie tray. This is the one that will make you smile.

They’re soft, pillowy, and perfect.

It’s improved with a few adjustments!

So much easier than apple pie.

Christmas Chex Mix is one of my favorite holiday treats that offers a welcome change from all the cookies and candy canes fighting for attention. This crispy, salty-sweet mixture even looks like Christmas — everything is coated in white chocolate, and red and green M&Ms peek through! My favorite Christmas Chex Mix blend is pretty simple — cereal, pretzels, and candy — but the sprinkle of flaky salt at the end is what takes it over the top.

No one will miss the pie.

When I think of Italian American bakeries, I envision piles of biscotti, rainbow cookies, cannolis, and trays and trays of an array of cookies decorated with colorful sprinkles —including ricotta cookies. Super-soft and cakey, thanks to the ricotta cheese, these cute little cookies remind me a bit of Lofthouse sugar cookies (which are often made with sour cream or yogurt). Want proof of their deliciousness?

It's so simple to make!

I always have at least one can.

No one has to know how easy it is to make.

Say goodbye to soggy crusts.

I can’t wait to bake it again!

Inspired by the cookies I grew up eating.

Linzer cookies might look like another pretty sandwich cookie, but these sweet-tart cookies have a rich, tender crumb, thanks to a nearly invisible ingredient. Almonds turned into almond flour make an everyday sugar cookie dough a tender, melt-in-your-mouth treat, fragrant with the warm notes of toasted nuts. Two cookies serve as the bookends to the sweet and sticky jam of your choice to transform into a holiday cookie made for customization. Here’s how to make them.

This one’s for the coconut-lovers.

Bottoms up!

Just look at these layers.

It's such an easy way to please a crowd.

All you need is a can of cranberry sauce.

The only recipe you’ll ever need.

Struffoli is not only a fun word to say. The classic Italian dessert, also known as Italian Honey Balls, is a festive that’s traditionally served during Christmas time, just like panettone, pizzelle, and pignoli. Tiny balls of dough are fried until golden-brown. Crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, they’re then tossed in a sticky-sweet honey syrup and decorated with rainbow sprinkles.

Now that winter has arrived, it’s nearly impossible to open Instagram or TikTok without being greeted by an exploding hot chocolate bomb. The tasty trend is popular for a reason: When these chocolate spheres are dropped into warm milk, they crack open in the most mesmerizing way, releasing a flurry of hot cocoa mix and marshmallows creating an decadent cup of hot cocoa.

The sauce is so gooey.

There’s nothing better than freshly baked cookies on Christmas. Who doesn’t love a platter of spiced gingerbread, classic snowball cookies, or peppermint candy cane cookies to share with loved ones?But do you need an occasion to bake cookies? A lazy Saturday, a winter snow day, or a rainy weeknight is absolutely reason enough, too.

The new classic.

It's such an easy way to please a crowd.

It doesn’t really feel like Christmas to me without sweet smells drifting out of the kitchen, and someone cheekily trying to sneak treats before they’re out on the table. Some years, I feel like pulling out all the stops and making super elegant, festive desserts that are time consuming but so worth, and some years Christmas desserts are last on my priority list.

I’m an “instant gratification” kind of baker. Any baked good that’s deemed a “project” (with the exception of pumpkin cinnamon rolls, of course!) isn’t really my speed. Give me sweets that I can mix together quickly and easily, pop in the oven, and snack on in half an hour and I’m sold. Enter: 3-ingredient peanut butter cookies. Not only are these the absolute easiest, but they’re my favorite soft and chewy peanut butter cookies too.

Proceed with caution!

If you like pecan pie, you’ll love these bars.

I am very worried, friends. Worried that the fear of pie crusts may be keeping a great many of you from making your own pies at home. Is this true? Does this sound like you? Do debates over butter vs. shortening or tender vs. flaky make you want to run and hide? Well, take a deep breath and grab your notebook — today we’re going to go over how to make a pie from start to finish, one step at a time. Here’s your first lesson: Homemade pies do not have to be perfect. Really.

It hits the spot every time.

The filling is the best.

My mother-in-law isn’t a baker, but she has a serious sweet tooth. When she pulled out a chocolate-smudged cookbook on our first shared Thanksgiving holiday, she turned straight to the chapter on pies — and specifically, a recipe for whipped cream-topped chocolate pie. Ever since, I’ve accepted chocolate pie as a welcome addition to any holiday spread.The version I’m sharing here is one I know she’d be proud of.

Five layers of classic chocolate chip cookie flavor.

Unlike any other pumpkin dessert.

So easy to make!

The ultimate pumpkin spice fix.

When a bee sting is actually a good thing.