Sweets

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.

Get set for your cookie party.

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

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.

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 has to know how easy it is to make.

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.

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

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.

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.

It hits the spot every time.

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.

It’s sweet and salty.

When a bee sting is actually a good thing.

Five layers of peanut butter perfection.

Here’s what makes a tarte Tatin so fabulous: even if your crust isn’t perfect, even if it crumbles a bit when you flip it, and even if the tarte is not perfectly centered on your serving platter, it will still taste like something that came directly from heaven. Now, don’t be intimidated by the flip. In many ways, that’s the least stressful part of making a tarte Tatin!

Do you remember eating chocolate “dirt” pudding cups with crushed cookies and worms at every Halloween party as a kid? My birthday falls just before Halloween, and this is something I requested at every costume party from the time I was 6 until I turned 10. Now I’m delighted to introduce my own kids (and our neighbors) to this classic treat. Here’s how you can make your own party-sized graveyard cake this Halloween. It’s the perfect treat for Halloween.

Pumpkin cheesecake has become a fall and winter dessert classic for good reason. The lively, familiar spices of classic pumpkin pie are balanced by the cool and creamy goodness of a New York-style cheesecake. The combination makes each bite memorably delicious and worthy of any celebration — especially Thanksgiving. Even if you have never made a cheesecake or pumpkin pie before, this is a dessert that is within your reach.

Ah, pumpkin pie. It’s a recipe filled with nostalgia, a creamy combination of sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and custardy filling, baked in a homemade pie crust and topped with a dollop of whipped cream. Thanksgiving isn’t the same without it.

Grab a spoon.

You don't even need any measuring cups for this recipe.

It's a game-changer.

It's ready in 20 minutes and doesn't require turning on the oven.

If the hardest decision at your holiday table is choosing between desserts — be it a slice of pumpkin pie, a scoop of seasonal fruit crumble, or even a simple sugar cookie — these pumpkin pie bars are a sweet solution to your Thanksgiving troubles. These bars make use of smart grocery store shortcuts, like refrigerated sugar cookie dough and canned pumpkin pie mix. For the finishing touch, a buttery oat crumble is sprinkled over top.

Plus, there’s ice cream.

We found the best cookie for the job.

It tastes like fall in every bite.

It's like a cloud.

No ice cream maker required.

The no-bake cake that goes for the gold!

So light and creamy.

The star of any summer celebration.

Popular with kids and adults alike.

Worth breaking your ice cream machine out for.

Deliciously dippable.

Puppy chow (also known as muddy buddies) is dangerous stuff. I had never even heard of the snack until my friend Beth, an Iowa native, left some at my house after a holiday gathering and I found myself eating handful after handful of the sweet, crunchy, nutty mixture. Why wasn’t there a warning label? It didn’t last the night.

The Italian dessert might make you forget all about gelato.

No-bake cookies — the kind made with oats, peanut butter, and chocolate — are a classic dessert and an easier option than homemade cookies from scratch. Mothers and grandmothers around the country regularly make this stovetop cookie, to varying results. I remember at least a few times eating failed no-bake cookies with a spoon because they never fully set. Here’s my secret to better no-bake cookies: Think of the process more like candy-making than cookie baking.

When you have a glut of fresh summer fruit, sorbets are the answer. You don’t need a recipe — just a basic template to follow and a little creativity. Strawberry-peach sorbet? Mint-infused watermelon sorbet? Raspberry-rosé sorbet? Yes, let’s make all of these this summer. All you need is chopped fruits, puree it, then add a little simple syrup and lemon juice, chill the base, churn the sorbet, and then freeze it.

Cooler than the original.

As much as I love all the burgers, grilled hot dogs, and classic BBQ sides, 4th of July simply isn’t complete without an easy dessert. Maybe it’s my sweet tooth or the fact that all the best summer fruit is currently in its prime. I look forward to the festive red, white, and blue sweets, no-bake delights, gooey s’mores, and classic fruit pies. There’s so much to choose from.

Ice cream is great and snow cones are good, but for me the ultimate summer dessert is halo-halo. The refreshing, multi-layered, shaved-ice-based Filipino dessert is packed with incredible flavors and textures — icy, creamy, chewy, crunchy, sweet, syrupy. I’ve been lucky to eat halo-halo here in the United States and all over the Philippines and it still thrills me every time.

It takes just 15 minutes to prep.

If you love margaritas, this one’s for you.

It’s sweet, tart, and so creamy.

“I already want to make another batch.”

You only need six ingredients.

Butter mochi is a staple at almost any party in Hawai‘i, and it’s easy to see why. The coconut custard glutinous rice cake is perfectly chewy, slightly sticky, and just dense enough, with a hint of vanilla and salt. Growing up Japanese-American, or hapa, in Hawai‘i, I’ve had my fair share of butter mochi.

Five layers of buttery, brown-sugar, chocolate chip cookie delight.

Five layers of chocolate-peanut butter perfection.

It takes just 20 minutes to prep.

Creamy, fluffy, and delightfully airy cheesecake bars get a nice, earthy ube update.

My dad has an intense sweet tooth, just like me. One afternoon when I was around 10 years old, Dad got a hankering and he enlisted me to help him make Toll House chocolate chip cookies. That was the first time he and I had ever baked together. Since then, whenever I make chocolate chip cookies, including the ones from this recipe, I think of him and that special afternoon we spent together in the kitchen. I developed this recipe over the years.

It’s light, but still berry decadent.

It’s shockingly good.