Baking

Store-bought caramel sauce spiked with a little sea salt makes these fast and easy puddings something special.

Great for dessert or breakfast.

An intense dark-chocolate filling topped with sweet-tangy cream.

Purchased biscuit dough makes these dessert dumplings a snap to make.

Miss Lewis loved to serve this old-fashioned Southern dessert (which is actually more of a double-crust pie) warm, with the syrupy juice spooned over the crisp crust.

Small wedges of this luscious, superchocolaty cake go a long way.

Oven-baking this rice pudding eliminates a lot of stovetop stirring while still producing a delicious, creamy dessert.

Quesillo de Coco You could buy a ticket to the Tropics—or you could simply make this flan. Heady with rum and sweet flaked coconut, this incredibly easy, super-delicate dessert will transport you straight to a table in the sand, under the swaying palms. If only every recipe could be this straightforward and rewarding.

This variation on spice cookies will beguile with its unlikely ingredients: A little curry powder provides an unplaceable base note for flat brown-sugar tuiles studded with pistachios and chocolate chunks. And these are the least fussy of cookies—just spread the batter, sprinkle with chocolate and nuts, and then break up into pieces after baking.

Café au Lait Pain Perdu Perfumed with sweetened espresso and baked to an eggy, custardy consistency, this take on French toast is one of those magical dishes that work just as well for dessert as they do for breakfast.

Brilliant swirls of raspberry jam and a crunchy crumb topping make this cake far prettier—and tastier—than most.

Unlike traditional fruitcakes, which are usually soaked in liquor and can be prepared weeks in advance, this version is best eaten within five days of baking.

These delightful cupcakes are great as soon as they've cooled, but their carrot-cake moistness and hint of spice really come through the day after they're baked.

Whether you dunk them in milk, pry them apart, or devour them whole, sandwich cookies are irresistible. These, with their crisp chocolate wafers and ganache filling made from fine-quality white chocolate, are so much better than that supermarket version.

These pretty little cookies are similar to the bakery staples, but made with a flaky, homey, easier version of puff pastry. A liberal sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar in between the layers gives each cookie both sweetness and a hint of spice.

Love a cookie with crunch? These thin, crisp butter cookies are for you—each one is topped with crumbled almond praline, and its flavor plays on the time-tested combination of caramel and salt.

These chocolate-dipped stars look beautiful on the table, and their ethereal texture means guests can nibble without filling up. All three flavors—vanilla, chocolate, and coffee—come from one batter.