Desserts

Sweet-tart lemon infuses this soft pudding cake. On top is a sweet vanilla whipped cream. Lovely any time of year.

These cream puffs, called chouquettes, are infused with orange-flower water and freckled with sugar. Serve them as an after-school snack, as they do in France.

We know many who've fallen for these dulce de leche-filled shortbread cookies while in Latin America. Few have recovered. Rightly so.

It's time to melt some chocolate, toast some nuts, and cross some names off your holiday gift list.

First you make an Oreo cookie crust. Then you smother it with a bittersweet and semisweet chocolate custard. The final flourish is whipped cream infused with vanilla. Sigh.

Purplish cherries sink into a rich, fragrant frangipane as they bake into sweet oblivion and contrast spectacularly with the crisp puff pastry crust. Sounds terrible, eh?

Yep. You've heard of breakfast for dinner. We're up leveling to breakfast as dessert. Not just any dessert. Dark chocolate decadence with crisp edges that's delicious alone or with hot fudge sauce and vanilla ice cream.

Silken lemon curd with a surprise layer of chocolate slathered between creamy tartness and buttery, crunchy flakiness. Any takers?

This dreamy and creamy alternative to pumpkin pie has won us over. We think it'll woo you, too.

Those of us who prefer a restrained sweetness and a more pronounced cocoa taste will adore these muffins. Nothing overtly sweet here. And we're okay with that.

The classic Italian dessert, made the old fashioned way with crisp pastry shells, sweetened ricotta, and chocolate chips.

Not Portuguese? Not a problem. It won't lessen your appreciation for these little lovelies with the shatteringly crisp pastry cradling ridiculously creamy custard.

What's with the thankfulness, you ask? For starters, this sleek, sophisticated, tender-crumbed cake smothered in butterscotch and stacked to the heavens.

Irresistible in terms of both taste and texture. Those with a weakness for these classic Italian cookies, consider yourself warned.

An exceptionally, deeply chocolate dessert that feels light and cool. It makes an elegant finish on a warm summer night.

A superlative version of the classic American quick bread that everyone loves. And that everyone pretty much always has the ingredients for on hand.

Panettone, which makes its traditional Italian Christmas appearance, is gussied up here with any dried fruit you fancy. An ever so slight twist on a classic.

These chocolate-y devil's food cupcakes boast a creamy cheesecake-y addition. You may never go back to plain chocolate.

You're going to feel like a cheat when you serve these obscenely simple tarts to guests. Shhhh. Your secret's safe with us.

This classic French dessert is an eggy cake that's studded with currant, soaked with a vanilla-rum sauce and brushed with an apricot glaze.