Dessert recipe collection

Use this recipe with peaches, sour cherries or pineapple with equally good results.

Apricot drop cookies fold chopped dried apricots into a quick brown-sugar batter brightened with orange juice and zest. Soft, chewy drops with bursts of fruit in every bite.

Traditional yeast-raised kolachy with a homemade apricot or prune puree filling. The lemon-scented dough rises light and pillowy around a sweet cinnamon-spiced center.

Baked apricot rice pudding with a broiled brown sugar crust. Skim milk, egg substitute, and fresh apricots in a water bath make a creamy low-fat custard with a brulee-style finish.

Fresh apricot sundae with dark brown sugar, orange zest, and vanilla or raspberry frozen yogurt. A no-cook summer dessert ready in 5 minutes at just 58 calories.

Apricot walnut crescent cookies with a flaky sour cream pastry rolled around apricot preserves and ground walnuts, dusted with powdered sugar. An Eastern European holiday classic.

Silky apricot whip made with overnight-soaked dried apricots, honey, and low-fat yogurt. Four ingredients, a blender, and just 54 calories per serving.

Low-fat apricot cardamom bars with apricot nectar, finely snipped dried apricots, and applesauce in the batter, finished with an apricot icing drizzle. Fragrant and easy.

Apricot and cardamom bars with dried apricot, apricot nectar, and unsweetened applesauce in the batter, finished with a sweet apricot glaze drizzle. Low-fat and done in 45 minutes.

Apricot cream cheese spread with simmered dried apricots, orange marmalade, and chopped pecans. Rich, fruity, and easy to spread on crackers, bagels, or English muffins.

Layered bar cookies with a butter shortbread base, apricot jam, and a cocoa-coconut-peanut meringue topping. Three distinct layers in every square.

Tender sour cream pastry rolled with apricot jam, walnuts, and raisins into elegant strudel cookies. These make-ahead sweets are perfect for holiday cookie trays.

Preserve summer apricots in anisette liqueur with fennel for sweet-spiced fruit that brightens winter desserts and cheese plates all year long.

Arizona pecan chocolate rum pie with an all-lard pastry crust and a filling of unsweetened chocolate, dark corn syrup, brown sugar, chopped pecans, and a splash of rum.

Showstopper cheesecake with a pecan shortbread crust, cranberry glaze layer, white chocolate orange filling, and candied orange slice topping. A stunning holiday dessert that requires overnight chilling.

Aunt Catherine's Italian Cookies: a heirloom cookie with almond extract, cinnamon, and chopped nuts, finished in pastel-colored powdered sugar icing. Stores for months in tins.