Dessert Recipes

Dropping a bag of black cocoa powder onto the kitchen floor at 9 PM on a Tuesday—that’s how this started. I was already three cups … Read more

“Wait—these are pumpkin cookies?” My neighbor Sarah stood at my kitchen door, holding a paper plate, looking genuinely confused. She had texted me earlier that … Read more

The last cookie on the platter had a slightly lopsided lacing pattern and a smudge of chocolate on its “seam.” My nephew grabbed it anyway, … Read more

The way the icing pools in the warm crevices—thick, white, and slowly melting into the spirals—that’s what I was after. Honestly, everything else about these … Read more

For a while, I just accepted that pumpkin desserts were either fussy or dry. The layered ones take forever, the quick breads get eaten in … Read more

I burned the first three loaves of pumpkin banana bread before I realized the problem wasn’t me—it was my oven running hot and my impatience … Read more

I figured pumpkin muffins were basically just spice cake with an orange tint. It took about one bite of a sad, dry, bakery-style muffin for … Read more

Third time in a week I’d made this pumpkin sourdough discard bread, and this time I finally figured out that the trick was letting the … Read more

The pumpkin puree was already open in the fridge from a failed attempt at making a creamy pasta sauce that ended up tasting like baby … Read more

My husband took a bite, stopped chewing, and just looked at the fork for a second. That’s the kind of quiet reaction that tells you … Read more