Recipe Archive

Desserts

Desserts bring structure to sweetness, from cakes and custards to frozen treats and fruit-driven finishes that close the meal with intention.

1329 recipes

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Recipes

Pastel de Datil Sudcaliforniano

Chef Lupita

Pastel de Datil Sudcaliforniano

Baja California Sur's mission-era date cake, built on Comondu Medjool dates, toasted pecans, lard, and dark piloncillo. A dense desert sweet from a peninsula most of Mexico forgets exists.

Pastel de Elote de Tepoztlan

Chef Lupita

Pastel de Elote de Tepoztlan

Morelos gives you pastel de elote from Tepoztlan, a dense fresh-corn cake baked until golden at the edges and custardy in the center. Not American cornbread. Learn the difference.

Pastel de Queso de Bola Yucateco

Chef Lupita

Pastel de Queso de Bola Yucateco

Yucatan's birthday cake: a buttery crumb built on sharp aged Edam, brightened with Mexican lime and condensed milk. The salty-sweet pastel the senoras of Merida have been making for generations.

Pastel de Tres Leches de Ciudad de Mexico

Chef Lupita

Pastel de Tres Leches de Ciudad de Mexico

Ciudad de Mexico's celebration cake, a light sponge drenched with condensed milk, evaporated milk, and cream until every crumb is soaked but the cake still stands.

Pasteli Kalamatas (Παστέλι Καλαμάτας)

Chef Dimitra

Pasteli Kalamatas (Παστέλι Καλαμάτας)

Kalamata pasteli is sesame and honey made honest: toasted seeds, fragrant Greek honey, and one firm boil so the bars snap instead of sag.

Pastilla au Lait (الجوهرة)

Chef Zohra

Pastilla au Lait (الجوهرة)

The Fassi milk pastilla called jawhara, the jewel: crisp warqa, cool orange-blossom cream, and toasted almonds layered only when the table is ready.

Pátzcuaro Custard Ice (Nieve de Pasta)

Chef Lupita

Pátzcuaro Custard Ice (Nieve de Pasta)

Michoacán's Pátzcuaro custard ice, built from milk, egg yolks, almond, cinnamon, and patient hand-churning in a wooden garrafa packed with ice and salt.

Pátzcuaro Sweet-Corn Snow (Nieve de Elote Tierno)

Chef Lupita

Pátzcuaro Sweet-Corn Snow (Nieve de Elote Tierno)

Michoacán's Pátzcuaro lake-country corn snow, made from tender milpa elote, milk, and piloncillo, cooked in copper, chilled properly, then hand-cranked in a garrafa packed with ice and rock salt.

Pavê de Chocolate

Chef Juliana

Pavê de Chocolate

You don't need a steady pastry hand. You need a spoon, a pan, and the patience to let the cream thicken properly. Pavê is party dessert with school-notebook logic.

Pavê de Natal

Chef Juliana

Pavê de Natal

You don't need an oven, a special hand, or a boxed pudding mix. Build the cream, layer the biscuits, chill it overnight, and Christmas dessert is solved.

Pavlova with Fresh Berries

Chef Dean

Pavlova with Fresh Berries

A cloud of crisp meringue cradling a marshmallow heart, crowned with billowing cream and jewel-bright berries. The dessert that launched a century of celebration across the Southern Hemisphere, now yours to master at home.

Pay de Queso Bajacaliforniano

Chef Lupita

Pay de Queso Bajacaliforniano

Baja California's pay de queso. A dense, silky cream cheese filling on a buttery galleta Maria base, finished with a glossy glaze of guava or mango from the valley orchards.

Pé de Moleque Baiano

Chef Juliana

Pé de Moleque Baiano

You think this dense cassava sweet belongs to someone else's hands. It doesn't. Grate, sweeten, bake, and you've got tabuleiro doçaria at home, with respect and no powdered lie.

Pé-de-Moleque de Rapadura

Chef Juliana

Pé-de-Moleque de Rapadura

You think sugar work is not for you. Good. We start there, then melt rapadura slowly, watch the bubbles, fold in peanuts, and learn the ponto with our own eyes.

Pé de Moleque Pernambucano

Chef Juliana

Pé de Moleque Pernambucano

You don't need a clay oven or family secrets. Cassava dough, cane syrup, peanuts, coconut, and spices make a dark festa cake a careful home cook can actually repeat.

Peak-Season Nectarine Sorbet with Honey

Chef Ally

Peak-Season Nectarine Sorbet with Honey

Pure summer in a bowl: ripe nectarines, raw honey, and nothing more. The fruit does all the work. You just get out of the way and let it freeze into something extraordinary.

Pear and Ginger Crumble

Chef Thomas

Pear and Ginger Crumble

A warm October crumble of Conference pears and stem ginger under a brown sugar topping, the kind of pudding that makes a Sunday evening feel like somewhere you want to be.

Pelion Karydaki Glyko Koutaliou (Καρυδάκι Γλυκό Κουταλιού)

Chef Dimitra

Pelion Karydaki Glyko Koutaliou (Καρυδάκι Γλυκό Κουταλιού)

Pelion's early-summer walnuts become a glossy spoon sweet only after patient soaking, fresh water, and a dark syrup scented with clove, cinnamon, and lemon for guests.

Pelion Quince Spoon Sweet (Κυδώνι Γλυκό Κουταλιού)

Chef Dimitra

Pelion Quince Spoon Sweet (Κυδώνι Γλυκό Κουταλιού)

Pelion's quince spoon sweet is autumn in a jar: pale fruit simmered until it blushes ruby, served by the spoon with cold water or thick yogurt.

Pepitorias Huastecas de Tantoyuca

Chef Lupita

Pepitorias Huastecas de Tantoyuca

Veracruz's Huasteca candy from Tantoyuca, built from pepitas tostadas and piloncillo syrup cooked until it snaps clean under the teeth.

Pia (Cook Islands Arrowroot Pudding)

Chef Makoa

Pia (Cook Islands Arrowroot Pudding)

Cook Islands pia is the plain arrowroot pudding before the fruit poke, cooked low with coconut cream until it turns glossy and clear, then chilled soft for the whole table.

Picte de Elote Chiapaneco

Chef Lupita

Picte de Elote Chiapaneco

Chiapas's sweet elote tamal for Candelaria, ground fresh with manteca de cerdo, sugar, and a pinch of salt, then wrapped in corn husks until it sets soft and tender.

Piele (Hawaiian Baked Taro-Coconut Pudding)

Chef Makoa

Piele (Hawaiian Baked Taro-Coconut Pudding)

Hawaiʻi's piele is kalo from the loʻi grated with coconut cream and sugar, wrapped in ti leaf, and baked soft and set, a tender cousin to kūlolo.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Chef Dean

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

A buttery golden cake crowned with caramelized pineapple rings, jewel-bright cherries, and a lacquered brown sugar glaze that pools into sticky amber rivers when you flip it onto the plate.

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