Chocolate

Capture the holiday spirit with this warm spiced cake, packed with nutmeg, cinnamon, and clove.

The trick of making an espresso extract to add to the dough is a good one to know. If you want to use it for other things—a spoonful is good in brownies, chocolate sauces or even in chocolate chip cookies—make more than you need now and keep it in the refrigerator, where it will be fine for months. Of course these are good with coffee and coffee drinks, but they’re surprisingly nice with milk and not at all bad with cognac.

Who doesn’t love banana bread? This one is just sweet enough, with fabulous crunch if you add walnuts and coconut, as I always do. There’s no better solution for over-the-hill bananas, and the batter comes together in less than 10 minutes. I’ve been making this recipe — created by my late dear friend Sherry — for almost fifty years; it’s incredibly reliable.

The most iconic chocolate chip cookie is crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, and loaded with melty morsels of chocolate chips throughout.

This pecan-studded chocolate spice-cake is filled with a luscious chocolate buttercream, drenched in a rich espresso-infused ganache and then decorated with edible dark and white chocolate ribbons for an impressive presentation.

Buttery pat-in-pan shortbread takes the place of mass-produced cookies and gets smothered in from-scratch caramel and silken chocolate in this jumbo version of a classic Halloween candy.

The iconic chocolate bar filled with peanut-studded caramel and nougat is all about chewiness. Here, we put all of those flavors into a bar that's big enough to eat with a fork.

Turn your favorite halloween candy into a giant version to feed a crowd.

White chocolate adds a rich, creamy sweetness to this quick pumpkin mousse. Be careful to keep the white chocolate and pumpkin mixtures warm as you mix them; otherwise, the white chocolate can set as it mixes into the pumpkin. If this happens, simply return the mixture to the microwave and gently reheat. Serve it alone or as part of our Build-Your-Own Thanksgiving Pie Bar.

Chewy cookie lovers: these are for you.

Fold whipped cream into canned pumpkin purée and then layer with buttery pound cake and airy chocolate mousse for this easy-to-assemble fall dessert.

This delicious cake is different from other good chocolate pound cakes. It uses chocolate instead of the more usual cocoa, and the cake is baked in a bain-marie, or water bath.

Makes you wonder why you would ever serve cold pudding again.