Eva Powell, a former elementary-school librarian in Mitchell, Indiana, has won the town’s pudding contest five times with her recipe for persimmon pudding with a crispy, cake-like crust.

At Boston’s Durgin-Park, squares of buttery crust are pressed into a simmering apple filling partway through cooking to soak up the spiced sauce in this old-school dessert. Get the recipe for Apple Pandowdy »

Cardamom Cream Puffs (Semlor)

Claudia Fleming shared this recipe with us. She likes to serve these wafer-thin cookies alongside fresh apples or pears.

Able to be assembled up to 2 days prior to baking, this multilayered pastry cake is stuffed with poppy seed, walnut, cottage cheese, and tart apple fillings. Get the recipe for Layered Strudel Cake (Prekmurska Gibanica) »

This traditional cardamom-scented Indian rice pudding owes its particular richness to the inclusion of whole milk, which has been reduced by half during the cooking process to produce a thick, creamy base. Get the recipe for Indian Rice Pudding (Kheer) »

Traditional French shortbread cookies taste best using a good salted butter with a high butterfat content, such as Kerrygold.

We adapted this recipe from the Irish food authority Darina Allen’s book The Complete Book of Irish Country Cooking (Penguin Studio, 1996). Get the recipe for Yellow Man »

Classic frozen yogurt gets a boost from floral persimmon and toasted spices.

Creamy pumpkin filling over a ginger cookie crust provides a comforting balance of sweetness and spice.