Homemade cherry pie from the recipe my mom and I both use. It's got just that much of a hint of almond flavor and it's my favorite dessert, ideally with vanilla ice cream.
A very specific sort of bakery donut. Yeast, not cake. On the larger side, like the right size to be satisfied with one donut and an iced coffee to wash it down. My favorite is either plain glazed or iced with maple or chocolate icing, especially if the icing is in a very smooth layer and just slightly grainy with sugar. I don't have donuts very often, keeping them a special and rare treat, and that may be why I'd be venturing into donut smut territory if I don't move on to item 3.
Italian cream cake (which is a southern American recipe as far as I know). A moist, nutty, coconutty cake with cream cheese icing.
Oh my god bread is a baked good. Fuck. Any kind of homemade boule with a really soft structure complementing the super crusty crust! (Like any kind of relatively easy homemade bread you bake in a dutch oven. I did not succeed at pandemic sourdough but I did get into a great rhythm with no-knead bread.)
Whatever my current favorite cookie or scone is? Contenders have included these oatmeal currant scones we used to make a lot, a homemade mock of the big fluffy grocery store sugar cookies (I can do these regular or gluten-free and they're fucking great), classic chocolate chip cookies.
This coffee cake from King Arthur: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/birthday-coffee-cake-recipe (I bake it in a round cake pan and the wedges of cake are so cute)
I've recently finally dialed in gluten-free pie crust and made a somewhat experimental pear tart with it over the holidays
Visited friends this summer and it was during the very, very, very horrible times (you know 💕) and we went out to eat and dinner was fine but I uncharacteristically ordered restaurant dessert and it was the most memorable dessert I've had in my life. It was a pie with a chocolate crust that held together perfectly, a smooth fudgy peanut butter filling, and a layer of chocolate ganache that was 100% willing to be sliced by the fork at the exact same speed as the other components of the pie. It was the most courteous, thoughtful, there-for-me-when-I-needed-it pie of all time. It's on the honorable mention list only because it lives 5 hours away from me and I haven't found a recipe yet.
