I'm a food reporter who's baked nearly 3 dozen recipes in 3 years. Here are the best desserts I made so far, ranked.

I ranked my favorite desserts that I made over the last three years.

Lauren Edmonds/Business Insider

• I've tried nearly three dozen recipes at Business Insider since December 2020. 
• Ina Garten snagged the fifth-place spot with her deep-dish apple pie. 
• My favorite recipe used an unexpected ingredient to make fluffy, light cinnamon rolls. 

I've spent a good deal of time in the kitchen since joining Business Insider.

I arrived in December 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the masses were shuttered inside and became enamored with online food trends like homemade bread and "pancake cereal."

Over the last three years, I've made everything from homemade cream cheese during a food shortage to Princess Diana's go-to stuffed bell peppers recipe, but desserts have always been my favorite.

Here are five of the best desserts I've made over three years, ranked.

5. Ina Garten's deep-dish apple pie is a refreshing dessert with a classic taste.

Ina Garten's deep-dish apple pie.

Lauren Edmonds/Business Insider

I made Garten's deep-dish apple pie in June 2021, and the dessert made a lasting impression.

"It's a lot of apples for this pie crust, but I like it piled high — a mile-high apple pie," Garten said in a video on Food Network.

The two-hour recipe has 13 ingredients, including Granny Smith apples and sugar, which gives the pie its signature flavor. While I enjoy a slightly sweeter version of apple pie, Garten's take is a tried and true recipe that doesn't disappoint.

Find the recipe here.

4. Princess Diana's favorite dessert is a cross between bread pudding and crème brûlée.

I made the bread and butter pudding recipe by Chef Darren McGrady.

Lauren Edmonds/Business Insider

In January 2022, I tried the bread and butter pudding recipe that former royal chef Darren McGrady baked for Princess Diana during his tenure as her chef.

"This pudding was Princess Diana's all-time favorite, so much so that she once had a royal reporter write that 'Darren makes the best bread and butter pudding in the world,'" McGrady wrote in an excerpt of his 2007 book, "Eating Royally: Recipes and Remembrances from the Palace Kitchen": "Well, I am not sure it is the best in the world — but it's up there! The final texture is a cross between a bread pudding and a crème brûlée."

The recipe calls for eleven ingredients, including amaretto liqueur, to create the saccharine and creamy dessert. Almonds give the dessert a pleasant crunch, while the soft white bread transforms into a crisp crust.

Find the recipe here.

3. My 95-year-old grandmother's no-bake whiskey balls are an easy dessert to master with only five ingredients.

A photo of my grandmother's whiskey balls.

Lauren Edmonds/Business Insider

My grandmother's whiskey ball recipe has been in our family for at least three generations. She used to make it for her four children in the 1950s and 60s, and she later taught me when I was a child in the early 2000s.

It's a quick, no-stress recipe that balances the whiskey's sharp taste with sweet ingredients like Karo corn syrup.

The 20-minute whiskey ball recipe is a solid choice for people who enjoy a little booze in their desserts.

Find the recipe here.

2. Leah Chase, also known as the "Queen of Creole Cuisine," has an undeniably delicious peach cobbler recipe.

I enjoyed making Leah Chase's peach cobbler.

Lauren Edmonds/Business Insider

Chase is a Black culinary legend famous for her contributions to American cuisine. Chase operated a New Orleans-based restaurant called Dooky Chase, which became the first white-tablecloth restaurant for Black patrons in that area and served as a backdrop for the civil rights movements, per The Associated Press.

I tried Chase's peach cobbler recipe this November and had nothing but good things to say about it. It's a simple, no-fuss recipe that uses 10 ingredients and takes around 75 minutes.

The sweet peaches were delectable and paired well with the soft crust, which was perfect for sopping up the leftover sugar syrup.

Find the recipe here.

1. Martha Stewart's mashed potato-infused cinnamon rolls still reign supreme after three years.

Martha Stewart's cinnamon rolls.

Lauren Edmonds/Business Insider

Stewart's cinnamon roll recipe was one of the first I tried at Business Insider, and I haven't stopped talking about it since. Although the recipe takes two days because the rolls must be refrigerated overnight, it had the best texture and taste of all the desserts I've made.

Sweet ingredients like sugar and cinnamon give the dessert a classic taste, while Stewart's tip to bake the dough with mashed potatoes made it extremely fluffy.

"The addition of mashed potatoes is our secret to its ultra-light texture," Stewart wrote on Instagram in December 2020.

Anyone looking for a delicious cinnamon roll recipe should try Stewart's.

Find the recipe here.

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