53 Easy Desserts to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth
There are times when, feeling ambitious, the idea of rolling up your sleeves and getting lost in a weekend baking project sounds fun. Other times, easy desserts—the kinds that immediately meet your sugary needs—are all you can fathom making. Something sweet must appear, ASAP, your body tells you. (Or maybe it’s your heart talking. As they say, the heart wants what it wants.) For those latter moments, here’s a collection of desserts that come together with minimal active prep and cooking times. From brownies and one-bowl cakes to simple ice cream sundaes and three-ingredient truffles, this list contains 53 ways to make something satisfyingly sweet—right now.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne1/52Molten Double Chocolate Mug Cake
Mug cake isn't exactly the prettiest of easy desserts, but does that matter when it’s this gooey-rich and comes together in just three minutes?
Photo by Matt Russell2/52Candied Pumpkin With Tahini and Date Syrup (Kabak Tatlısı)
Candied pumpkin is a popular sweet in Turkey, where it can either be cooked on the stove or in an oven. This recipe goes with the oven method for ease and speed.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Judy Haubert3/52Vanilla No-Bake Cheesecake With a Chocolate Cookie Crust
If you are new to no-bake cheesecakes, welcome to a world without cracked cake exteriors or over-baked interiors. There's no baking here, just refrigerating.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Michelle Gatton5/52Blackberry and Chocolate Ice Cream Icebox Cake
This dish looks more complicated than it is. Really, if you have the time to whip some cream, you can throw together this no-bake dessert. (Also available in peach and pecan or raspberry-pistachio.)
Photo and Styling by Joseph De Leo6/52Plátanos Horneados con Crema y Queso (Baked Banana With Crema and Cheese)
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne7/52PBJ Thumbprint Bars
These blondie-like bars are flavored with peanut butter and dotted with pools of jam and toasty chopped peanuts. Finish the batch with a drizzle of melted white (or dark, or milk) chocolate.
Photo by Kimberley Hasselbrink9/52Summer Berry-Coconut Milk Ice Pops
This jammy mash-up of blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries with coconut milk and cardamom beats vanilla ice cream any day.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton10/52Hot Water Peach Cobbler
The method here is a bit unusual: Dress juicy peaches with lemon zest, then smear the batter on top, followed by a dousing of sugar and hot water. The result is a crackly crust unrivaled in the world of cobbler recipes.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton11/52Microwave Coconut Sticky Rice With Mango
Coconut sticky rice needn't be intimidating. As Pepper Teigen, also known as model and cookbook author Chrissy Teigen’s mother, will show you, all you need is a microwave.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich13/52Lemon Curd
Lemon curd can be made with pantry staples, and this easy recipe calls for nothing beyond lemons (the juice and the zest), sugar, butter, and eggs.
Photo by Linda Xiao14/52One-Bowl Ricotta Olive Oil Pound Cake
No need to wait around for butter to soften for this citrusy one-bowl olive oil cake. It's also perfect in any season: Serve it with berries in summer, plums or figs in the fall, a citrus salad come winter, or poached rhubarb in spring. Or, skip the fruit and have it with a nice cup of tea.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Astrid Chastka, Food Styling by Anna Hampton16/52Cinnamon–Chocolate Chunk Skillet Cookie
There are times for individual cookies, and there are times that call for a large-format cookie that everyone at the table can enjoy. This one (an example of the latter) is, according to one reader, “easy, appealing, and tasty! Part of the fun is the variation in texture from the chewy center to the crisp edge.” Agreed.
Yunhee Kim17/52Frozen Chocolate Bananas
Sure, Oreos and Reese's peanut butter cups are great, but how about a sweet treat that's almost as easy to make as it is to unwrap a package of cookies or candy—so easy, in fact, that your little ones can help?
Photo & Food Styling by Kendra Vaculin18/52Cranberry-Orange Snacking Cake
The genius of this easy snacking cake recipe comes from using canned cranberry sauce as the fruit swirl. It’s perfect for breakfast or as an afternoon snack.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Kat Boytsova20/52Homemade "Dole Whip"
As any Disney Park fanatic can tell you, it’s not a visit to the Magic Kingdom without a helping of this dairy-free, soft-serve–like pineapple dessert. Now you can make the magic at home.
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Photo by Ben Fink21/52Whipped Cream Cake
Neither butter nor oil is responsible for this cake's tender and moist texture. In this clever recipe from expert Rose Levy Beranbaum, it's all about heavy cream.
donna hay magazine, photography by Benjamin Dearnley22/52Chocolate Swirl Tiramisu
Classic tiramisu, while delicious, involves whipping egg yolks and soaking ladyfingers and fastidiously layering everything in a dish. In other words, it's a project. This cheater's tiramisu cuts some corners.
Photo by Gentl & Hyers, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, Prop Styling by Kalen Kaminski24/52Chocolate-Avocado Pudding
Photo by Christopher Testani25/52Instant Pot Lemon Vanilla Rice Pudding With Whipped Cream
If you have an Instant Pot, you can make this creamy, aromatic rice pudding with just ten minutes of active time. Let the machine do the rest.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Katherine Sacks26/523-Ingredient Creamy Coconut-Lime Ice Pops
Unsweetened coconut milk, cream of coconut, and limes. That's all you need for this easy dessert recipe, which makes for creamy, floral, refreshing, and portable treats.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Sophie Strangio, Food Styling by Ali Nardi27/52Midnight Puppy Chow
28/52Chocolate-Almond Fridge Fudge
This fudge is definitely an easy dessert to make, but one thing is non-negotiable: using bittersweet chocolate with minimum 60% cacao. Lower percentages won't get you the right texture (and fudge is all about the texture).
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Rhoda Boone30/52Sheet-Pan Brownie Thins
Some people are cakey brownie people, and some are chewy brownie people. This one's for the latter group. Spread the batter into a thin layer and you'll end up with ¼-inch-thick brownies, all of which have the texture of those edge pieces you usually go for.
Photo by Gentl & Hyers31/52Apple and Nut-Butter Puff Pastry Tarts
This recipe satisfies the urge for apple pie with a pack of store-bought frozen puff pastry.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Nathaniel James, Food Styling by Anna Hampton32/52Apple-Cranberry Crisp With Oatmeal-Cookie Crumble
Inspired by the bright flavors of cranberry sauce, tangy cranberries and sweet orange zest add a floral tartness to this apple crisp, which is topped with an oatmeal cookie crumble studded with almonds.
Photo by JP Bevins, Food Styling by Molly Baz34/523-Ingredient Frozen Mud Pie
The pie crust: Buy a frozen pie shell. The ice cream: Buy that, too. The hardest part about this delicious dessert is slicing it.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Rhoda Boone36/52One-Bowl Milk Chocolate Cake With Chocolate-Caramel Frosting
One-bowl cakes are the kind of dessert you can make on a whim on a weeknight. Real milk chocolate—not just cocoa powder—gives this cake batter its rich, chocolatey flavor.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Kat Boytsova38/523-Ingredient Maple-Pecan Fudge
This pecan-studded fudge is all about the flavor of pure maple syrup—and you really do want to use pure maple syrup since syrup with additives can separate during cooking.
Photo by Romulo Yanes40/52Quick Raspberry Charlotte
This sweet treat is a continental love story. Savoiardi, or crisp Italian-style ladyfingers, get the French treatment when they're doused in Cognac, cream, and raspberry purée.
Photo by Alex Lau41/52Slow-Roasted Rhubarb
You could make a fancy rhubarb cake or tart, but rhubarb’s naturally sweet and tangy flavors don’t need much more than a simple roasting in order to fully express themselves. This would be delicious served over ice cream after a big lasagna dinner.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Samantha Seneviratne & Jason Schreiber42/52Pastel Butter Cookies
To give almond shortbread cookies the pastel treatment, dust them with powdered sugar—powdered sugar that you've dyed with finely ground freeze-dried blueberries, raspberries, and mangoes. (Look at you!)
Leigh Beisch43/52Balsamic-Strawberry Pops
Ice pops are lovable because there’s so much payoff for so little fuss. These strawberry pops have two twists, though: balsamic vinegar and black pepper. (They work; promise.)
Tara Donne, food styling by Diana Yen44/52Raspberry Sundaes With Chocolate Sauce and Roasted Almonds
Marcus Nilsson45/52Raspberry and Aperol Floats
These bittersweet floats feature citrusy Aperol, but you can use Campari if that's what you have on hand. Want to make a version for non-drinkers? Substitute pomegranate juice for the liqueur.
Photo by Peden + Munk46/52Bittersweet-Chocolate Truffles
What's easier than making truffles? Half-making them. Bring the truffle mixture to the table and serve it family-style; then your guests can handle the toppings, tossing them in cocoa powder or sandwiching them between wedges of clementine.
Photo by Alex Lau, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich47/52Mini Strawberry Eton Mess
A classic British dessert—truly a beautiful, delicious mess—made of whipped cream, store-bought meringues, and fruit, the Eton mess looks like it took way more time to make than it did.
Photo by Michael Graydon & Nikole Herriott, Prop Styling by Kalen Kaminski, Food Styling by Susie Theodorou48/52Any Berry Galette
Photo by Laura Murray, Food Styling by Susie Theodorou50/52Anytime Chocolate Chip and Oat Cookies
Optimized for portioning, chilling, and baking right from the freezer, this texture-rich cookie dough—it has oats, whole grain flour, and nuts and seeds—means you're never more than 25 minutes away from a warm, gooey cookie.
Photo & Food Styling by Joe Sevier51/52Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Grated zucchini is the secret behind this cake's moistness (and a fun way to get your vegetables in), while chocolate chips and walnuts add texture. This recipe would probably make great cupcakes, too. Just saying.
Photo by Laura Murray, Prop Styling by Sophie Strangio, Food Styling by Simon Andrews52/52No-Churn Almond and Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream
