15 Dessert Recipes For When You Want A Little Treat But Don't Have The Bandwidth To Make Something That's Complicated
I feel so lucky to live in the "is it cake?" era. Those cakes are WORKS OF ART.
Like, I'm sorry...how is that cake???
But today, we're not here for the works of art. We're here for the quick and easy and oh-so-delicious dessert recipes provided by the BuzzFeed Community via this post.
All the recipes listed (except for two at the very end) call for 5 or fewer ingredients, and many don't require any baking!
Because sometimes, you just need a little treat either for yourself or for a group, and the last thing you want to do is overextend yourself with a super complicated recipe.
So, without further ado, here are 15 easy-to-make scrumdiddlyumptious dessert recipes:
1.Instant Banoffee Pie
Ingredients:
- Bananas
- Whipped cream (from a can or homemade)
- A tin of caramel
- A graham cracker pie crust
Directions:
1. Slather the pie crust with your tinned caramel
2. slice bananas to top, and then cover in whipped cream.
3. Refrigerate if you wish to serve later or eat as it is.
4. If you've got another two minutes, chop some roasted nuts and mix through the caramel before smearing in the pie crust.
Notes:
- "It's always a hit and takes minutes to make."
—Anonymous
2.Payesh
Ingredients:
- Rice
- Milk
- Sugar
- Optional Garnishes: cardamom, saffron, cashews, and raisins.
Directions:
1. Boil the rice in milk
2. Add sugar based on taste.
Notes:
- "You want it to be soupy, so adjust the milk levels accordingly. To speed things up, you can also use evaporated milk.
- This rendition is made with rice, but it can be made with other ingredients, such as vermicelli."
—Anonymous
3.Super simple chocolate mousse
Ingredients:
- Ricotta cheese
- High-quality hot cocoa powder (sweetened)
Directions:
1. Mix cocoa into ricotta until well blended.
Notes:
- "How much? Start small until you find out how much chocolate you like."
—Lori, 54, Florida
4.Angel Food Layer Cake
Ingredients:
- Angel food cake
- pudding mix (chocolate or butterscotch)
- milk for pudding
- Cool Whip
Directions:
1. Cut or tear angel food cake into small pieces and spread them to make a layer in a rectangular casserole dish.
2. Make the pudding and pour over the cake pieces.
3. “Frost” with Cool Whip. You could layer it in a trifle dish or individual dessert cups.
Notes:
- "I have only made it with chocolate and butterscotch pudding, but other flavors may work. My frugal mom made this a repeat dessert in the 1970s; it still rocks today."
—Anonymous
5.Strawberry Shortcake Lasagna
Ingredients:
- 4 cups Heavy cream
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar (and can add more at the end for dusting)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1.5 boxes of vanilla wafers
- 1 lb thinly sliced strawberries
Directions:
1. Mix heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Mix until it peaks and resembles whipped cream.
2. Spread a thin layer of whipped cream in a 9x13-inch pan.
3. Top with a layer of Nilla wafers.
4. Spread another layer of whipped cream on top.
5. Top with a layer of strawberries.
6. Repeat until all ingredients are used, ending with a layer of whipped cream on top.
7. Sprinkle with crushed Nilla wafers and powdered sugar. Refrigerate for up to 3 hours or overnight.
—Anonymous
6.Instant Fairy Bread
Ingredients:
- White bread
- Margarine or butter
- Rainbow sprinkles
Directions:
1. Spread margarine or butter on bread, then cover with sprinkles
Notes:
- "I'm sure the dish originates from Australia, but it was always a sweet hit at birthday parties here in New Zealand."
—Anonymous, New Zealand
7.Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of peanut butter
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 egg
Directions:
1. Mix all the ingredients until smooth, and roll the batter into one-inch balls
2. Bake until the bottoms are barely brown on the bottom
Notes:
- "Sometimes I’ll drizzle melted chocolate on top 🥰"
8.Cheater Turnovers
Ingredients:
- Puff pastry
- Your favorite canned pie filling (or cream cheese mixed with an egg, sugar, and the juice of a squeezed citrus, Meyer lemon is amazing).
Directions:
1. Cut the pastry into squares
2. Spoon a dab of filling to one side of the center (about two tablespoons; more is not more... more is a mess)
3. Fold over and bake according to the package directions.
Notes:
- "If you want to be super fancy, make an icing of powdered sugar, cream cheese, and enough milk to make it just liquid. When they're cool, drizzle it over artistically using a baggie you snipped the corner off."
9.Mini Fruit Tarts
Ingredients:
- Ready-to-eat phyllo pastry shells
- Ready-to-eat custard or cheesecake filling
- Fruit
Directions:
1. Scoop in some ready-to-eat custard/cheesecake filling into a ready-to-eat phyllo pastry shell
2. Top with any fruit you'd like!
Notes:
- "Quick, easy, and doesn't require an oven."
10.Cheater Chocolate or Cream Cheese Cinnamon Sugar "Croissants"
Ingredients:
- One pack of crescent rolls
- Chocolate chips or 2-4 ounces cream cheese, NOT softened
- 2 tsp. sugar
-1/2-1 tsp cinnamon
Directions:
1. For the chocolate version, spread out crescents and separate them according to the package directions. Add some chips in the middle, roll up, and bake as the package indicates.
2. For the cream cheese version, mix sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Place a spoonful of cream cheese in the center of the roll, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, and proceed to roll up and bake the same as the package.
Notes:
- "Enjoy with cocoa or some coffee!"
11.No-Bake-Tiramisu
Ingredients:
- Ladyfingers
- Coffee
- Yogurt (ideally coffee-flavored, vanilla, or cheesecake).
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Optional: Bailey's Irish Cream
Directions:
1. Line a casserole with ladyfingers. Sprinkle them with strong cold coffee (espresso works well). Don't make them too moist, or they will get soggy later.
2. Cover this layer with a small carton or two of coffee-flavored yogurt if you can find it. If not, use a mild flavor like vanilla or cheesecake.
3. Add another layer of ladyfingers and moisten them with more coffee (or Bailey's Irish Cream).
4. Cover this layer with chocolate-themed yogurt, such as cookies 'n' cream or chocolate chip.
5. Dust the top with unsweetened cocoa powder.
6. Refrigerate for several hours.
—Anonymous
12.Eclair Cake
Ingredients:
- 2 boxes of vanilla pudding mix
- A container of whipped cream
- Chocolate icing
- Graham crackers
Directions:
1. In a 13x9-inch pan, make a gram cracker crust with crushed gram crackers, sugar, and melted butter to hold it together. (You can also buy a premade gram cracker crust.)
2. Follow the instructions on the vanilla pudding mix to make pudding (or buy premade).
3. Mix the pudding and whipped cream, then layer it in the pan.
4. Gram cracker crust-pudding mixture- a layer of gram crackers- pudding mixture, then top it with the chocolate icing and put it in the fridge to chill!
—Abby, 26, Louisiana
13.Fru Strawberries
Ingredients:
- Frozen Strawberries
- White chocolate
- Milk chocolate
- Coconut oil
Directions:
1. Melt the chocolate with a scoop of coconut oil in the microwave at 30-second intervals.
2. Dip the frozen strawberries in it. Let them harden, and pop them in the freezer for a few minutes.
3. Let them harden in the freezer and you have fru strawberries!
—Anonymous
And now, for the two recipes in this list that have more than 5 ingredients (but they both only have 7 and look SOOO GOOD)
14.Seven Layer Bars
Ingredients:
- Graham crackers
- One stick of butter
- Chocolate chips
- Butterscotch chips
- Nuts
- Shredded coconut
- Sweetened condensed milk
Directions:
1. Crush up graham crackers (I do about half a box), put them in a 9x13 pan
2. Melt a stick of butter and mix the butter with the graham cracker crumbs
3. Layer on chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, nuts (I like walnuts), and shredded coconut
4. Top it off with a small can of sweetened condensed milk
5. Cook it for 15-20 minutes at 350.
Notes:
- "They go by many names; I call them seven-layer bars. So easy. So delicious."
15.Microwave mug brownie
Ingredients:
- Sugar
- Flour
- Cocoa powder
- Butter (or vegetable oil)
- Milk
- Vanilla extract
- Chocolate chips (optional)
Directions:
1. 1-3 tbsp of sugar (depending on how sweet you like it) I like to use brown sugar but any sugar will do
2. 3 tbsp flour
3. 1&1/2 tbsp cocoa powder (unsweetened)
4. 1&1/2 tbsp of butter or vegetable oil
5. 3 tbsp milk of choice
6. 1/4 tsp vanilla extract Mix in some chocolate chips if you want and microwave for 1 minute!
—Abby, 26, Louisiana
That's the list! Do you think you'll try making any of these? Do you have any other favorite dessert recipes that are super easy to make? Let me know in the comments or by filling out this Google Form if you prefer to remain anonymous.
Your recipes could be shared in a BuzzFeed Community post!
