35 Quick-and-Easy Dessert Recipes

Love whoopee pies but don’t have time to bake? Here’s a quick and easy recipe for making a delicious three-ingredient homemade filling for purchased soft cookies. (PS, there’s a peanut butter variation, too.)

Quick Whoopie PIes

This super easy dessert uses caramel candies and chocolate cake mix. Make it for a work party or as a sweet snack for the kids.

Chewy Chocolate Caramel Bars 

This deceptively good, weeknight-easy dessert has a topping of yogurt and whipped cream with raw sugar that looks like creme brulee, but requires no cooking.

Strawberry "Cool Brûlée" 

These lovely layered desserts feature the classic flavors of rocky road: chocolate, marshmallows and peanuts. 

Rocky Road Parfaits

Crumbled shortbread cookies and toasted pecans top succulent red cherries in this easy-to-make dessert.

Quick Cherry Crisp

Sweet? Check. Salty? Check. Spicy? Check. (Well, just a little.) This three-ingredient bark made with chocolate, tortilla chips and chile flakes is a seriously addictive treat.

Spicy Chip-Chocolate Bark 

Quickly warm pineapple in butter and brown sugar, then spoon the softened fruit over crumbled pound cake and dulce de leche ice cream.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Sundaes

This sweet-salty dessert goes together quickly with a no-bake bottom and a topping of butterscotch pieces and whipping cream heated on the stove. 

Butterscotch Pretzel Bars

This delicious mousse is a snap to mix together. You can layer it over fresh fruit and top with your choice of miniature chocolate pieces, chocolate sprinkles or chocolate-covered espresso beans.

Mocha Chocolate Mousse

Blend Brie cheese with cream cheese and layer with strawberries and sliced almonds for this cheesecakelike dessert. 

Quick Strawberry Cheesecake

Oatmeal cookie mix speeds prep time for these tart cherry bar cookies.

Easy Cherry Crumb Bars

Layer baked wonton wrappers with low-fat lemon yogurt and sliced strawberries and kiwis for this quick-and-easy treat.

Wonton Dessert Stacks

This quick twist on the classic German chocolate-cherry cake uses boxed cake mix and cherry preserves. Don't skip the kirsch or brandy; it adds that signature Black Forest flavor.

Quick Black Forest Cherry Cake

Refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough cuts way down on prep time for these quick five-ingredient bar cookies.

Easy Monster Cookie Bars

This crazy-simple slow-cooker chocolate fondue has just three ingredients (plus the dippers, of course). We especially love it with strawberries.

Spiked Chocolate Fondue

Cook this easy apple dessert on your grill in summer or on your stove in cooler weather—it’s great either way. For outdoor entertaining, scoop ice cream into plastic cups. 

Easy Gingery Apple Sundaes

What could be sweeter than frosted doughnut holes paired with your favorite candy bar? These take only 15 minutes to make. Serve on lollipop sticks for a fun touch.

Candy Bar Doughnut Pop

Five ingredients and 15 minutes is all it takes to whip up this fresh take on a classic coffee dessert drink. Layer crushed biscotti or amaretti with softened vanilla ice cream, a cloud of whipped cream and strong, hot espresso. A light dusting of cinnamon adds a hint of sharpness.

Affogato Trifles

This quick-and-easy blender drink, from the Michigan Cherry Committee, combines cherries, milk, yogurt, blueberries or raspberries, juice concentrate, honey and vanilla.

Cherry-Berry Smoothie

Store-bought gingerbread mix makes this warm, gooey dessert extra easy to assemble. 

Gingerbread Pudding Cake

Put together this quick and easy dessert while your main dish cooks. Just before serving, toast the sweet sandwich until the chocolate filling is warm and gooey.

Chocolate Panini

Store-bought piecrust is the secret to this dessert. Just brush with melted butter, sprinkle with brown sugar and spices, cut in squares and pop in the oven for a few minutes.

Easy Spiced Pastries

Refrigerated sugar cookie dough makes preparing this quick dessert recipe a breeze. Toffee bits, chopped pecans and semisweet chocolate pieces transform the cookie dough into a delicious layered bar cookie.

Praline Crunch Bars

There's a reason this is called a trifle—it's a breeze to put together! Instant vanilla pudding and pie filling mix and packaged shortbread cookies speed dessert prep.

Blackberry-Banana Lemon Trifle

Here's a smooth make-ahead dessert sauce that offers an easy way to get cheesecake flavor. Serve it over fresh fruit or layer in a parfait glass with fruit and cookies or cake for a special-occasion dinner finale.

Cool Cheesecake Sauce

You can put this warm, fresh-baked treat on the table in less than half an hour. Canned sliced apples and purchased granola cereal make the crumble easy to assemble.

Warm Apple Spice Crumble

Prep time is just 15 minutes for these easy bar cookies because they start with purchased yellow cake mix. Add in cashews or pecans, brown sugar, toffee pieces, butter and eggs, and you’ve got a quick blondie-style dessert.

Easy Butterscotch-Toffee Bars

This remarkable topping will impress guests with its zesty goodness. But easy ingredients—canned pineapple and mandarin orange sections tossed with orange marmalade, crystallized ginger and vanilla—make it a snap to create and pair with good-for-you sherbet.

Ginger Fruit with Pineapple Sherbet

This fast-fix dessert looks particularly appealing when served in clear sundae glasses. We layered store-bought brownies with a sweetened cream-cheese sauce and peppermint patties.

Brownie Parfaits

Chopped pecans and toffee bits add delightful crunch to creamy pudding pops. If you don't have plastic freezer-pop molds, use 5-ounce paper cups. Cover the filled cups with foil, make a small hole in the foil with a knife and insert a wooden stick.

Butterscotch Brickle Pudding Pops

Fresh raspberries, blackberries, strawberries or blueberries star in our Honey-Berry Frozen Yogurt Sundaes, which take only 15 minutes to make from start to finish.

Honey-Berry Yogurt Frozen Yogurt Sundaes

Transform vanilla cupcakes into a patriotic treat with a swirl of cream cheese frosting and a topping of fresh berries.

Easy Berry Cheesecakes

Frosting with reduced-fat cream cheese tops no-bake bars designed for a lower-carb treat.

Dark Chocolate Mint Bars

Purchased pound cake and canned whipped cream help this dessert go together fast. Bake the dessert topping in the oven instead of on the rangetop so you don't have to tend it as it cooks.

Bananas a la Mexican

These sturdy bars travel well; pack them in lunch boxes or take to a picnic or potluck.

Easy Peanut Butter Bars

Crisp and tart Granny Smith apples pair beautifully with creamy Brie and walnuts, while a drizzle of gooey caramel adds sweetness to this quick and easy dessert.

Brie-Apple Quesadillas

The season's best berries bring a color palette of red, purple and blue to star in good-for-you desserts. They're light on calories and heavy on flavor.

Tropical Berry Pops

This treat, which starts with giant waffle ice cream cones, is easy to make but impressive served. It's a sweet ending for any special dinner.

Ice Cream Waffle Sundaes

Get more great Midwest Living ideas for dessert recipes by clicking or tapping any of the links below.