Easy Chocolate Desserts

F&W’s Justin Chapple makes his version of Magic Shell (a sauce that quickly hardens when poured over cold things) with coconut oil to give it additional flavor.

Grace Parisi breaks up whole, cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies in a food processor with hazelnuts and butter to create a supercrunchy crust for these delectable little cheesecakes. The cream filling in the cookies both sweetens the crust and prevents it from becoming too crumbly.

Mexican chocolate, which is flavored with ingredients like cinnamon, almonds and vanilla, lends a distinct flavor to Stephanie Prida's rich custard. Look for it at Mexican markets and specialty-food stores.

Think of these handheld Brazilian sweets as chocolate truffles by way of the beach. They are a cinch to make and can be rolled in anything from chocolate sprinkles to shredded coconut to cocoa powder.

Food & Wine editor in chief Dana Cowin, a cookie connoisseur, declares these double-chocolate ones the most delicious she’s ever had. They’re like crispy-chewy brownies in cookie form.

"I'm more addicted to chocolate than I am to sugar," says chocolatier Jacques Torres. A small piece of this super-chunky dark-chocolate bark staves off his intense cravings.

This supersilky chocolate custard appears regularly on the dessert menu at Rubicon in San Francisco. Nicole Krasinski suggests serving it slightly chilled.

Try these simple coconut chocolate candy bars that use just six ingredients.

This recipe from the late, great cookbook author Richard Sax has everything one could ask for in a chocolate pudding—an intense flavor and a silky texture that's still firm enough to stand a spoon in. For the best possible pudding, use top-quality cocoa powder and chocolate.

Grace Parisi's crumbly, ultra-peanutty cookies require only four ingredients: puffed-corn cereal, peanut butter cups, peanut butter and chocolate sprinkles. The powdery texture of the ground cereal prevents the cookies from feeling sticky.

These crispy (feuilletine flakes), crunchy (corn flakes), nutty (toasted hazelnuts and pistachios) and chewy (golden raisins) mounds with just the right amount of salt are incredibly complex—and dangerously good.

This dessert from pastry chef Colleen Grapes, a tribute to the chocolate-covered pretzel, hits just the right salty-sweet note. Grapes mixes crushed pretzels with flour, butter, sugar and egg to make a crunchy crust, pours in a luxurious milk-chocolate filling, then sprinkles on more crushed pretzels as a garnish.