Fast Chocolate Desserts

Grilled Chocolate Sandwiches with Caramel Sauce

Autumn Martin makes grilled chocolate sandwiches that are crisp, gooey and deliciously messy, especially when they’re dipped in a warm caramel sauce.

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Double-Chocolate Pudding

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.

Molten Chocolate Cakes

It seems as though every restaurant in America offers a version of this amazing cake created by master chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. But his supremely rich and chocolaty original is in a class by itself.

Fudgy Chocolate Brownies

Warm Chocolate Cakes with Apricot-Cognac Sauce

No-Bake Chocolate Custard

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

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Mini Chocolate-Hazelnut Cheesecakes

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.

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Warm Chocolate Cakes with Mascarpone Cream

In his riff on Black Forest cake, a favorite dessert of his father’s, Hosea Rosenberg tops individual cakes with mascarpone cream instead of whipped cream and luscious brandied cherries instead of jarred.

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Dark-Chocolate Pudding with Candied Ginger

“For me, ginger should be everywhere,” says Jean-Georges Vongerichten. “It’s as good in marinades and vinaigrettes as it is in dessert.“ Here, candied ginger garnishes dark-chocolate pudding.

Spiced Chocolate Fondue

Caroline Yeh, owner of the eight-month-old Temper Chocolates in Boston, sells extraordinary candies from small European and American producers. She’s also an excellent home cook and baker with a passion for chocolate. Fragrant with cinnamon, clove, cardamom and ginger, her fondue holds up remarkably well at room temperature, which makes it good for parties—especially when it’s served with gingerbread, apples or shortbread for dunking.

Rich Baked Chocolate Puddings

Although this deep, dark chocolate pudding is easily made in ramekins, it’s fun to bake and serve in small glass jars. Pim Techamuanvivit likes using old, mismatched jam jars.

Dark Chocolate Bark with Roasted Almonds and Seeds

“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.

Apple-Butter Ice Cream with Ginger-Chocolate Ganache

Folding apple butter into vanilla ice cream is a great way to add elegance. Adam Erace also adds grated ginger to melted chocolate to make a fast sundae topping; for a more caramel-like sauce, substitute dulce de leche for the melted chocolate.

Fudgy Chocolate-Walnut Cookies

New York pastry chef François Payard's divinely gooey chocolate cookies are flourless.

Molten Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Filling

More decadent than molten chocolate cake: one filled with warm raspberry, reveals F&W's Grace Parisi.

Chocolate-Bread Parfaits

Chocolate-Almond Saltine Toffee

Pastry chef Nicole Plue was intrigued by a recipe she discovered for matzo covered in toffee and chocolate. But she knew she could improve it by using crackers instead of matzo for a hit of salt. Now the saltines, slathered with buttery toffee and bittersweet chocolate, are a favorite on her petit four tray.

German Chocolate Cake Sundae

Like many pastry chefs, Ghaya Oliveira loves taking classic desserts, breaking them down into their components and reconfiguring them. This approach inspired Grace Parisi to transform a traditional recipe for German chocolate cake into an elegant and incredibly delicious ice cream sundae.

Chocolate Chip-Pretzel Bars

These bars were inspired by the candy and cookies you’d mail to a homesick kid at summer camp.

Toasted Bread and Bittersweet Chocolate

Nothing could be easier than slapping a piece of chocolate on a slice of bread: Spanish children do it all the time as an after-school snack. But by sprinkling the melted chocolate with sea salt and extra-virgin olive oil, Ferran Adrià turns kid food into something parents will want to try.

No-Bake Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookies

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.