Recipes Desserts Our Best Quick Desserts By Food & Wine Editors Updated on March 6, 2018 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: Eva Kolenko it's wonderful when you have the time to really go all out on a cake or a pie, but sometimes you just need a quick dessert. These are some recipes that will get you something sweet in a hurry, from gooey molten chocolate cake to creamy rice pudding. 01 of 24 Coconut Arborio Rice Pudding Arborio rice is great for Stephanie Prida's pudding, because the plump grains stay perfectly firm and chewy. Get the Recipe 02 of 24 Best-Ever Banana Splits © Tina Rupp What makes these banana splits from Sweet Rose Creamery in Santa Monica, California, so good is the incredibly fudgy chocolate sauce coupled with the light, crunchy almond topping. Get the Recipe 03 of 24 Coconut Pudding with Raspberry Sauce Carolina Buia says that when her mother was growing up in Caracas, Venezuela, it was common for the lady of the house to present this creamy coconut dessert at parties. Even though it's referred to here as a pudding, it has a texture similar to panna cotta. Get the Recipe 04 of 24 Gianduja Mousse Frances Janisch As if the chocolate-hazelnut spread gianduja isn't delicious enough straight off the spoon, I've folded in whipped cream and crème fraîche to create a truly decadent (and ridiculously easy) mousse. For a supereasy ice cream sandwich, spoon the mousse between chocolate wafers and freeze overnight. Get the Recipe 05 of 24 Quick Apple Crumble with Lebneh The blend of flavors and textures here — crunchy, smooth, nutty, sweet, tart — makes this simple dessert irresistible. Opt for lebneh or another soft fresh cheese that won't melt quickly underneath the warm apples topped with a quick granola crumble. Get the Recipe 06 of 24 Creamy Peach Tart with Smoky Almond Crust © Tina Rupp An almost-instant crust, made with vanilla wafer cookies and smoked almonds, is the secret to this simple and unusual tart. Get the Recipe 07 of 24 Molten Chocolate Cake © James Baigrie This incredibly chocolaty and quick dessert is made with dark chocolate for extra decadence. Get the Recipe 08 of 24 Toasts with Ricotta and Warm Balsamic-Caramel Apples © Antonis Achilleos New York City chef April Bloomfield will publish her memoir and cookbook, tentatively titled A Girl and Her Pig, in 2012. It will feature recipes from her three restaurants, many of them combining hot and cold ingredients. The chilled ricotta served over warm apples here expresses her style and makes an amazingly fast dessert. Get the Recipe 09 of 24 Honey-Roasted Apricots with Amaretti Cookies John Kernick Jessica Theroux drizzles apricots with honey before roasting (plums and peaches work well, too) and crumbles store-bought amaretti (Italian cookies made with egg whites and almond flour) for a crispy topping. Get the Recipe 10 of 24 Pineapple Foster This easy pineapple foster recipe is spiced with cinnamon and spiked with dark rum. To save time, buy precut fresh pineapple chunks from the salad bar in the deli section of your supermarket. Get the Recipe 11 of 24 Swirled Summer Berry Soufflés A nutrition course at the Culinary Institute of America in New York's Hudson River valley put Annabel Langbein on the course to healthier eating, teaching her how to prepare low-fat dishes that didn't make her feel deprived, like this decadent-tasting soufflé, a swirl of berries and marshmallowy meringue. Get the Recipe 12 of 24 Mini Chocolate-Hazelnut Cheesecakes © Fredrika Stjärne 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. Get the Recipe 13 of 24 Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes © Kana Okada The luxurious frosting on this irresistible cupcake is made with store-bought strawberry jam. Get the Recipe 14 of 24 Apple-Butter Ice Cream with Ginger-Chocolate Ganache David Malosh Folding apple butter into vanilla ice cream is a great way to add elegance. Green Aisle Grocery's 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. Get the Recipe 15 of 24 Crêpes with Strawberries and Muscat-Yogurt Sauce © Marcus Nilsson Nichole Birdsall tops these crêpes with strawberries, a superfruit high in vitamin C and potent antioxidants, and a creamy, orangey sauce sweetened with a splash of Bonterra Muscat dessert wine instead of sugar. Get the Recipe 16 of 24 Molten Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Filling James Baigrie More decadent than molten chocolate cake: one filled with warm peanut butter, reveals F&W's Grace Parisi. Get the Recipe 17 of 24 Plum-and-Honey Sabayon Gratins © Quentin Bacon This stunning plum-studded sabayon — an airy custard sweetened with clover honey and Moscato — is summer's answer to crème brûlée. If you don't have Moscato on hand, any honey-inflected dessert wine will do, such as Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise or a late-harvest Riesling. Get the Recipe 18 of 24 Berry Fool with Black Pepper Black pepper is an unlikely and stimulating addition to this dessert of fresh strawberries in whipped cream flavored with raspberry puree and Grand Marnier. Get the Recipe 19 of 24 BrownButter Crêpes with Nutella and Jam © Marcus Nilsson To give his crêpes a subtle, nutty flavor, Mike Price browns the butter for his batter. "Any jam will go with hazelnuts and chocolate," the chef says. "You can't screw that up." Get the Recipe 20 of 24 Ricotta Ice Cream with Honey and Almonds Toasted almonds make an excellent textural contrast to creamy ricotta ice cream. Get the Recipe 21 of 24 Zabaglione with Strawberries Here we serve the zabaglione hot when it's just made, but if you want to prepare the dish ahead of time, mix the zabaglione with whipped cream and refrigerate it as described in the first variation below. Get the Recipe 22 of 24 Blueberry Mousse © Eva Kolenko Sour cream gives this blueberry mousse a wonderful, subtle tanginess. Get the Recipe 23 of 24 Whipped Mascarpone Eva Kolenko Whipping mascarpone cheese with cream and sugar turns the dense, decadent spread into a pillowy dessert topper. Spoon it over the Rhubarb and Candied Ginger Crostata for your next Easter gathering. Get the Recipe 24 of 24 Chocolate Chunk Cookie for Just One © Con Poulos When you need a quick dessert, or just a bit of something sweet, and it's just you, this is the recipe to reach for. It takes 5 minutes to put together, bakes in a toaster oven, and requires no mixer—just a fork. Get the Recipe Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit