Food
Fact-checked

At WiseGEEK, we're committed to delivering accurate, trustworthy information. Our expert-authored content is rigorously fact-checked and sourced from credible authorities. Discover how we uphold the highest standards in providing you with reliable knowledge.

Learn more...

What are Some Quick and Easy Desserts?

Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen

Easy desserts come in many forms and can continually provide you with delightful dishes to serve after dinner that won’t take up too much time to prepare. Some of the main ways to create easy desserts come from using things like fruit, whipped cream or whipped topping, and from using some prepackaged dessert items like simple cakes, ice cream, or cookies. You’ll even find cookbooks and cooking shows devoted to the making of easy meals, and dessert preparation is perhaps the simplest.

First, consider fruit. In many places in the world, fruit is treated as dessert. It’s naturally sweet and bursting with flavor. The many types of fruit available not just in your area seasonally, but year round, can give you lots of choices. Aside from cleaning and slicing fruit, there isn’t much to making easy desserts with fruits. Berries or citrus can be topped with dollops of whipped cream or whipped topping. Apples can be baked in an oven for about an hour and served with ice cream.

An apple can be baked to make an easy dessert.
An apple can be baked to make an easy dessert.

Fruit and ice cream are usually perfect pairings, and don’t just think vanilla. Try blood oranges with raspberry sherbet or raspberries topped with chocolate ice cream. You can even layer ice cream and chopped fruit to make quick parfaits that will look like you spent a great deal of time. Contemplate the variety of fruit and ice cream available and go wild with taste combinations.

Cookies are usually quick to make, and many options are also available in the grocery store.
Cookies are usually quick to make, and many options are also available in the grocery store.

Another alternative with different kinds of fruit is to make easy desserts like shortcake. Buy a simple pound cake and cut it into slices. Layer two slices with fruits like strawberries or blueberries and add whipped cream. Try a chocolate pound cake and chocolate whipped topping for a more decadent dessert.

Ice cream is another base for most easy desserts. Buy a few toppings, like fruit, chocolate sauce, caramel, whipping cream and some nuts. Let people make their own sundaes to order, or simply prepare sundaes for all. Ice cream served with a purchased cake is also an excellent way to go.

Gelatin is the basis for many easy desserts.
Gelatin is the basis for many easy desserts.

There are many easy desserts that focus on using whipped topping, and these may be prepared in little time. Some combine instant pudding or Jell-O® and whipped topping for creamy desserts that can be layered into pretty glasses. Companies that make Jell-O® and that make whipped toppings have plenty of recipes you can try. You can even find things like no-bake pumpkin pie using premade graham cracker crusts.

Blood oranges go well with raspberry sherbet.
Blood oranges go well with raspberry sherbet.

Don’t forget cookies, which can contribute to many easy desserts. If you don’t have time to bake, consider buying good quality cookies from the store. Try gelato in hazelnut or cappuccino flavors layered with caramel and sprinkled with crushed amaretti cookies for an exotic but easy dessert. Dip a few simple cookies in chocolate sauce and serve them alone or with cups of hot chocolate.

Check Internet recipes and cookbooks for more quick and easy desserts. You’ll find tons of variety and plenty of new ideas. Remember that dessert doesn’t have to be complicated; it just has to taste delicious.

Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen

Tricia has a Literature degree from Sonoma State University and has been a frequent WiseGEEK contributor for many years. She is especially passionate about reading and writing, although her other interests include medicine, art, film, history, politics, ethics, and religion. Tricia lives in Northern California and is currently working on her first novel.

Learn more...
Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen

Tricia has a Literature degree from Sonoma State University and has been a frequent WiseGEEK contributor for many years. She is especially passionate about reading and writing, although her other interests include medicine, art, film, history, politics, ethics, and religion. Tricia lives in Northern California and is currently working on her first novel.

Learn more...

Discussion Comments

clintflint

@pastanaga - If I'm going for quick and easy I try to add a bit of fruit to the mix just to make sure it's got a few vitamins and fiber in there as well. But even then there are quite a few tricks to make it interesting.

I read recently that you can make pancake batter out of bananas and eggs without any flour at all. I haven't tried it yet, but that sounds delicious.

pastanaga

@pleonasm - Speaking of ice-cream, if you get one of those cardboard boxes of your favorite flavor and some wafers it's not difficult to make your own ice-cream sandwiches. You basically just cut through the cardboard so the ice-cream is in slices and then put it in between the wafers. It's as simple as it sounds.

Or you can make it even more delicious by cooking your own waffles as the "bread" for the sandwich. It's still a fairly quick and easy dessert and you can also make it more interesting by putting chocolate or fruit into the impressions on the waffle against the ice-cream.

pleonasm

If you get some good quality cookies from the store, then heat them in the microwave for a few seconds, they are made absolutely delicious. Particularly if you add a bit of whipped cream or ice-cream to them.

I'd also suggest looking up desserts that can be made in a mug online, as these are often designed by and for students and so require few ingredients and only a few minutes of cooking time, again in a microwave.

If you have children, never underestimate the appeal of plain ice-cream in general, or ice-cream with toppings. For some reason a little bit of chocolate or some sprinkles (or both) can make a dish of ice-cream into something special and it's the definition of an easy dessert.

Post your comments
Login:
Forgot password?
Register:
    • An apple can be baked to make an easy dessert.
      By: Thibault Renard
      An apple can be baked to make an easy dessert.
    • Cookies are usually quick to make, and many options are also available in the grocery store.
      By: sassyphotos
      Cookies are usually quick to make, and many options are also available in the grocery store.
    • Gelatin is the basis for many easy desserts.
      By: nito
      Gelatin is the basis for many easy desserts.
    • Blood oranges go well with raspberry sherbet.
      By: opolja
      Blood oranges go well with raspberry sherbet.
    • Blueberries and whipped cream are ideal for a quick shortcake.
      By: Brian Jackson
      Blueberries and whipped cream are ideal for a quick shortcake.
    • Smoothies can easily be made with a blender.
      By: baibaz
      Smoothies can easily be made with a blender.
    • Pie is a popular dessert.
      By: jamierogers1
      Pie is a popular dessert.
    • Mousse is a simple chocolate dessert.
      By: pilipphoto
      Mousse is a simple chocolate dessert.
    • Applesauce is a nutritious and easy to make dessert.
      By: mitrs3
      Applesauce is a nutritious and easy to make dessert.
    • Some cookbooks and blogs focus solely on uncomplicated dessert recipes that are easy to create.
      By: CandyBox Images
      Some cookbooks and blogs focus solely on uncomplicated dessert recipes that are easy to create.