30+ Impossibly Delicious Gluten-Free Desserts

updated Aug 4, 2021
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flourless chocolate brownie cookies sit on a sheet of parchment paper with a bite taken out
Credit: Photo: Ghazalle Badiozamani; Food Styling: Jesse Szewczyk

If you follow a gluten-free diet, dessert might seem like a struggle sometimes. But eating gluten-free doesn’t mean you don’t have any options. In fact, not only are there tons of sweets that are naturally gluten-free, like flourless chocolate cake and pudding, but there are also lots of recipes out there that swap the usual all-purpose flour for gluten-free alternatives.

From cakes and cookies to brownies and fruity treats, here are over 30 gluten-free desserts that are sure to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Cakes

Flourless chocolate cake is something everyone can agree one, regardless if you’re gluten-free or not. For cakes that do rely on some flour, almond flour or a gluten-free all-purpose flour mix will do the trick.

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Sticky Gluten-Free Lemon Cake
Almond flour and polenta form the base of this gluten-free cake that gets a double dose of flavor from lemon zest and lemon syrup.
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Cloud Cake
This five-ingredient flourless chocolate cake gets its lofty height from beaten egg whites.
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Flourless Lemon Almond Cake
This easy gluten-free lemon cake pairs perfectly with fresh fruit and a dollop of whipped cream.
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Flourless Chocolate Cake
A truly flourless chocolate cake that manages to be light and rich at the same time. It's genuinely gluten-free, fabulously foolproof, and all chocolate.
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Gluten-Free "Buttermilk" Raspberry Cake
This cake truly takes just a few minutes to whip up the batter, so it’s no big deal when you want a simple dessert for a busy night.
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Flourless Chocolate Almond Layer Cake
The filling for this cake showcases almond butter, and comes together in a few minutes. It’s tangy and nutty, and delicious paired with the fragrant almond cake.
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Gluten-Free Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes
These rich and moist dark chocolate cupcakes are not only gluten-free — they're vegan, too.
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Fruit-Filled Desserts

Juicy, fruit-filled desserts like crisps and cobblers can easily be made gluten-free by swapping the flour in the topping for things like gluten-free oats, almond meal, and rice flour. Other fruit desserts like cheesecake-stuffed strawberries and sour cream-topped berries are naturally gluten-free.

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Berry Pineapple Fruit Salad
This berry and pineapple fruit salad gets a fast and fancy twist with a gingergy, cinnamon-spiked simple syrup for a punchy, spiced kick.
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Fresh Fruit Granita
This step-by-step guide to making granita — the easiest frozen fruit dessert ever — will be your new favorite.
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The Best Gluten-Free Cobbler Topping
Learn how to make a cornmeal and oat flour cream biscuit topping for a life-changing gluten-free fruit cobbler.
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Easy Strawberry Eton Mess
Eton mess is a combination of just three ingredients: meringue, strawberries, and whipped cream. Think of it as a deconstructed strawberry shortcake — crunchy meringue cookies stand in as a delicious alternative to cake, and instead of stacking, you get to toss everything together.
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Red Fruit Salad with Lemon-Vanilla Bean Syrup
This fruit salad filled with peaches, raspberries, and cherries is drenched in a light lemon-vanilla syrup.
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Gluten-Free Peach Crisp
The best gluten-free peach crisp has not one, but two crusts!
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Sour Cream and Berries Brûlée
This fast and easy recipe for mixed berry brûlée is also pretty darn fancy.
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Slow Cooker Fruit Sauce
This recipe will show you how to turn your haul of overripe fruit into a beautiful sauce, perfect for ice cream and eating by the spoonful.
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No-Bake Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries
No-Bake Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries are a simple but impressive four-ingredient, five-minute, $10, gluten-free, no-bake dessert.
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The Best Gluten-Free Crisp Topping
This crisp topping doesn't have any special flours in it and can be made entirely from pantry staples that you're likely to have on hand.
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Cookies, Brownies, and Bars

Leave out the usual all-purpose flour in cookies and brownies and the result is something even more tender and chewy than the original. That makes it all too easy to quickly embrace these gluten-free recipes.

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Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies
These cookies are soft and chewy, with just a touch of firmness around the edges, and have a very generous helping of melty chocolate bits.
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4-Ingredient Chocolate Banana Coconut Cookies
These banana-coconut cookies are the easiest cookies around. Hold on to those brown bananas — they're just what this recipe needs.
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The World's Easiest Cookies
You just need four ingredients and a little elbow grease to make macaron-flavored cookies that are crisp on the edges and chewy in the center.
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Flourless Chocolate Brownie Cookies
These crisp and chewy chocolate brownie cookies are made without flour or butter.
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Cranberry-Glazed Chewy Almond Cookies
These nutty, chewy cookies feature a shiny, sweet-tart cranberry glaze.
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Vegan Meringue Cookies
Harness the egg-replacing power of aquafaba (aka chickpea water) to whip up easy vegan meringue cookies.
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Flourless Chocolate Cookies
Learn how to make our essential flourless chocolate cookies — the best chocolate crinkle cookie we know.
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Chocolate Chip Macaroon Puffs
These classic coconut macaroons are mixed with mini chips and gilded with a layer of melted chocolate.
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2-Ingredient Nutella Brownies
Fudgy, chewy brownies made with just Nutella and eggs? If I hadn't tried it myself, I wouldn't believe me either.
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Itty Bitty Brownie Bites
These fudgy flourless brownies are made in a mini muffin tin to result in two-bite treats.
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Better-than-the-Box Rice Krispies Treats
The minimalist dessert gets a maximalist upgrade.
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Creamy Desserts and Candy

Custards like pudding and creme brûlée are great options since they’ve always been gluten-free. Homemade candy, too, is a winner since it usually involves plenty of chocolate and no sign of wheat.

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The Absolute Easiest Rice Pudding
Here's how to turn just five ingredients into the creamiest, dreamiest rice pudding.
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Dark Chocolate Pots de Crème
This luxurious chocolate pudding is made with a mix of milk, cream, sugar, and egg yolks and baked in a water bath in the oven.
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Coconut Milk Rice Pudding with Tart Cherry Sauce
This rice pudding made with coconut milk and almond milk is every bit as luscious as the whole milk and heavy cream versions.
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Brûléed Ricotta
This fast and easy dessert recipe for honey-sweetened ricotta that's brûléed is finished with fresh fruit.
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Coconut Panna Cotta
This coconut panna cotta is made with coconut milk and sweetened with maple syrup, making it a lovely dessert for many different diets.
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Sucre à la Crème (Maple Fudge)
A French Canadian confection made with maple syrup or brown sugar and served as a spread or fudge.
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Failproof Chocolate Truffles
Our step-by-step guide to making rich, creamy chocolate truffles at home.
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Toasted Coconut & Almond Chocolate Clusters
This recipe for dark chocolate-dipped coconut and almond clusters is also vegan and Paleo-friendly.
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Chocolate-Almond Toffee
This buttery, crunchy toffee covered in a layer of dark chocolate and toasty almonds comes together on one sheet pan.
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