Sweets

No ice cream maker required.

The no-bake cake that goes for the gold!

So light and creamy.

The star of any summer celebration.

Popular with kids and adults alike.

Worth breaking your ice cream machine out for.

Deliciously dippable.

Puppy chow (also known as muddy buddies) is dangerous stuff. I had never even heard of the snack until my friend Beth, an Iowa native, left some at my house after a holiday gathering and I found myself eating handful after handful of the sweet, crunchy, nutty mixture. Why wasn’t there a warning label? It didn’t last the night.

The Italian dessert might make you forget all about gelato.

No-bake cookies — the kind made with oats, peanut butter, and chocolate — are a classic dessert and an easier option than homemade cookies from scratch. Mothers and grandmothers around the country regularly make this stovetop cookie, to varying results. I remember at least a few times eating failed no-bake cookies with a spoon because they never fully set. Here’s my secret to better no-bake cookies: Think of the process more like candy-making than cookie baking.

When you have a glut of fresh summer fruit, sorbets are the answer. You don’t need a recipe — just a basic template to follow and a little creativity. Strawberry-peach sorbet? Mint-infused watermelon sorbet? Raspberry-rosé sorbet? Yes, let’s make all of these this summer. All you need is chopped fruits, puree it, then add a little simple syrup and lemon juice, chill the base, churn the sorbet, and then freeze it.

Cooler than the original.

As much as I love all the burgers, grilled hot dogs, and classic BBQ sides, 4th of July simply isn’t complete without an easy dessert. Maybe it’s my sweet tooth or the fact that all the best summer fruit is currently in its prime. I look forward to the festive red, white, and blue sweets, no-bake delights, gooey s’mores, and classic fruit pies. There’s so much to choose from.

Ice cream is great and snow cones are good, but for me the ultimate summer dessert is halo-halo. The refreshing, multi-layered, shaved-ice-based Filipino dessert is packed with incredible flavors and textures — icy, creamy, chewy, crunchy, sweet, syrupy. I’ve been lucky to eat halo-halo here in the United States and all over the Philippines and it still thrills me every time.

It takes just 15 minutes to prep.

If you love margaritas, this one’s for you.

It’s sweet, tart, and so creamy.

“I already want to make another batch.”

You only need six ingredients.

Butter mochi is a staple at almost any party in Hawai‘i, and it’s easy to see why. The coconut custard glutinous rice cake is perfectly chewy, slightly sticky, and just dense enough, with a hint of vanilla and salt. Growing up Japanese-American, or hapa, in Hawai‘i, I’ve had my fair share of butter mochi.

Five layers of buttery, brown-sugar, chocolate chip cookie delight.

Five layers of chocolate-peanut butter perfection.

It takes just 20 minutes to prep.

Creamy, fluffy, and delightfully airy cheesecake bars get a nice, earthy ube update.

My dad has an intense sweet tooth, just like me. One afternoon when I was around 10 years old, Dad got a hankering and he enlisted me to help him make Toll House chocolate chip cookies. That was the first time he and I had ever baked together. Since then, whenever I make chocolate chip cookies, including the ones from this recipe, I think of him and that special afternoon we spent together in the kitchen. I developed this recipe over the years.

It’s light, but still berry decadent.

It’s shockingly good.

It's the perfect light dessert.

For me, the moment that marks the beginning of spring isn’t when I spot the first cherry blossoms or pack away my winter coat — it’s when I bite into my first strawberry of the season. Homemade strawberry shortcakes are the very best way to showcase the freshly picked, super-juicy spring berries.

These bars practically melt in your mouth.

They’re simply adorable.

It is hard to overstate how simple yet stunning pineapple upside-down cake is. This cake has retro charm, but it’s a classic whose appeal hasn’t waned since it first appeared on the home baking scene. It starts with a rich butter cake that, once removed from the pan, reveals a design of caramelized pineapple rings studded with maraschino cherries. Each bite is little treasure chest of flavor — tender cake, mingled with the sweet and slightly tangy notes of pineapple and cherry.

Just look at those layers!

Like strawberry shortcake — but better.

It’s all about the wafer cookies.

It’s like an Orange Julius you can eat with a spoon.

Unless you’re from Pennsylvania, you’ve probably never heard of Irish potato candy. I didn’t know what they were, but assumed they were candy made from potatoes. Wrong! Irish potato candies may look like adorable little potatoes, but they’re no-cook coconut and cream cheese candies with a coating of ground cinnamon — essentially the coconut equivalent of chocolate truffles. They’re the perfect St.

A must for any chocolate-lover.

King cakes are made around the world as part of the festival of the Epiphany, but in New Orleans, king cakes have truly taken on a life of their own. From the start of Carnival on January 6 through Mardi Gras at the beginning of February, you’ll find one of these sweet, color-splashed king cakes just about everywhere. Did you get “the baby”? That means you bring the next cake — and we have just the cake you’ll want to bring.

I love everything about chocolate-covered strawberries. I love the crunchy, melt-in-your-mouth shell and the cool, sweet strawberry beneath. I love giving them as homemade food gifts, and I love receiving them equally as much (especially for Valentine’s Day dessert!). But what I love most is how easy they are to make at home. It’s an afternoon fun cooking project with a result that looks fancy no matter your candy-making skills (or lack thereof)!

Whether you prefer dark and rich or smooth and creamy, there is almost no other ingredient as intrinsically linked to romance as chocolate. While Valentine’s Day marketing helped drive this association home (and still does), the relationship between love and chocolate has been around for much longer than Valentine’s Day. Throughout history, chocolate and cocoa were consumed as a tonic for health and vitality — which, of course, fed romances too.

And good fortune!

I promise you.

Grab a spoon.

Struffoli is not only a fun word to say. The classic Italian dessert, also known as Italian Honey Balls, is a festive that’s traditionally served during Christmas time, just like panettone, pizzelle, and pignoli. Tiny balls of dough are fried until golden-brown. Crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, they’re then tossed in a sticky-sweet honey syrup and decorated with rainbow sprinkles.

Let’s talk caramels. The candy kind. The chewy, melt-in-your-mouth, deeply sweet, and insanely addictive kind. These make some of the best gifts ever, whether the event is Christmas, a birthday, a thank you for a favor, or a thoughtful hostess gift. Or no reason at all. You probably already have the ingredients in your pantry, and if you haven’t made caramels recently, you probably don’t know how easy they can be. Grab a bag of sugar and your candy thermometer, folks!

In my world, fondue is just another word for fun with food. I mean, poking food onto sticks and dipping it into something melty suddenly makes the meal way more interesting. Proof of this is how much my daughter’s eyes light up whenever I mention chocolate fondue. While a smooth pot of melted chocolate surrounded by a full spread of dippers may look fancy, it’s way, way easier than making a cake, pie, or cookies — and everyone gets to choose their own dessert adventure.

Christmas Chex Mix is one of my favorite holiday treats that offers a welcome change from all the cookies and candy canes fighting for attention. This crispy, salty-sweet mixture even looks like Christmas — everything is coated in white chocolate, and red and green M&Ms peek through! My favorite Christmas Chex Mix blend is pretty simple — cereal, pretzels, and candy — but the sprinkle of flaky salt at the end is what takes it over the top.

They're a new tradition.

No one has to know how easy it is to make.

I grew up making this chocolate fudge with my father, who spent a fair amount of time in the kitchen (which was rare for a man of his generation). He was always welcoming, pulling up a chair to the stove and hovering close as I stirred the molten chocolate bubbling away. This chocolate fudge recipe is a family-favorite and easy to make for the holidays (or any time of the year).This recipe for fudge is a classic one from my childhood.

Every year as the holidays approach, I eagerly anticipate holiday baking and decorating sugar cookies. And every year, they don’t exactly turn out as planned. That’s because decorating cookies is a lot easier said than done — especially if you’re a perfectionist like me who likes straight lines and clean edges. But this year, I’m prepared. I recently got to work developing a simple royal icing recipe that makes cookie decorating as stress-free (and mess-free!

Over my years of writing for The Kitchn, I’ve shared almost all of my favorite holiday cookies, from my mother’s famous peppermint cream-filled butter cookies (followed by the much less finicky peppermint cream squares the following year) to rugelach and gingerbread cookies. I’ve saved one of my most beloved cookies for last. These candy cane cookies are the best.

Bring on the peppermint, eggnog, and gingerbread.

It's our go-to brunch dish for a reason.