35+ Easy and Cheap Desserts to Make at Home

Love cookies, but hate waiting for them to bake? Here's a *healthier* edible cookie dough recipe you can try. This easy recipe is gluten-free, low carb, Keto- and Paleo-friendly. 

It calls for just 6 simple ingredients, including sugar-free chocolate chips, and takes 5 minutes to make - no cooking involved. Caveat: it's quick to make but also quick to disappear, so make a double batch!

If you enjoy making healthy desserts, these peanut butter cookies are both budget and pantry-friendly, with only two ingredients! Made using natural peanut butter (made with just peanuts and salt and absolutely no additives, like refined sugar or oils), you'll want to make these homemade cookies again and again.

Enjoy these soft, crumbly peanut butter snacks with a glass of cold milk. This recipe yields more than a dozen cookies, so share with friends, coworkers, and family. 

Baking frozen cookie dough in an air fryer is the quickest way to make a small batch of homemade cookies. If you think that cookie dough is simple enough to freeze and bake from frozen, I guarantee that air fryer frozen cookie dough is even faster!

These Pillsbury cookies take less than 10 minutes to bake up soft or crispy in the air fryer, with almost no prep and any flavor of dough. Just bake frozen or refrigerated Pillsbury cookie dough in the air fryer, and you've got yourself a small batch of freshly made cookies.

Peanut butter marshmallow cookies are the ideal combination of soft and chewy satisfaction. They feature a crispy outside and a mushy, gooey peanut butter marshmallow within.

These are one of those easy and cheap treats you'll make over and over. With a melted texture reminiscent of marshmallow crème and chewy peanut butter cookies, these are sure to become a new favorite! 

Also known as fluffernutter cookies, little marshmallows provide just the right blend of crispy edges and mushy middle. For easy and cheap desserts like these, you don't have to be a baking expert - if you enjoy peanut butter cookies, they're a terrific way to go.

Strawberry Jell-O pie is an easy and cheap dessert recipe that you’ll want to keep in your dessert arsenal. Made using only simple ingredients, this no-bake dessert takes only minutes to prepare.

Cool and creamy, you can serve this pie as a cold and delicious treat for any time of year. Just before serving, garnish with dollops of cool whipped cream and a strawberry slice.

For a quick and easy dessert that can be whipped up in the microwave, try this chocolate chip mug cake. Full of beautiful vanilla flavors with chocolate chips in every bite, this recipe is sure to quickly satisfy any dessert cravings. 

It's ready in about 5 minutes and you likely have all the ingredients in your pantry. If you don’t have chocolate chips, you can substitute chocolate chips with other ingredients that you may have like java chips or cacao nibs. Top with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, or a homemade gianduja.

So many recipes and sweet treats are perfect for fresh strawberries, but this one really takes the cake. It's easy, inexpensive and absolutely gorgeous.

Strawberry shortcake in mason jars is a great single-serve dessert for any type of gathering. It's a quick treat you can whip up in 10 minutes, and customize with what flavors you have one hand.

If you need something cheap and easy to cool you down from the summer heat, make this peanut butter banana soft serve. With just a couple of ingredients, you can make your own homemade soft serve ice cream! 

It's cool, creamy, and packed with delicious peanut butter. This recipe will fulfill that ice cream craving in a cheaper, healthier way!

If you've been craving ice cream but can't handle dairy, this chocolate avocado ice cream is just the thing to tide you over. Simply put, nice creams are ice creams made from fruit instead of based on milk products, generally using avocado or banana as the base.

This dark chocolate-flavored healthy dessert is packed with nutrients and delicious deep chocolate goodness. It's a paleo-friendly treat that's perfect for warm weather!

Frozen banana pops are hard to say no to, since they are so simple to make and infinitely customizable. It may seem obvious how to make them, but check out the recipe below to get step-by-step instructions for this deliciously nutritious treat.

They're not only popular among children, but also an enjoyable activity for the entire family. You'll only need a few bananas, some melted chocolate, unsalted butter or coconut oil, and your preferred toppings, such as cacao nibs or sprinkles.

You can also try coating with ruby chocolate to yield reddish pink banana pops for Mother’s day, Valentine’s day, or any pink-themed event.  Everyone can make their own, complete with personal toppings, in about 15 minutes. If you want to make these vegan, low carb, or dairy-free, use dairy-free chocolate or keto chocolates.

Enjoy this delicious blueberry basil nice cream with amchur (mango powder) and monk fruit, perfectly scoopable straight from the tub. It’s simple, tasty, and comes together quickly in your food processor, fully frozen and ready in under an hour! 

This dairy-free, refined sugar-free, and vegan nice cream recipe uses fresh summer crops to provide a healthier alternative to typical blueberry ice cream. Combine it with your favorite toppings for the ultimate summer treat!

This pineapple dream dessert or pineapple lush is creamy, smooth, and refreshing. Popular in the 70's, it needs its day in the sun. 

It's sweet with a little crunch from the buttery graham cracker crust and creamy with a juicy burst of flavor from little chunks of pineapples in the delicious cream cheese pineapple filling. With 3 layers, this delightful yellow dessert isn't over the top heavy and is perfect for making ahead.

Cream cheese lemonade pie is a simple no-bake pie recipe suitable for any summer soiree. It's zesty, sweet, creamy, and refreshing. The simple 6-ingredient recipe yields three delicious lemonade icebox pies to help you beat the summer heat. 

It can be frozen or served chilled, soft, and creamy. Both young and young at heart enjoy this scrumptious lemonade pie; I can guarantee it will become your favorite summer treat. If you love zesty treats, check out this lime dessert roundup `for more lip-smacking recipes.

These simple truffles deserve a place in your dessert arsenal. The result of nearly two decades of recipe research are these no-cook, two-ingredient chocolate truffles that can be made in the microwave and you can completely modify to your liking.

My truffles are a tasty and refined treat to create for any occasion without breaking the bank. I enjoy wrapping them in chopped nuts, melted chocolate chips, or crushed graham crackers. If you love recipes that use cacao nibs or have extras in your cupboard, these are some of the easiest ways to use them up.

These white chocolate coconut truffles are the most decadent, creamy treat yet - they’re made with just 3 ingredients and come together so quickly! They're creamy, decadent, vegetarian, and gluten-free. 

The nutty flavor of coconut perfectly balances the super-sweet white chocolate for a heavenly sweet treat. You can also use blonde chocolate for a deeper caramel flavor. Make these white chocolate coconut truffles with toasted coocnut flakes to make them pretty enough to serve a crowd.

Cut up fruits with a 2-minute chocolate dipping sauce is at the top of any good easy and cheap desserts list. It’s the ultimate low-effort dessert and so quick to put together, yet manages to still give off a luxe feel.

Pair this time-tested and perfect chocolate dipping sauce with any fresh fruits in season, or whatever you have on hand. The key to this chocolate sauce dip recipe is in sourcing really good chocolate, ideally a craft chocolate with no more than 3 ingredients.

Preparing Philippine-made chocolate tablets called tableya into sikwate (Filipino Hot Chocolate) is comparable to making hot chocolate using cacao powder. You heat your liquid of choice, then add your tableya (or cocoa powder) and blend until incorporated. 

This dish has only two ingredients, is fully vegan, and is typically ready in less than minutes. The consistency is lusciously thick and dense, much like a French hot chocolate.

This s’mores bites recipe uses only 5 wallet-friendly ingredients and takes 15 minutes of hands-on time to make! All the delicious flavors of the campfire favorite are only portable, handy, and ready-to-eat.

Simply smash together the classic campfire s’mores ingredients with a rocky road twist. It's an easy bite-size treat that you'll be making again and again! 

Hot fudge sauce is a family favourite. This classic chocolate sauce, created with cocoa powder, takes only 5 minutes to prepare in one pot. The boiling stage is the key to this cocoa-infused hot fudge sauce recipe, so don't skip the roiling boil.

It merely takes four ordinary pantry items and a touch of vanilla to make a standard hot fudge recipe that will meet all of your sundae pouring needs.

You'll love these simple apple fritters and vanilla glaze just as much as I do. They're mildly sweet as well as low in sugar, low oxalate, gluten-free, and contain absolutely no refined sugars in it. 

This easy and cheap dessert is packed with antihistamine foods. These apple fritters with a beautiful vanilla sugar glaze highlights the delicious flavors of fall.

When peaches are in season there’s nothing better than caramelized peaches. This is just a simple, flavorful dessert that's quick and easy to make in the air fryer, ready in just 10 minutes!

These skillet peaches are probably the easiest dessert you can make with fresh peaches. Delicious buttery peaches cooked with sugar and spices - what's not to love? Serve them with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream on top.

Caramelized apples are the perfect holiday dessert. They're a great way to use up extra apples and make for a great addition to a variety of dishes, from caramelized apple topping for cakes and crepes to serving alongside roast pork.

They're basically sliced apples cooked in brown butter with a sprinkle of sugar to complete the caramelization process, creating roasted caramelized apples you can use on almost anything. This recipe doesn't use lemon juice or brown butter, and is done in just one pan and in under 20 minutes.

What could be easier than caramelized bananas topped with ice cream? This easy to whip up dessert is ready in 5  minutes.

Bananas foster ice cream is a sweet treat that’s both casual and sophisticated. Decadently delicious from the buttery sweet rum caramel, fragrant bananas and creamy ice cream. Add a sprinkle of chopped nuts, or craft chocolate shavings for a crave-worthy, easy treat.

When fruits are in season, there's not much that you should really do other than to cut them up and enjoy. But when you've got a ton to pour through, like you've just gotten your hands on an extra large basket of juicy ripe sweet mangoes, you can mix it up by using them in your smoothies rather than the frozen stuff.

These creamy mango smoothies are completely vegan and can be refined sugar free depending on your sweetener of choice. Opt for allulose or maple syrup and you've got yourself a low histamine cold sweet treat. Definitely one of the simplest and cheapest dessert to make and enjoy.

The trick to lazy girl type brownies was crafted by trying out different ways to improve box brownies. I’ve done that and more in the recipe here sharing a handful of my favorite simple box brownie hacks and tips to make them better. 

The goal is always to yield deliciously fudgy, intensely chocolaty, bakery-worthy brownies that no one will ever suspect aren't 100% homemade! Once you’ve gotten the hang of it, these brownie upgrades will be your go-to for a quick pick-me-up or a girl's night dessert.

Pair them with a fresh fruit or fruit puree as you know fruits are popular chocolate inclusions. Or serve them up with ice cream, whether you’re a honeycomb vanilla ice cream or a classic mint chocolate chip like me, or enjoy mixing it up with a scoop of earl grey for a game-changing dish.

If you like the OG store-bought rice krispie treats, you NEED to try these delicious chocolate chip rice krispies squares! These come together quickly and easily in one bowl to make a crowd-pleasing dessert that's enjoyed by kids and adults alike.

No fancy equipment is required to make these gluten-free treats, and they're ready in about 10 minutes.

I’ve got another traditional rice pudding recipe on this easy and cheap desserts collection - this time, a tried and true recipe personally gathered during my internship in a chocolate factory in Peru. 

It's a pretty straightforward easy-to-follow recipe with cheap ingredients, and can be customized with different whole spices. Traditionally this Peruvian rice pudding recipe is spiced with whole cloves and cinnamon sticks, though try mixing it up with a vanilla bean and some cacao nibs.

Got a lot of jam in the fridge? Fret not, and make these inexpensive and simple jam tarts. Jam tarts are traditional English tea time fare, in which the tarts are baked until the pastry turns golden and crispy, and the jam is warm and bubbling. These fruity pastries are the ideal balance of sweet & flaky, making them an excellent addition to any dessert buffet. 

If you love making candied nuts for holiday gifts, then this recipe is for you. This dish is oil-free, low in sugar, salty enough to balance things out, and high in heart-healthy fats.

It can be done easily in a toaster oven rather than a full-sized oven, so no preheating is required. Candied macadamia nuts make a fantastic sweet topping for ice cream, a treat to add to homemade granola, or simply a pleasant snack in the afternoon.

 ​​If you've got a ton of overripe bananas, don't let them go to waste and make these delicious banana brownies instead. It's a healthy 3 ingredient recipe made with no eggs, no flour and no added sugar! 

These are the healthiest brownies out there, both easy to make and budget-friendly. You get rich chocolate flavors from cocoa powder and can swap out peanut butter for any nut butter of your choice. This sweet treat will satisfy and nourish you better than any boxed-brownie mix.

Brigadeiros are a staple Brazilian treat, akin to chocolate truffles, that are not only delectable but also incredibly simple - and cheap - to make. With their rich, creamy texture and chocolatey goodness, they're perfect for any occasion and require just 3 ingredients.

Extremely snackable, they're chocolaty balls of goodness, wonderfully soft and chewy, delightfully sweet, and super easy to make.

Mahalabia is a delicious Middle Eastern milk pudding. It comes together in less than 10 minutes, and just needs a handful of ingredients. For reference, it's like a velvety custard or pudding that you can flavor with exotic ingredients and then dress accordingly. This gorgeous fancy-looking dessert will generate oohs and aahs from your guests. 

For a low-histamine alternative to the simple rice pudding, try this delicious flax seed pudding. It delicated scented with floral vanilla notes, ultra creamy and smooth.

It's rich in anti-inflammatory omega-3s, fiber, and plant proteins. With just 5 ingredients, it's the perfect eays and cheap dessert to make. Add optional ingredients like coconut chips for flavor and texture - but no matter how you flavor it, it's a sure winner.

Two flavors I will always say yes to - chocolate and peanut butter together! And you won't get an easier vegan dessert recipe than these chocolate peanut butter mousse cups. 

They are ready in 5 minutes, yet every bite is decadently creamy and melts in your mouth. Its smooth texture melts in your mouth while simple toppings such as berries or fresh fruit of your choice will step up this decadent treat.

One thing I constantly look for is a new low calorie snack to add to my favorites list. This vegan kettle corn recipe is cheap and easy to do, but just be wary of flying corn kernels once they start popping.

It has the delightful pull between sweet and salty, satisfying your sweet tooth's cravings. Dig in to this delicious treat any time of day, drizzling it with some dark chocolate for a low calorie chocolate snack.