Dessert can be so ... complicated. Don't get us wrong -- we love our layer cakes, pastries and pies over here -- but as simple weeknight desserts, they can be daunting tasks.
Here, then, are 10 delicious, dinner-party worthy desserts -- including ice creams, tarts and puddings -- that are five ingredients or less. Because sometimes you just want some dessert, without all that fuss. Brought to you by the spirited home cooks' community at Food52.
Get more dessert recipes -- fancy, unfancy and everything in between -- at Food52.
10 Desserts with 5 Ingredients (Or Less!)
Caramel Pudding(01 of10)
Puddings thickened with cornstarch make great comfort food, but Midge's luxurious caramel custard, which uses egg yolks as its only setting agent, elevates pudding to dinner party fare. As with any egg-enriched custard, the key is careful tempering, and do take the caramel as far as your nerves will allow -- you'll be rewarded with a rich pudding that has just the right balance of bitter and sweet. Our favorite technique of all? Midge has you start the water bath with cool water, rather than hot; this cooks the pudding slowly but very gently, giving it the most incredibly silken, glossy structure. - Amanda and Merrill
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Photo: Sarah Shatz
Get the recipe
Photo: Sarah Shatz
Affogato(02 of10)
I grew up eating a bastard version of affogato, the Italian dessert that cleverly melds gelato and espresso. At night, I'd pour the leftover coffee from my parent's drip coffee maker over my ice cream. I liked the coffee-flavored ice shell that formed on the ice cream and the puddle of coffee milk in the bottom of the bowl. This caffeinated treat may also explain why, as a child, I was often up with my father watching ice hockey on TV late into the night. Proper affogato has much more going for it. The mix of hot and cold, the bitter and sweet, and, of course, the fluffy cream cap that pools beneath the gelato. This is the dessert that you want in your back pocket, ready for guests at a moment's notice. Keep a good stock of ice cream (a good life rule, generally), and I'm sure you have espresso or strong coffee around. If not, let's not discuss it. And spoons. Yes, you'll need spoons!- Amanda
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Photo: Sarah Shatz
Get the recipe
Photo: Sarah Shatz
Chocolate Mousse(03 of10)
This recipe was adapted from one given to me by the pastry chef at Anthos, an excellent Greek restaurant here in New York, for a piece I wrote for the Times. It couldn't be simpler to make, but the results are spectacular -- you use nothing but good quality dark chocolate, a little milk and some heavy cream, ending up with essentially a whipped ganache. Back when I used to make chocolate mousse a lot for dinner parties and catering gigs, I often folded in a splash of Cointreau and some chocolate shards, which I thought gave it some extra oomph. I hope you enjoy it!- Merrill
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Photo: Sarah Shatz
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Photo: Sarah Shatz
Baked Apples(04 of10)
This dead-simple recipe should be in your back pocket all through apple season. Once you reduce some cider and core a few apples it's virtually hands off, and the results can be anything you want them to be. You can eat the sweet, mellowed apples bare -- a more virtuous cousin of the apple pie -- to restore you when you're feeling cold and low. Or you can dress them up with creme fraiche or ice cream, to celebrate the season. Note: We used Galas and found them to be perfect -- for a primer on the best apples for baking, go here.- Amanda and Merrill
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Photo: Sarah Shatz
Get the recipe
Photo: Sarah Shatz
Cream Cheese Cookies(05 of10)
My mother's cream cheese cookies couldn't be easier to make, which makes them ideal for last-minute bake sales or houseguests. They're chewy in the center, where the texture is kind of like a coconut macaroon, with buttery, burnished edges that crumble like a sandcastle gently collapsing. The cream cheese gives the cookies a nearly unidentifiable tang that keeps you reaching for just one more. My favorite part, though? My mother got the recipe at a Tupperware party in the 70s. One of the women brought a batch of the cookies with her, and at the end of the party, she dictated the ingredients and instructions to all of the other guests. Who knows how many subtle variations of this recipe exist today, legendary among countless other families?- Merrill
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Photo: Jennifer Causey
Get the recipe
Photo: Jennifer Causey
Banana Cardamom Shake(06 of10)
Recently, I got an email from my friend Alexandra. She was planning to make banana pudding for a party over the weekend and wondered if I thought it was a good idea to add some cardamom. I enthusiastically gave her two thumbs up, and then proceeded to obsess over the idea for the next few days. Banana and cardamom seemed like such a winning combination -- I knew there must be other ways to put it to good use. After some thought, and inspired in part by our Soda Fountain contest, I decided to try making a banana cardamom milkshake. Happily, it didn't disappoint. Feel free to adjust the cardamom to your taste, as well as the milk to ice cream ratio -- I went for a shake that's not too thick, reminiscent of a smoothie but richer.- Merrill
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Photo: Sarah Shatz
Get the recipe
Photo: Sarah Shatz
Lemon Tart(07 of10)
People who taste this smooth, fragrant tart won't believe that it contains a whole lemon, rind and all! Nor will they understand how you got it to be so fragrant and light and not at all gummy like lemon curd tarts can sometimes be. In our view "Mary" wasn't lazy at all, she was brilliant. She has you whiz the filling together in a blender, then simply pour it into a blind-baked tart shell. Dymnyno gave the tart her own touch -- a Meyer lemon -- which lends its fragrance and finesse and none of the intrusive acidity found in regular lemons. One catch: you'll need to use your own tart dough. If you don't have a favorite, we recommend the Joy of Cooking's sweet pastry dough. We lined a 9-inch fluted tart pan with it, pricked it with a fork, filled it with pie weights and blind-baked it at 375 F for 15 minutes then removed the weights and baked it for another 10 minutes. Once the tart shell cooled we added the lemon filling and sent it back for one last turn in the oven. Start checking it at 35 minutes. - Amanda and Merrill
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Photo: Sarah Shatz
Get the recipe
Photo: Sarah Shatz
Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream(08 of10)
When we first read Tammy's recipe, we were slightly intimidated by the use of temperatures, as we tend to rely on sight and feel when it comes to making ice cream. When the method worked perfectly, we realized that these details are really helpful for people who don't have much experience with custards. Tammy's recipe makes a perfect, fragrant and not-too-sweet vanilla ice cream, and she gives you the option to add your own flavors in the last step. After tasting the vanilla, we decided to play around, by folding in 1/ 3 teaspoon strong peppermint extract (we used Boyajian), 10 finely chopped spearmint leaves and 6 ounces finely chopped dark chocolate. It was some of the best mint chocolate chip ice cream we've ever had.- Amanda and Merrill
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Photo: Melanie Einzig
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Photo: Melanie Einzig
Lemon Posset(09 of10)
This recipe is a wonder of science. It's the perfect thing for anyone who may be fearful of making custard but harbors a weakness -- as we do -- for this sort of milky, comforting, nursery-food. Flavor-wise, it's like a creamier, less aggressive version of lemon curd, and it's rich enough that a small amount goes a long way. Do be careful that the cream doesn't boil over -- we watched it like a hawk, but it still managed to catch us by surprise!- Amanda and Merrill
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Photo: Sarah Shatz
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Photo: Sarah Shatz
Lime Ice Cream(10 of10)
It's funny how often there are early indications of the profession a child will pursue as an adult. According to my mother, there were more than a few telltale signs during my youth suggesting that a career in food and cooking might be in my future. When I was six years old, we went to the Bahamas on a family vacation. One night, we were served the most delicious lime ice cream any of us had ever tasted; it was tart and quite sweet, with lots of fragrant lime zest and an underlying richness from pure cream. With a little encouragement from my parents, I managed to pluck up the courage to ask for the recipe, which I then transcribed -- in my shaky, 6-year-old print -- onto the small slip of paper. It's a mix-and-freeze operation, perfect for hot weather, and there is no custard involved. The results are truly delicious. I've reduced the sugar and added a little more cream as my taste has matured. I hope you enjoy it as much as we all did -- and perhaps it may even inspire another 6-year-old to turn to a career in food!- Merrill
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Photo: Sarah Shatz
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Photo: Sarah Shatz
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