When the temps heat up, the last thing you want to do is heat up your kitchen. This summer you’ll love these no-bake desserts.
Ready for fun summer nights? I know that our house, the evening is not complete without a bite of something sweet. We are, admittedly, dessert people.
And I don’t really see anything wrong with that.
Especially when the desserts are cool and super easy to prepare. Check out these 20 desserts that require no-baking. There are a few that have a baking option (if you’re so inclined), but there’s a bake-free alternative to each of these desserts. Some of them are naturally sweetened. All of them are absolutely delicious.
1. Lemon Blueberry Icebox Cake
With just five ingredients, you can make heaven on a plate. The Butter Waffle Cookies from Trader Joe’s make this lemon blueberry icebox cake especially delicious.
2. Nanna’s Toffee Dream
This recipe is a family heirloom; my mom has been making Toffee Dream since 1967. It’s a decadent freezer pie made with whipping cream, marshmallow cream, and Heath toffee bars. So good!
3. Salted Caramel Mocha Icebox Cake
Love a salted caramel mocha frap? If so, you’ll love this Salted Caramel Mocha Icebox Cake that mimics the flavor.
4. Not Your Ice Cream Truck’s Ice Cream Sandwiches
Keep these ice cream sandwiches no-bake by purchasing store-bought cookies instead. They’d be particularly yummy with homemade ice cream.
5. Better than Robert Redford
Turn this chocolate layered dessert into a no-bake one by creating a layer of no-bake cookie crumbs in the bottom to replace the baked crust.
6. Homemade Mocha Chocolate Syrup
This decadent mocha chocolate syrup adds a touch of elegance to simple desserts like sundaes, affogatos, pound cakes, and more.
7. Chocolate Cream Pie
Use a pre-baked cookie crust, and you’ll just have to whip up the pudding on the stove for a delicious Chocolate Cream Pie.
8. Coconut Crunch Pie
This Coconut Crunch Pie uses cookie, not only as the base of the crust, but it makes up a significant part of the filling. Make sure you use a cookie that you really like. It’s a simple dessert that can be prepped quickly and frozen for serving later.
9. Apricot-Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Homemade ice cream is so good. It’s much more affordable than storebought, and tastes amazing! Adding the apricot and chocolate is a great variation.
10. Mamabars (aka DIY Larabars
Make your own Larabar Cherry Pie bars quickly and easily with this recipe for Mamabars.
11. Cocoa Apricot Cashew Bites
Cocoa Apricot Cashew Bites are a naturally-sweetened snack that are easy to make and very kid-friendly.
12. Fruit and Nut Energy Bites
These Fruit and Nut Energy Bites aren’t “health food” in the sense that they are packed with dried fruit, which we should still eat “in moderation”. But, there is no processed sugar, so that makes for a healthier sweet treat.
13. Plum Ice Pops
Don’t pay the price for commercial popsicles. Turn fresh fruit and honey into easy homemade ice pops.
14. Mint Chocolate Parfait
Chocolate Cream Pie gets morphed into a dessert in a jar, a Mint Chocolate Cream Parfait, to be exact. Just mix up a batch of pudding and while it chills, crush some Oreos and whip some cream. If you really want to guild the lily, stir up a batch of my Chocolate Mint Syrup.
15. Triple Chocolate Sundaes
Three forms of chocolate — brownie, ice cream, and syrup — come together for a delicious treat. Use storebought brownies or brownie bites to keep this triple chocolate sundae recipe no-bake.
16. Salted Caramel Affogatos
Affogato is just a fancy word for coffee float. A traditionally Italian version would, of course, feature gelato, but regular ice cream can work just as well. The better quality ice cream, though, the better your treat. Top them off with some caramel sauce and a pinch of salt.
17. Cherries Jubilee
Make this easy, flaming dessert – Cherries Jubilee! This is a pretty easy and straightforward recipe. But, the flaming death part of it gives you the wow factor to impress folks.
18. Raspberry Cream Cups with Pretzels
These Raspberry Cream Cups feature a raspberry compote (no Jell-O), a cream cheese -whipped cream concoction, and a pretzel topping. So good.
19. Apple Cider Floats
These Apple Cider Floats are delicious. Cold, bubbly apple cider, vanilla bean ice cream, drizzles of caramel sauce.
20. Strawberry & Chocolate Icebox Cakes
These mini icebox cakes are made from chocolate wafer cookies that soften to a cake-like texture when layered with whipped cream and strawberries. Simple and amazingly good.
Joshua Hampton says
I’m positively drooling over this rundown of dessert recipes. They all look fabulous.
Stephanie M. says
My favorite no bake dessert in the summer is Raspberry Trifle.
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
1 3.75 oz. instant vanilla pudding mix
2 cups heavy cream
5 TBS. orange juice
1 10-oz. prepared angel food cake (found in the bakery section on your supermarket) cut into bite size pieces
1 can (29 oz.)peach halves
1/2 cup seedless raspberry preserves
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
In a large bowl, combine evaporated milk and 1 1/2 cups water. Add pudding mix; beat until blended. Chill 5 minutes.
Whip cream to stiff peaks. Fold whipped cream and 1 TBS. orange juice into pudding mixture.
Place 4 cups cake cubes into a 16 cup trifle bowl. Sprinkle with 2 TBS. of orange juice. Drain and slice peaches; place half over cake. Top with 1/4 cup of the preserves (see note) and half of the pudding mixture. Sprinkle with a few almonds. Repeat layering. Garnish top with remaining nuts. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours.
NOTE: For easier drizzling, place preserves in a squeeze bottle or pastry bag and squeeze into trifle.
Jessica Fisher says
This sounds great. I’m wondering what would be a good substitute for the pudding. Any ideas? Could you just make whipped cream?
Stephanie M. says
Hi Jessica! 🙂
All trifles are a combination of either sponge cake or pound cake or lady finger cookies, pudding or custard and whipped cream and some kind of fruit. Without the custard or pudding, I’m not sure it could be called a trifle and I believe it would be missed in this dessert. I don’t know what a good substitute for that would be. If no one in your family is allergic to anything in pudding and one day you just feel like eating something really cool and refreshing as a summer dessert, perhaps when you have company because it makes a lot, I would go for it, forget about how sinful it is and enjoy!
Melissa says
Any of the no churn ice cream recipes that are on Pinterest right now!
Jessica Fisher says
Have you tried any of them?
Melissa says
YES! I not a huge ice cream person, I’d much prefer a cheesecake or brownie. These recipes are amazing. My first and favorite is Nigella Lawson’s coffe recipe. We add crushed Oreos to it and it’s amazing. We’ve made chocolate peanut butter cup as well. Our family lives them all!
Maria Stefanova says
These look delicious. I will be trying a couple this summer.
Thank you for sharing,
Maria