Toasty treats: 22 warm dessert recipes

We like our apple crisp with extra crisp, à la mode, and served warm enough to melt the ice cream. Apple crisp recipes come with some variations, but we like this old-fashioned version courtesy of The Chunky Chef.

Like the aforementioned apple crisp, we also prefer our apple pie warm. Try this apple pie recipe from Natasha’s Kitchen, but be sure to let it rest for a bit when it comes out of the oven, as the filling will literally be boiling hot.

Originally created at Brennan’s restaurant in New Orleans—where you can still get a table today—Bananas Foster consists of butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and dark rum sauce served over sliced bananas. The whole thing is ignited with a lighter and served with vanilla ice cream. One Dish Kitchen has a solo-serving recipe if you’re dining alone or splitting dessert.

Don’t let apples get all the attention during the colder months—try this berry crumble from Cooking Classy that uses blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. It is topped with a mixture of flour, oats, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and butter, which is obviously the best part.

If you have overripe bananas, make banana bread. If you have stale bread, make bread pudding. As this recipe from Fantabulosity will show you, it’s the perfect dessert to make in a pinch, as the other ingredients are just butter, eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. (Although this recipe also includes a simple, three-ingredient vanilla sauce!)

Although there’s a season for cherries, there’s no season for cherry pie, as it’s both possible to make and enjoyable to eat year-round. And with this easy version from Tastes Better From Scratch—which also includes a link to a from-scratch crust recipe—you’ll want to make it all the time.

Chocolate fondue has to stay hot, so you can quickly dip strawberries, bananas, cookies, or any other tasty treats in it. Making fondue at home can be as simple as melting some chocolate, but this recipe from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe will give you the perfect consistency with the addition of milk, heavy cream, and a little vanilla extract.

What better epitomizes a hot dessert than chocolate lava cake, where the chocolate filling flows out like liquid magma. Except this chocolate lava cake from Preppy Kitchen isn’t a threat to any local villagers—just your diet. 

Before mug cakes became popular, if you were single and had a sweet tooth, you had to bake and eat an entire cake by yourself. Okay, not really…but mug cakes really are a single-serving dessert gamechanger. Try this two-minute, eight-ingredient, microwavable chocolate mug cake from I Am A Food Blog.

A soufflé will begin to fall minutes after it comes out of the oven, so you really have to eat it warm to get the full effect. Sure, making a soufflé can be a bit tricky, but this recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction breaks it down into 10 easy steps.

The difference between a churro that’s warm and one that’s not is enormous. A freshly baked churro is crispy yet so light and fluffy that it melts in your mouth, while a room-temp churro is just a sugared breadstick. Do yourself a favor and make them fresh at home with this recipe from Maria’s Kitchen.

Back in the day, we always thought they could never improve on the Oreo…and then they introduced Double Stuf Oreos. Then we figured that was the pinnacle…until we had our first deep-fried Oreo. Lil’ Luna will show you how to make these lil’ pockets of heaven. 

If you don’t think hot chocolate counts as a dessert, then you must not be doing it right. Elevate your cocoa game with these hot chocolate bar suggestions from Little Spice Jar, which include toffee bits, chocolate truffles, and caramel sauce.

Dessert soufflés don’t have to be limited to chocolate. Cozy up with this lemon soufflé for two from Maya’s Kitchen Daydreams, and maybe a loved one…unless you’re really hungry!

This dessert is best served warm, and the pineapples will make you think of hotter weather. If you’ve never made this cake before, don’t let the “upside down” part scare you—it’s actually a cinch! (And, as Sally’s Baking Addiction will explain in this recipe, you only flip it once at the end.)

Not everything needs to be a pie, cake, cookie, or other baked good. Well, technically, these roasted pears from Where is My Spoon are baked because they spend 25 minutes in the oven, but at least they’re not bread-based! Aside from the pears, the only other ingredients you need are butter, honey, and balsamic vinegar.

Sure, the ice cream is cold, but a brownie sundae is at its best when not just the hot fudge is warm but also the brownie beneath it all. That’s why we recommend this sizzling brownie sundae recipe from Spices N Flavors. It doesn’t require a sizzling plate, but instead a cast iron pan!

If you enjoy chocolate chip cookies but don’t feel like dropping spoonfuls of dough onto a baking sheet—or even turning on your oven—try making a skillet cookie. This chocolate chip skillet cookie courtesy of Tastes Better From Scratch is soft, chewy, and gooey and even includes a few variations to fit your taste.

Skillets aren’t just for cookies! This recipe from Blue Bowl Recipes will show you how to make a fudgy triple chocolate brownie in your skillet. This is the perfect recipe if you like your brownie fudgy in the middle but crispy on the outside and also if you really like chocolate, as it combines cocoa powder, melted chocolate, and chocolate chunks.

A classic British dessert, sticky toffee pudding isn’t like an American pudding—it’s a sponge cake. Made with dates and a few other common kitchen ingredients, this dessert gets its toffee name because of its topping, which you can make from scratch using just heavy cream, butter, sugar, and corn syrup. As Food & Wine suggests in this recipe, it should be served warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Treacle sponge pudding, like sticky toffee pudding, is also a cake. However, this one is even easier, as the recipe from Netmums calls for just five ingredients: butter, eggs, caster sugar, flour, and syrup. However, we recommend also making the custard sauce, which requires a few more ingredients. 

If our hot chocolate bar didn’t thrill you enough, try switching things up with this white hot chocolate from Celebrating Sweets. It’s made from scratch, but all you need is milk, white chocolate chips, and vanilla extract—unless you want to kick it up a notch (or three!) with some toppings.