
6 no-bake dessert recipes because you deserve a cheat meal for staying home
Dessert recipes to help you ace your cheat meal game
“Rahul is a cheater, he is a cheater. Cheater!” This was just to get all you Kuch Kuch Hota Hai fans’ attention. This is a reality check, and we would like to bring to your notice that you too, much like Rahul, are not too far away from cheating. On your healthy lockdown diet with all the dessert recipes you’ve stocked up on, of course .
We would like to confess that we’re exactly where you are and find absolutely nothing wrong with this act of self-love.
Previously relying on our favourite restaurant or trusted delivery services to facilitate our weekend binge, we, along with our grumbling tummies and our inability to bake, are left to fend for ourselves.
To ensure that our sweet tooth doesn’t suffer as a result of our lack of skills, we put together a fool-proof list of dessert recipes that even the noobest of noobs can put together.
No bake dessert recipes to make your weekend binge worthwhile
A sinful twist on your evening coffee break
On weekdays, we have coffee with a biscuit or two. On weekends, we do the same ( but with a few dollops of calorie-filled goodness on the side). Perfect to get your kids (or inner child) involved with your no-bake dessert recipes journey.
Biscuit pudding
Ingredients:
- 30 Marie biscuits or any tea biscuits
- 100 g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 tbsp – 2 tbsp milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp coffee
- 1 cup water
Directions:
- Prepare a coffee concentrate in a cup of boiling water. Filter it and leave it to cool.
- Sift the cocoa powder and keep it aside.
- Line a seven inch square cake tin with cling film. Alternatively, you can use a square pan or glass dish without the cling film
- In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Add cocoa powder, and continue beating until well mixed.
- Add vanilla essence and mix well. Add a little milk at a time and continue mixing. The consistency of the mixture should neither be stiff nor too watery.
- Now dip the biscuit one at a time in coffee decoction and lay them down flat in the tray. It’s okay if the biscuits overlap.
- Use a spatula to spread the butter, sugar, and cocoa powder mixture evenly over the biscuits, filling all the gaps and corners.
- Repeat the steps until all the cream is over, and the cream layer is the top most layer.
- Decorate it with chopped nuts, and cover it with cling film, press it gently and keep it in the refrigerator to set.
- When ready, lift the pudding out of the pan, and serve immediately.
Recipe: Padhuskitchen.com
Put the parent-child war to rest
Your kids scream for ice-cream, while all you ask of them is to have one fruit a day. We have the perfect solution to put an end to this seemingly never-ending argument – ice cream made using fruit.
Musk melon ice cream
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of ripe muskmelon (chopped and frozen)
- 2 tbsp raw honey or powdered jaggery
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- Almonds (finely chopped)
- Raisins
- Pistachios (finely chopped)
- 2 tbsp condensed milk or chilled milk
- Mint leaves
Directions:
- Add frozen melon into a food processor, and give it a good whiz till it is a crumbly texture.
- Then add the honey or jaggery, water and lemon juice, and grind it again to form a thick smoothie like mixture.
- Transfer this paste into a sealable jar, and freeze it for four to six hours.
- Take it out of the sealable jar and now add almonds, raisins, pistachios and condensed milk or even chilled milk. Whiz it again one last time, and freeze it again for four to six hours in the same sealable jar.
- Once set, garnish with mint leave and serve.
Recipe: Chytrachills/Instagram
Just when you thought you couldn’t love Oreos anymore
If you have any doubts about this being included in our list of no-bake dessert recipes… we have two things to say to you – Oreos and cream cheese. We rest our case.
Oreo cookie balls
Ingredients
400 g Oreo cookies
250 g cream cheese
350 g chocolate chips (melted)
Directions:
- Use a food processor to crush cookies into fine crumbs.
- Add all but two tablespoons crushed cookies into a medium bowl. Add cream cheese and salt, and stir until evenly combined.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Using a small cookie scoop, form mixture into small balls and transfer to the baking sheet.
- Freeze until slightly hardened (for about 30 minutes).
- Dip frozen balls in melted chocolate until coated and return to baking sheet.
- Sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs. Freeze until chocolate hardens.
Recipe: Delish.com
Now for some desi decadence
If you’re away from home, and missing your grandmother’s ghee-filled goodness, give this recipe a go. And the next tine you visit home, turn the tables and surprise dadi by presenting her with these coconut ladoos.
Coconut ladoos
Ingredients:
- 2 cups coconut (fresh or desiccated)
- 1/8 tsp green cardamom powder
- 8 cashews (coarsely chopped)
- 1 tsp ghee
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup milk (1/2 cup if you are using fresh coconut)
Directions:
- Heat ghee in a pan, add the cashews, and fry them while constantly stirring. Remove when golden brown and set aside.
- To the same pan, add grated coconut, milk, and sugar. If you’re using desiccated coconut, set the pan aside for 15 minutes, and let the coconut absorb the milk and soften.
- Mix all the ingredients well, and cook until the mixture thickens, and all the moisture evaporates completely. Ensure that the mixture is moist, and hasn’t dried out.
- Add cardamom powder and nuts. Mix well, and let the mixture cool slightly.
- Once it’s not as hot, take small portions of this mixture and roll into ladoos.
- When the ladoos are still slightly warm and moist, you can roll the ladoos in desiccated coconut.
- The ladoos can be stored in airtight jars and refrigerated for up to five to seven days.
Recipe: Indianhelthyrecipes.com
Perfect for the cereal cheater
If breakfast is your favourite meal, and marshmallows are your favourite form of processed sugar, then this is for you. A bite of these treats is sure to teleport you to the time when all you did was eat candy (which obviously is a long drawn way of saying last weekend).
Chocolate cereal treats
Ingredients:
- 1 cup chocolate candy (m&ms or gems)
- 2 ½ cups marshmallow
- 3 cups puffed rice cereal
Directions:
- Brush a square glass baking dish with cooking spray or butter.
- Melt marshmallows over medium heat in a nonstick pan. Stir every 30 seconds to avoid burning.
- Once the marshmallows are melted, add in the rice cereal and chocolates. Stir until fully combined.
- Stir until fully combined.
- Scoop the mixture into the sprayed baking dish and flatten with a spatula.
- Cool for 30 minutes, then cut into squares. Serve.
Recipe: Tasty.co
Obligatory peanut butter entry
If snack for you means sticking your finger into a jar of peanut butter then, we would like to tell you that you are a monster and must stop doing that immediately.
On a less aggressive note, put the extra bananas you bought during your paranoia-induced stocking up spree to good use, and make yourself a delicious cheat treat.
Chocolate, peanut butter and banana bites
Ingredients:
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 2/3 cup smooth peanut butter
- 2 tsp coconut oil
- 2 bananas (sliced into half-inch-thick slices)
- Flaky sea salt
Directions:
- Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, heat chocolate in the microwave in 30-second intervals until melted.
- Heat peanut butter for 15 seconds until runny.
- In a medium bowl, mix chocolate and coconut oil until combined.
- Into a small baking cup, add a teaspoon scoop of chocolate. Top with a slice of banana, a teaspoon-size scoop of peanut butter, and another scoop of chocolate.
- Repeat the step with all the banana slices.
- Top each slice with a pinch of sea salt.
- Place tray in freezer for 2 hours, or until frozen. Serve.
Recipe: Delish.com