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Recipes

21 4-Ingredient Desserts You Can Make at the Last Minute

A wise man once said, “stressed spelled backwards is just desserts.” Let’s just say that you’re having a party and need to whip up some desserts by tonight. You could either sit down and let the stress get to you, or you could make any of these 4-ingredient desserts so that you don’t show up to the party empty handed. These dessert recipes are easy to make and are super cheap to make. 

1. Christmas Cookies

4 ingredient desserts garlic
Kelli Haugh

Even if it’s not the holiday season, you can try to show others how festive you are by bringing these Christmas cookies to the party with you. Besides, they’ll take less than 15 minutes to make per dozen and they’re low-key red velvet.

2. Churro Popcorn

easy churro recipes chocolate sweet
Jina Kim

Popcorn is a necessity at parties, so is chocolate. Having to purchase enough of both of them for a party is just too much work and not cost effective, so why not combine the two together with churro flavoring for some churro popcorn?

3. Cherry Dump Cake

4 ingredient desserts jam sweet
Cecilia Leng

Cherries might be more of a summer thing, but canned fruits are good year-round. Besides, you’re dumping them into this cherry cake anyway, so why does it matter that it’s not summer?

4. Mango Ice Cream

4 ingredient desserts
Amelia Weller

It might be winter, but I can guarantee you that someone’s always screaming for some ice cream. You want that person to talk, not scream, and the solution to that would be to have some mango ice cream at the party.

5. No-Bake Pumpkin Pie

4 ingredient desserts caramel cream
Jayna Goldstein

Thanksgiving may have passed already, but that doesn’t mean pumpkin-flavored desserts are done with. If you’re a fan of pumpkin pie, stand your ground at the party by making this no-bake pumpkin pie your plus one.

6. Blueberry White Chocolate Purple Truffles

no bake fruit desserts sweet berry
Hui Lin

If any form of chocolate is the underdog, it’s definitely white chocolate. With the help of this 4-ingredient dessert recipe, you can now have white chocolate and blueberries at your party. Some will call it weird, but it’s actually really good.

7. Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies

4 ingredient desserts bread pastry
Amy Yu

Whether or not you’re at a tea party, these earl grey cookies are completely appropriate. If you want to be matchy matchy, you could also pair this 4-ingredient dessert with its corresponding tea.

8. Chocolate-Covered Almond Butter Balls

4-ingredient desserts peanut peanut butter
Teresa Trinh

These almond butter balls would be served best as a dessert appetizer. If anyone asks if dessert appetizers are a thing, say “no, not until now,” then nod and try to convince people that you’re a genius.

9. Thin Mint Cookie Truffles

4 ingredient desserts
Morgan Weinstein

If there’s one thing that we can all agree on, it’s that Thin Mints are the best Girl Scouts cookies. They’ll be put to better use in this cookie truffle recipe than had you just eaten them in your room all by yourself.

10. Dark Chocolate, Raspberry, and Brie Grilled Cheese

4 ingredient desserts jam toast
Bernard Wen

Nobody says that you have to stick to regular grilled cheese in order to enjoy it. Besides, why serve a regular person dish when you could serve dessert grilled cheese instead?

11. Chocolate-Covered Candy Pretzels

edible Valentine's Day gifts chocolate peanut
Isabelle Langheim

While these chocolate-covered pretzels are the most basic dessert on this entire list, they’re quite the show stopper if you roll them in different colored candies and sprinkles. 

12. Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Stuffed Pretzels

4-ingredient desserts chocolate cream
Annalee Flaherty

Yes, this article has another chocolate pretzel recipe in it, except these have some stuffing in them, which means that they’re more dimensional and bougie than the pretzels mentioned above.

13. S’mores Panini

grilled sandwich recipe chocolate peanut butter
Tarika Narain

The thing with s’mores is that the majority of the time you almost always end up asking for more later on. That doesn’t have to be the case if you make some s’mores paninis for your guests.

14. Strawberry Honey Ricotta Toast

Toast with Jelly photo by Jonathan Pielmayer (@jonathanpielmayer) on Unsplash
Unsplash on unsplash

While this sweet toast recipe would be more ideal for a smaller crowd, that doesn’t take away from the fact that the flavor combination is spot on. Some people might disagree that toast could be a dessert, but the strawberries and honey make it work.

15. Nutella Milkshake

4 ingredient desserts coffee espresso
Jocelyn Hsu

With this Nutella milkshake, you can now say that your milkshake brings all the boys to the yard. Except you might want to replace “the boys” with “the crowd.” For crying out loud, you’re drinking Nutella.

16. Rice Crispy Treat in a Mug

munchies
Rebecca Block

Rice crispy treats were one of my favorite treats growing up. What if I said you could make them warmed up in a mug for yourself, would you believe me? Not like I’d care if you believe me or not, but it’d be nice if you did, because this rice crispy treat in a mug is fab.

17. Birthday Cake Croissants

4-ingredient desserts dough pastry
Jedd Marrero

Every day can be your birthday with these birthday cake croissants. You’ll definitely want to invite a few friends over to share this decadent dessert. 

18. Cookies and Cream Pie

4 ingredient desserts cream cake
Caroline Aronowitz

Cookies and cream is an iconic duo that should never have to experience a break up. Now you can include the both of them in this no-bake pie that’s ready in just 20 minutes.

19. Snow Cones

snow day ice cocktail
Rose Ferrao

If you’ve never made snow cones using real snow, you need to. Just make sure you don’t use any yellow snow. 

20. Baked Cinnamon Apples

4 ingredient desserts
Ashley Andrews

The thing with apples is that they’re healthy, which means that you should make some form of an effort to eat them once in a while, and one way is by using this recipe to put cinnamon on them, and then bake them.

21. Fairy Bread Roll-Ups

4 ingredient desserts cake cream
Dylan Barth

While these roll ups happen to be the oddest 4ingredient dessert mentioned in this article, they’re not so bad if you’re in a rush and want something quick and sugary to munch on.

The thing with desserts is that regardless of how many ingredients they require, they’re all good the way that they are. I understand that making any of these 4ingredient desserts may seem like an inconvenience, but they’re all better than any prepackaged snack that you’re capable of buying anywhere.

Liz is a 25-year-old freelance writer that's based in Brooklyn, New York with her foster cat, Leif. Liz has received her start in the media world at Spoon University, and has acquired over 3.8 million views on her Spoon articles alone with millions more views on her syndicated content while finding her appreciation for consuming and producing branded content. Liz also has her articles syndicated on Business Insider, Insider, MSN, and Teen Vogue in addition to having her most popular article cited by Elite Daily. Liz has also contributed to YourTango and Entrepreneur.When Liz isn't writing, Liz is probably listening to music, walking around aimlessly like the hot mess that she is, cuddling with her cat, consuming new food dishes and drinks, at an event, at therapy with her one and only therapist that she absolutely adores, at an appointment with someone from her medical team, making up random dance moves in her bedroom, or figuring out what to do with herself. Liz's favorite cheese is feta and a pet peeve of hers is when people don't use the word "simultaneously" in the right manner.To get in touch with Liz, she can be reached at itslizab@gmail.com, @astrrisk on Instagram, and on LinkedIn. Liz is always down to be invited to an event or to talk about food, booze, and mental health. Liz's pronouns are she/her/hers.Please be patient when getting in touch with Liz - she probably is unaware as to what day it is, and might be dancing for her therapist.... to the Macarena, of course.