Quick desserts

Desserts and sweets ready in 30 minutes or less. (201 recipes)

Nigerian coconut candy

Children across Nigeria spend their pocket money on coconut candy, little clusters of fresh coconut set in amber caramel, sold in small bags by school gates and at market stalls. Made at home it takes about half an hour, with a chewy-crunchy bite and a toffee flavour against the clean taste of fresh coconut. Taking the caramel too far is the common mistake, since dark caramel tastes bitter, so stop at a deep golden colour. Children can help shape the cooled candy, but keep them away from the hot sugar. Chef's tip: use freshly grated coconut, not desiccated; its moisture keeps the clusters chewy in the centre.

30 min

Nigerian Desserts

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Rømmegrøt

Rømmegrøt is the porridge of Norwegian celebrations: full-fat sour cream simmered and thickened with flour until the butterfat seeps out, then loosened with milk into a rich, silky pudding and served with cinnamon sugar, melted butter and a side of cured meats or flatbread. It is eaten at midsummer, weddings and on St Olav's day, and in the summer farms of the mountains; in Oslo it is bought in tubs for Saturday treats. A common mistake is using low-fat sour cream, which will not release its butter. Chef's tip: skim off the golden fat that rises and drizzle it back over the porridge in the bowl; that is the traditional 'smørøye' (butter eye).

30 minScandinavian Desserts

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Peanut ice cream roll

Strolling Jiufen's steep Old Street, or the night markets of Yilan where it was born, you'll find a vendor planing a huge block of peanut candy into fluffy shavings over a thin, soft wrapper, adding two scoops of taro or pineapple ice cream and, to the surprise of every visitor, a pinch of fresh coriander. Rolled up like a burrito, it's cold, crunchy, chewy and sweet all at once, and the herb lifts it with a bright, almost citrus note. The popiah wrapper is the same thin flour skin used for Taiwanese spring rolls. A dried-out wrapper is what usually ruins it: it cracks as you roll, so keep the skins under a damp cloth until the last second. Chef's tip: check that your ice cream is free of gelatine, and try one roll with coriander before deciding you hate it.

10 min

Taiwanese Desserts

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Kasar

Kasar is a sweet of good fortune: Bahun and Chhetri families in the hills make it by the basketful to send with a bride to her new home, to hand out at bratabandha thread ceremonies and to fill the Tihar plates. It is the simplest of sweets, puffed rice stirred into bubbling jaggery syrup flavoured with cardamom and pressed into balls while warm, sometimes with sesame, coconut or peanuts added, and it is crunchy, light and caramel-sweet. Children love making it because it is all about quick hands and a bowl of cold water. The pitfall is syrup that is not cooked far enough, which gives soft, sticky balls that collapse in a day. Chef's tip: test the syrup by dropping a little into cold water; when it sets into a firm ball that cracks if you squeeze it, it is ready.

30 min

Nepali Indian Sweets

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Mbourake (peanut and date bread crumble)

Yesterday's baguette never goes to waste in a Senegalese kitchen during Ramadan. Mbourake turns it into a rich, crumbly sweet: the bread is dried, rubbed to crumbs and pounded with roasted peanut paste and sugar until it clumps, then mixed with chopped dates and pressed into balls or served loose in a bowl at the ndogu, the evening meal that breaks the fast. Some families use steamed millet instead of bread. It tastes like a cross between peanut cookie dough and a date bar, sweet, nutty and filling, and it is good with a glass of café Touba or milk. Chef's tip: dry the bread fully until it snaps; soft bread gives a gummy paste instead of a light crumble.

25 min

Senegalese Desserts

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Vispipuuro

Vispipuuro, 'whisked porridge', is a Finnish childhood favourite: semolina cooked in lingonberry juice and water with sugar, then cooled and whisked hard until it turns pale pink, light and fluffy like a mousse. It is eaten for breakfast, as a dessert at school, or as a snack, with cold milk poured around it. Cranberries or redcurrants work too. A common mistake is whisking it while still hot, which never lightens it. Chef's tip: cool the porridge in a sink of cold water, then whisk with an electric mixer for 10 minutes; it will double in volume. Serve with oat milk to keep it vegan.

30 minScandinavian Desserts

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Gesztenyepüré

No Budapest cukrászda menu in autumn is complete without a glass of gesztenyepüré: sweet chestnut purée pushed through a potato ricer so it falls in loose brown strands, crowned with a cloud of whipped cream and often a glacé cherry. It is soft, nutty and creamy rather than sugary, and it came to Hungary from Viennese kitchens in the days of the empire. Classic café versions add a splash of rum to the chestnuts; this one leaves it out and uses vanilla and a little cocoa, so it is alcohol-free. A common mistake is pressing the purée into the glass with a spoon, which turns it into a dense paste; let the strands fall loosely straight from the ricer. Chef's tip: chill the purée well before ricing, because cold purée holds its strands and the cream stays on top.

20 min

Hungarian Desserts

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Tamina (roasted semolina with honey)

Word of a birth in an Algiers household brings a steady flow of visitors, and each is offered a small dish of tamina with coffee: semolina roasted in a dry pan until it smells like toasted hazelnuts, then bound with melted butter and honey and dusted with cinnamon. It is soft, crumbly and sweet, a little like a spoonable halva, and is said to give strength to the new mother. Tamina is also made for Mawlid and served with tea, with the cinnamon often sifted over in a lattice pattern. Chef's tip: toast the semolina slowly over a medium-low heat and stir without stopping; burnt dark specks make the whole batch bitter and cannot be picked out.

25 min

Algerian Desserts

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Curd and treacle

Driving the southern coast road past Tangalle towards Hambantota, you pass stall after stall stacked with round clay chatties of meekiri, the firm, slightly sour curd made from buffalo milk, with bottles of dark kithul treacle hanging beside them. Turned out into a bowl and flooded with treacle, it is the South's great dessert: cool, rich and tangy against the smoky, toffee-like sweetness of the palm syrup, eaten after lunch or as a snack in the heat of the day. Setting it at home is easy with pasteurised buffalo milk or creamy whole cow's milk, a spoon of live curd and a warm spot overnight. The mistake that ruins most first batches is adding the starter while the milk is still too hot, which kills the culture and leaves you with warm milk in the morning. Chef's tip: unglazed clay pots draw out a little whey, which is why traditional curd is so thick; soak them in water and dry them well before using.

25 min

Sri Lankan Desserts

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Nkate cake

Despite the name, nkate cake is not a cake at all but a brittle: roasted groundnuts bound in golden caramel, rolled thin and cut into squares, then sold wrapped in paper by hawkers in Kumasi lorry stations and at school gates across Ghana. It is crunchy, sweet and nutty, with a hint of bitterness from the caramel, and it keeps well in a tin. Children love it, but hot sugar is dangerous, so keep them away from the pan. Chef's tip: mark and cut the squares while the slab is still warm and pliable; waiting until it is cold is the usual mistake, and it then shatters into shards.

25 min

Ghanaian Desserts

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Benni cake

Benni is the Krio word for sesame, and benni cake is the crunchy sweet sold by hawkers on Freetown's streets and laid out on Christmas and party tables. Toasted seeds are stirred into hot golden caramel, pressed thin and cut into squares that snap cleanly and taste nutty, toasty and not too sweet. With only two main ingredients it comes together in twenty minutes, but caramel waits for nobody, so have everything ready before you start. Keep the pieces in an airtight jar, or humidity will make them sticky. Chef's tip: score the slab while it is still warm and pliable; once fully cold it shatters unevenly.

20 minAfrican Desserts

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Gozinaki

Gozinaki is the sweet every Georgian family makes for New Year's Eve, from Tbilisi flats to Kakhetian farmhouses: toasted walnuts stirred into honey boiled until thick, spread on a wet board and cut into diamonds that set glossy and crunchy. Children help shell the walnuts in December, and a plate of gozinaki sits on the table for the midnight toasts. A common mistake is taking the honey off too early; it stays sticky and the pieces never set. Chef's tip: cook the honey until a drop in cold water forms a firm, pliable ball, then work fast, because the mixture sets as it cools.

30 min

Georgian Desserts

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Bathith

Bathith is an old Bedouin travel sweet from the United Arab Emirates, made from things that keep in the desert: flour toasted dark, dates and ghee, kneaded together into crumbly bites. Today it is served in Emirati homes with gahwa in the afternoon or put out at Ramadan, and it tastes of caramel, toasted nuts and warm cardamom, with a texture somewhere between shortbread crumble and fudge. It keeps well for a week in a tin. Under-toasting the flour is the mistake most often made: it must go a deep golden brown, or the bites taste pasty. Chef's tip: use the softest dates you can find and warm them with the ghee; they melt into a paste and bind the flour without extra fat.

25 minGulf Arabian Desserts

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Khabeesa

Khabeesa is made in Emirati and Qatari kitchens for Eid mornings, new babies and Ramadan nights: flour toasted until golden, then cooked with saffron syrup and ghee until it turns into fragrant, crumbly clusters, a bit like a soft, buttery halwa that breaks apart. It is served in a small bowl on the coffee tray, eaten with a spoon or the fingers, and its aroma of saffron, cardamom and rosewater fills the house. The mistake to avoid is pouring in the syrup all at once, which makes lumps that never break up. Chef's tip: keep pressing and turning the mixture against the pan once the ghee goes in; that is what forms the little golden crumbs.

30 minGulf Arabian Desserts

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Tobago benne balls

Benne is the West African word for sesame that survived in Tobago, and benne balls are the little brown, crunchy candies sold in paper bags at Scarborough market and by vendors on the beach roads. Toasted seeds are stirred into molasses and sugar boiled to the hard stage, then rolled while warm into marble-sized balls. The common mistake is under-boiling the syrup, which gives soft, sticky balls that never set; test it in cold water. Work quickly and carefully, as the syrup is very hot. Chef's tip: toast the seeds only to pale gold; they keep darkening in the hot syrup and turn bitter if they start dark.

30 min

Trinidadian Desserts

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Ginger milk curd

Born in the Pearl River Delta town of Shawan in Panyu, Guangdong, ginger milk curd crossed the border to become a favourite of Hong Kong dessert parlours in Jordan and Causeway Bay, ordered hot on a winter night. There's no setting agent: an enzyme in fresh ginger juice curdles hot milk within minutes into a trembling, spoonable custard that's sweet, creamy and warming, with a peppery ginger kick. It is eaten straight from the bowl while still warm, with nothing alongside. Long-life UHT milk is the classic mistake, since its proteins have been changed by the high heat and it simply won't set; use fresh pasteurised whole cow's milk. Chef's tip: use mature, fibrous ginger rather than young pink-tipped ginger, and heat the milk to 70–75 °C, measured with a thermometer.

15 min

Hong Kong Desserts

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Raib (set yogurt with orange-flower water)

Every Moroccan town has a mahlaba, a dairy café, with a fridge full of little glass pots of raib: soft, wobbly set yogurt, lightly sweetened and often scented with orange-flower water or flavoured with strawberry. It is eaten with a spoon as a snack, as a dessert after dinner, or with msemen at breakfast. The texture is delicate and spoonable rather than thick like strained yogurt. The oldest versions were set with rennet; this home version uses live yogurt as a starter (if you try rennet tablets, choose a vegetarian one). It needs 6–8 hours to set and a few hours to chill. Chef's tip: let the milk cool to 43 °C before adding the starter; too hot and the cultures die, so the raib never sets, which is the most common mistake.

30 min

Moroccan Desserts

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Schokofrüchte

Schokofrüchte stalls glow under strings of lights at almost every German Christmas market, from Stuttgart to Hamburg, with rows of strawberries, grapes and banana chunks on wooden skewers dipped in dark, milk and white chocolate. Children choose with their noses pressed to the glass, and at home they are a fun job for small hands. The usual mistake is dipping wet fruit: even a drop of water makes chocolate seize into a grainy lump and stops it sticking. Chef's tip: melt the chocolate gently and let it cool to just warm before dipping; it then clings in a neat, thin shell and sets glossy. Many chocolates contain milk, so check the label if you need it dairy free.

20 min

German Desserts

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Romeu e Julieta

Two ingredients, no cooking, and a name every Brazilian knows: Romeo is the dark red goiabada, Juliet the mild white queijo Minas frescal, and they are always eaten together. Mineiros serve it after lunch on a saucer, at the end of a feast in a roadside restaurant, or as a mid-afternoon snack with coffee; the sweet, dense guava and the cool, milky, lightly salty cheese balance each other perfectly. Variations melt the guava into a warm sauce over the cheese, or bake both inside a pastry. Queijo Minas frescal is often made with animal rennet, so pick one labelled vegetarian, or use a young vegetarian farmer's cheese or paneer-style fresh cheese. The usual fault is cutting the guava thicker than the cheese, which buries Juliet; keep both slices the same size. Chef's tip: take the cheese out of the fridge 15 minutes ahead so it tastes of fresh milk rather than cold rubber.

5 min

Brazilian Desserts

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Ballycastle yellowman

Yellowman is the bright yellow, brittle honeycomb toffee hacked from great slabs at the Ould Lammas Fair in Ballycastle, County Antrim, at the end of every August, often eaten with dulse. Golden syrup, sugar and butter are boiled to the hard-crack stage and then foamed with bicarbonate of soda into a crunchy, airy toffee. Chef's tip: have the tin and the soda ready before you start; once it reaches temperature you have seconds.

20 min

British Desserts

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Pé de moleque

Lumpy, glossy slabs of peanut set in dark sugar are sold in every rodoviária snack bar and handed round at festa junina, wrapped in cellophane or set in little paper cups. The name, 'street-kid's foot', probably comes from the cobbled look of the top. Piracicaba in São Paulo state is famous for it, and in the Northeast the same name can mean a cassava cake, so expect confusion. This is the crunchy southeastern style: roasted peanuts cooked into rapadura (unrefined cane sugar) until it caramelises and clings. Rapadura or panela is sold in Latin shops; dark muscovado is a fine substitute. People burn it by walking away; once the peanuts go in, the sugar darkens in seconds. Chef's tip: have the oiled tray ready before you start, because the mixture sets almost as soon as it leaves the heat.

25 min

Brazilian Desserts

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Postre vigilante

Ask for dessert in an old Buenos Aires bodegón and the waiter will rattle off flan, budín and, inevitably, vigilante: a thick slab of soft, mild cheese laid beside an equal slab of dulce de membrillo or dulce de batata. The name, "policeman", is said to come from the beat officers who ordered it as a cheap sweet in early twentieth-century cafés; Uruguayans call the same plate Martín Fierro. It is salty against sweet, creamy against firm, and takes five minutes. The traditional cheese is fresh queso cremoso or cuartirolo, or a firmer port salut; a young Havarti or mild Gouda is the best stand-in abroad. Like many soft cheeses, these are often made with animal rennet, so check the label for a vegetarian (microbial-rennet) cheese. The usual error is cutting the slabs thin like a cheese board; vigilante is about generous, equal bricks. Chef's tip: take the cheese out of the fridge 20 minutes ahead; cold cheese tastes of nothing next to the paste.

5 min

Argentinian Desserts

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Cuscuz de tapioca

Breakfast stalls in Salvador and the street markets of Recife and Fortaleza sell cuscuz de tapioca by the slice from a big round tray, often with a drizzle of condensed milk on top. It needs no cooking at all: granulated tapioca (tapioca granulada) soaks up hot sweetened milk and coconut milk and swells into a firm, white, bouncy cake with a chewy, pearly texture and a gentle coconut taste. It is eaten cold, at breakfast or as an afternoon sweet with coffee. Granulated tapioca is a Brazilian product made of small irregular crumbs, not pearls; Brazilian shops sell it in bags. Cutting it too early is the usual mistake, and the slices crumble because the granules are still dry at the centre. Chef's tip: pour the liquid in while it is steaming hot and cover the dish straight away; the trapped steam swells the granules evenly.

20 min

Brazilian Desserts

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Quesillo con miel de caña

In the Tafí del Valle hills above San Miguel de Tucumán, quesillo is made by stretching hot curd into long, thin, elastic sheets and folding them into flat rounds; along the road up from the city, stalls sell it beside jars of miel de caña, the dark syrup boiled from the juice of Tucumán's sugarcane. Put the two together and you have the province's simplest dessert: mild, milky, slightly squeaky cheese with a pour of syrup that tastes of molasses and caramel, plus walnuts for crunch. It is eaten after lunch or as a merienda with mate. Drowning the cheese is the usual misstep; the syrup is intense, so pour a ribbon, not a puddle. Real quesillo is hard to find abroad: fresh mozzarella, Oaxaca cheese or another fresh stretched-curd cheese is closest, and light cane syrup or a 2:1 mix of golden syrup and black treacle stands in for miel de caña. Most of these cheeses use animal rennet; choose a vegetarian one if needed. Chef's tip: warm the syrup slightly so it runs into the folds of the cheese.

10 min

Argentinian Desserts

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