20 Fast and Easy Desserts in Under 30 Minutes

If life is as busy for you as it is for me, then these recipes should come in handy.

Minimal prep times and brief baking times, and desserts that are satisfying, taste wonderful, and everyone will think you slaved over them.

Sometimes the quick and easy recipes trump the far more time-consuming and complicated ones, and that’s what these recipe are about.

None of the following recipes use a mixer – everything is mixed by hand, usually in own bowl. And everything is ready in a half hour or less:

1. Nutella Cinnamon Rolls with Vanilla Glaze – They give traditional cinnamon rolls a serious run for their money and ready in under a half hour

2. Salted Caramel Pretzel Blondies – Salty and sweet, crunch and gooey, soft and chewy

3. Coconut Peanut Butter Magic Cake Bars – Like Magic Bars or Seven Layer Bars with a cake base rather than graham cracker base

4. Cinnamon Sugar Chocolate Pretzels (no-bake, vegan, GF) – Ready in 5 minutes and so much better than you can imagine based on the simple recipe. My husband begs for these

5. Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache – The best chocolate cake and the easiest. Never use a boxed mix again with this one-bowl, whisk-together cake that’s ready in under a half hour

6. Baked Cinnamon Bun Donuts with Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze

7. Seven Minute Microwave Caramels (no-bake, gluten-free) – They sound too good to be true but it really works. Caramels in the microwave and no candy thermometer required

8. Coconut White Chocolate Chip Blondies – Dense, rich, and almost fudge-like

9. Snickerdoodle Cookie Granola Bars (no-bake, vegan, GF) – A healthy granola bar that tastes like cookies

10. White and Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Chocolate Cake Bars – All the decadence of cheesecake, minus the work

11. Ritz Cracker Stuffed Peanut Butter Cups (No Bake, Vegan)

12. Browned Butter Rice Krispies Treats (no-bake with vegan and GF options) – The best RKTreats  I’ve ever had and I’m a connoisseur. These are my favorites

13. 10-Minute Homemade Hot Fudge (GF) – Dense, rich, thick, decadent and easy. No need to ever buy it again

14. Nutella Brownie Truffle Bites (no-bake with vegan and GF options)

15. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars (no-bake, vegan, GF) – My favorite granola bar for producing Quaker Chewy-style bars. Customizable, fast, easy and very popular with readers

16. Marshmallow Caramel Oreo Cookie S’Mores Bars

17. Cinnamon Oatmeal Date Bars with Chocolate Chunks (no-bake, vegan, gluten-free) – Bars that taste like a bowl of cinnamon raisin oatmeal, topped with chocolate

18. The Ultimate Fudgy Caramel Brownies – My favorite brownie recipe, to date. Dense, rich, fudgy and easy. Never used a box mix again with these whisk-together brownies

19. Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls (no-bake, vegan, GF) – One of the most popular recipes on my site since 2009. Healthy cookie dough that tastes like the real thing

20. Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Dough Crumble Bars – A new favorite bar that’s dense, rich, smooth, soft, chewy, supremely moist and loaded with peanut butter cups

Do you have a favorite fast and easy dessert?

Please leave links to your favorite recipes. I love hearing about quick and easy recipes that are longtime favorites of yours.

Thanks for the Odwalla Juices Giveaway entries