There is a particular week in July when turning the oven on feels like a personal insult, and that is when no bake dessert recipes earn their keep. Everything here is mixed, poured, chilled and sliced, and not one of them heats up your kitchen. You will find cheesecakes set with gelatin, icebox cakes built from ladyfingers, truffles rolled from cookie crumbs and cream cheese, pies that need three ingredients, and fudge with no candy thermometer anywhere near it. I will admit my bias on a few of these: my Breville Barista is the one appliance I am not sure I could live without, so anything with strong coffee soaking into it has my attention before I read the rest. Most need four hours in the refrigerator, several are better overnight, and all 30 can be made the day before the thing you are making them for.
1. No Bake Chocolate Tart
An Oreo crust and a ganache made from equal parts bittersweet and milk chocolate, a cup of heavy cream and a little butter. That mix of the two chocolates is the reason it tastes expensive instead of sweet. Thirty minutes of actual work for a nine inch tart, and it keeps covered in the refrigerator for four to five days, which almost never gets tested. Slice it cold with a hot knife, wiped between cuts, and every wedge comes out clean.
Get the full tutorial at Pretty Simple Sweet.
2. Blueberry Lemon No Bake Cheesecake Jars
Four dry cups of fresh blueberries cooked down with maple syrup, lemon and a cornstarch slurry into a real fruit sauce, layered over a cheesecake filling of cream cheese and Greek yogurt and a crust of graham crackers blitzed with salted almonds. The yogurt cuts the sweetness and the almonds in the crust are the detail nobody expects. Twenty five minutes, six jars, and they travel to a picnic or a beach without falling apart.
Get the full tutorial at Taste and See.
3. No Bake Oreo Layer Dessert
Four layers: crushed Double Stuf Oreos bound with melted butter, cream cheese beaten with powdered sugar and Cool Whip, chocolate pudding made with three cups of milk, then more Cool Whip and reserved crumbs on top. Crush the cookies in a bag with a rolling pin and leave them a bit chunky rather than sandy. It needs four hours in the refrigerator, or overnight, and it serves twelve, so it is a potluck dish by design.
Get the full tutorial at Brown Eyed Baker.
4. Triple Layer Lemon Pudding Pie
Five ingredients and a ready made graham cracker crust. Two boxes of instant lemon pudding get whisked with two cups of whole milk and a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, not made to the package directions, so it sets much firmer. Half goes straight into the crust, the rest gets folded with half the whipped cream for the middle layer, and the last of the cream goes on top. That splash of real juice is what stops it tasting like a box.
Get the full tutorial at Together as Family.
5. No-Bake Tiramisu Cheesecake
A digestive biscuit base, then a filling of cream cheese and mascarpone in equal weight with icing sugar, vanilla and whipping cream, set with a tablespoon of powdered gelatin dissolved in hot water. Ladyfingers dipped in strong instant coffee go through the middle, cocoa dusts the top. The gelatin is not optional in a no bake cheesecake this size, and the total time is around twelve hours, almost all of it chilling. Serves fourteen.
Get the full tutorial at El Mundo Eats.
6. No Bake Cranberry Orange Cream Pie
Fresh cranberries simmered with orange juice, zest, sugar and vanilla for six or seven minutes until they collapse into a thick sauce, then swirled through an orange cream filling of cream cheese and whipped cream on a graham crust. Ten slices, and about four hours from start to finish. It is the holiday dessert that does not need the oven, which in late November is worth more than any flavor in it. Let the cranberry sauce cool before it goes in.
Get the full tutorial at A Latte Food.
7. No-Bake Cookie Dough Bites
Edible cookie dough made safe the old fashioned way, with sweetened condensed milk doing the binding instead of eggs. Butter and brown sugar creamed, vanilla, flour, the condensed milk, then chocolate chips and M and Ms stirred through and pressed into a parchment lined 9 by 13 pan. Two hours in the freezer, a melted chocolate and peanut butter topping over the top, one more hour, then cut. It makes about thirty pieces, which disappear faster than that sounds.
Get the full tutorial at Inspirational Momma.
8. No Bake Peanut Butter Bars
Two cups of thin pretzel sticks pulsed to crumbs and mixed with melted butter, confectioners sugar and a cup of peanut butter, pressed into an ungreased 9 by 9 pan. The rest of the peanut butter melts with a cup and a half of milk chocolate chips and pours over the top. Thirty minutes in the refrigerator and you cut them. The pretzels instead of graham crackers are the whole idea, because the salt stops the bars being cloying. Fifteen minutes of work.
Get the full tutorial at Balancing Motherhood.
9. 3 Ingredient No-Bake Hershey Pie
Three ingredients and one of them is the crust. Five ounces of Hershey bars melted in 30 second bursts in the microwave, an eight ounce tub of Cool Whip folded in, spooned into a nine inch graham cracker crust and chilled for one to three hours. That is the entire recipe. Use the plain bars rather than chips, because bar chocolate melts smoother and the flavor is the only thing carrying this. Eight slices from ten minutes of work.
Get the full tutorial at The Diary of a Real Housewife.
10. Easy No-Bake Nutella Cheesecake
An Oreo crust with the filling scraped out and two tablespoons of hazelnuts blitzed in, then a filling of a pound of cream cheese, powdered sugar and a full cup of Nutella, set with gelatin and lightened with whipped cream. A Nutella and dark chocolate glaze goes over the top. It builds in a seven inch springform, which is smaller than most and exactly why it comes out tall. The hazelnuts in the crust are worth the extra minute.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
11. Easy No Bake S'mores Bars
Butter, brown sugar and vanilla beaten until fluffy, then graham cracker crumbs, flour, flaky sea salt and a can of sweetened condensed milk, with chocolate chips and mini marshmallows stirred through. Press into a foil lined 13 by 9 pan, scatter the reserved chips and marshmallows over the top and chill until firm. Cut them small, because they are rich. They keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days.
Get the full tutorial at Turnip the Oven.
12. No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake Lasagna
Two and a half cups of graham crumbs and a stick of melted butter pressed into a 9 by 13 dish and firmed in the freezer for ten minutes, then cream cheese beaten with powdered sugar and one tub of whipped topping, sliced strawberries over that, the second tub on top. Two hours minimum in the refrigerator, overnight if you can. Ten to twelve servings. Save five or six whole berries for the top, because the sliced ones vanish under the cream.
Get the full tutorial at Sugar Apron.
13. Oreo Balls No Bake Dessert
A package of Oreos, a block of softened cream cheese and chocolate for dipping. Blitz the cookies to fine crumbs, add the cream cheese in small chunks and blend until it comes together, roll into balls on a wax paper lined sheet, half an hour in the refrigerator to firm up, then dip. No food processor is fine, crush them in a bag and use a hand mixer. Peanut butter Oreos work as well as the plain ones.
Get the full tutorial at Who Needs a Cape?.
14. No-Bake Chocolate Crunch Cake
Two layers, and the bottom one is the interesting half: 18 ounces of plain sweet cookies broken into pieces and bound with a cooked mixture of butter, milk, cocoa and sugar, so the crunch stays crunchy. Dark chocolate ganache made with a cup of whipping cream goes over it. Digestive biscuits work if you cannot find plain sweet cookies. The only difficult part is waiting for it to set, which is true of nearly everything on this list.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
15. Sugar Cookie Fudge
Eggless sugar cookie dough, made properly with butter, sugar, milk, vanilla, flour and salt, then stirred into white chocolate chips melted with a can of sweetened condensed milk. Poured into a lined 8 by 8 pan, sprinkles on top, two hours in the refrigerator before you cut it. It genuinely tastes like sugar cookies rather than like white chocolate, and because there are no eggs anywhere in the dough, nobody has to be talked out of licking the bowl.
Get the full tutorial at Cooking With Karli.
16. No Bake Banana Pudding Dream Dessert
A Golden Oreo crust, a no bake cheesecake layer of cream cheese, sugar and whipped topping, then instant banana cream pudding made thick with only one cup of milk, and more whipped topping over the top. Sliced bananas are optional and go between the cheesecake and pudding layers. Two hours chilling, twelve servings out of an 8 by 8 or 9 by 9 pan, and the short measure of milk is what keeps the pudding layer sliceable.
Get the full tutorial at Crazy for Crust.
17. Easy No Bake Mini Eggs Cheesecake
Six hundred grams of full fat cream cheese whipped until light, powdered sugar, then two cups of whipped cream folded in and two cups of crushed Mini Eggs through the lot, over a graham crumb base in a nine inch springform. Six to eight hours in the refrigerator, or overnight. Full fat cream cheese is not a suggestion in a no bake cheesecake, it is the reason it sets at all. Twelve slices, and it is the Easter dessert that frees up the oven.
Get the full tutorial at The Busy Baker.
18. No Bake Oreo Cheesecake Parfaits
Eighteen Oreos, half roughly chopped and half crushed fine, which is the only technique in the whole thing. Two blocks of cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla beaten smooth, then a cup of heavy cream beaten in at medium high for four or five minutes until stiff, and the chopped cookies folded through. Pipe it into glasses in layers with the fine crumbs. Four servings, ten minutes of work, two to three hours chilling.
Get the full tutorial at Plated Cravings.
19. No Bake Key Lime Pie
Cream cheese beaten smooth, then a cup of sweetened condensed milk and half a cup of freshly squeezed lime juice, then a cup of cream beaten in for two or three minutes until it thickens, all poured over a cookie crumb crust. It needs at least six hours in the refrigerator and honestly wants overnight. Freshly squeezed is doing real work here, because bottled lime juice has a flat note the condensed milk cannot hide. Serves ten.
Get the full tutorial at Sweetest Menu.
20. No Bake Butterfinger Pie
A peanut butter and Butterfinger pie, which is the kind of dessert that gets requested rather than admired. Crushed candy bars stirred through a peanut butter cream filling in a crumb crust, chilled until sliceable, with more crushed Butterfinger on top so the shards stay crisp. Hold back some of the candy for the last minute, because anything stirred into the filling softens as it sits.
Get the full tutorial at 5 Boys Baker.
21. Chocolate Mousse Cake
Twenty five finely crushed Oreos and melted butter pressed hard into a nine inch springform with the base of a measuring cup, chilled thirty minutes. Eight ounces of chopped semisweet chocolate gets a bare simmer of hot cream poured over it, sits a minute, then whisks smooth and cools. Whip a cup and a half of cream to soft peaks and fold the cooled chocolate in. Press the crust properly or it crumbles when you release the ring. Twelve servings.
Get the full tutorial at Plated Cravings.
22. No-Bake Banana Split Dessert
A banana split taken apart and rebuilt in a 9 by 13 pan: graham crust, a cream cheese and butter layer beaten with three cups of powdered sugar for a full five minutes, sliced bananas, drained crushed pineapple, Cool Whip, then hot fudge, chopped nuts, cherries and sprinkles. Do not add milk to the cream cheese layer even when it looks stubborn, it comes together. Twelve to sixteen servings and about four and a half hours.
Get the full tutorial at Sugar Apron.
23. Chocolate Mocha Tiramisu Icebox Cake
Seven hundred and fifty grams of mascarpone beaten with powdered sugar, cocoa, a tablespoon or two of good instant coffee and vanilla, then 400ml of cream whipped to stiff peaks and folded in. Thirty to thirty six ladyfingers get dipped one at a time in cooled coffee spiked with rum and layered in a 9 by 13 dish. Sift the cocoa and the coffee before you start or you will be chasing lumps through the mascarpone. Twelve servings.
Get the full tutorial at The Busy Baker.
24. No Bake Malteser Slice
Two hundred and fifty grams of plain biscuits crushed to crumbs, then butter, milk and white chocolate and four tablespoons of golden syrup melted together in the microwave in 30 second bursts and poured over them with 310 grams of Maltesers stirred through. Into a lined 20cm square tin, with twenty Maltesers held back for the top. Around four hours to set and twenty slices. Line the tin with plenty of overhang or you will never get it out.
Get the full tutorial at Create Bake Make.
25. Gingerbread Truffles with Spiced Sugar Topping
Twenty eight gingersnaps and twelve Golden Oreos blitzed to fine crumbs with the cream still in them, bound with eight ounces of softened cream cheese and vanilla, rolled into inch and a half balls and dipped in melted almond bark. The spiced sugar of white sugar, nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon goes on within three to five minutes, before the coating sets. About twenty four truffles from thirty minutes of work, which makes them a serious gift box candidate.
Get the full tutorial at Erhardts Eat.
26. No Bake Cannoli Cream Pie
Cannoli filling without the frying. Cream cheese beaten smooth, a cup and a half of heavy cream beaten in to stiff peaks, then whole milk ricotta, confectioners sugar, cinnamon and a little orange zest folded through with half a cup of mini chocolate chips. Into a store bought graham crust and chilled three or four hours, preferably overnight. Whipped cream and the remaining chips go on just before serving. The orange zest is optional and it should not be.
Get the full tutorial at Mother Thyme.
27. No Bake Orange Creamsicle Truffles
White chocolate melting chips with butter and fresh orange zest cooked for a minute, heavy cream added, then the whole thing strained over the chips so the zest does not end up in the texture. Orange extract and a few drops of coloring, chilled, then rolled and finished in confectioners sugar. Straining is the step people skip and then wonder why the truffles are gritty. They taste like the orange and cream ice pops, which is exactly the point.
Get the full tutorial at My Incredible Recipes.
28. Chocolate Coconut Balls
Four ingredients and ten minutes, start to finish. A cup of powdered sugar stirred into six tablespoons of melted coconut oil until it looks like frosting, a cup of sweetened shredded coconut folded in, rolled into inch balls on parchment, then melted milk chocolate wafers drizzled over. Makes twenty four. The coconut oil sets firm in the refrigerator, which is why this holds together with no condensed milk and no cooking at all.
Get the full tutorial at The Bewitchin' Kitchen.
29. No Bake Avalanche Cookies
Two cups of Rice Krispies and a cup of mini marshmallows in a bowl, while a bag of white chocolate chips melts slowly with half a cup of creamy peanut butter, stirred constantly. Pour it over, mix, spoon onto parchment, scatter mini chocolate chips and leave them to firm up. Fifteen minutes and twelve cookies. Melt the white chocolate over low heat and keep stirring, because white chocolate seizes faster than any other kind.
Get the full tutorial at Baking You Happier.
30. No Bake Pineapple Cream Dessert
A graham crust of crumbs, sugar and melted butter pressed into an 8 by 8 or 9 by 9 pan, then cream cheese beaten with three quarters of a cup of confectioners sugar until very smooth, a tub of whipped topping beaten in and a drained can of crushed pineapple folded through. Pineapple chunks and shredded coconut on top. Drain the pineapple properly, and then drain it again, or the whole thing weeps. At least four hours, ideally overnight.
Get the full tutorial at The Midnight Baker.
