Gluten free brownies were the one dessert I had down cold, and after a while I was so tired of them I would rather have had nothing. That is the honest reason this list exists. I went looking for gluten free desserts that were not a compromise, and the food bloggers I trust had already solved it: a flourless chocolate torte, a no bake raspberry chocolate tart that takes ten minutes, cannoli with a real crisp shell, churros, cream puffs, lemon bars and cheesecakes that nobody at the table will clock as gluten free. Here are 40 gluten free dessert recipes I have bookmarked, each one with step by step instructions and gorgeous photos at the source. The mini cheesecakes and that raspberry tart are where I would start, but there is not a weak one in the bunch!
1. Flourless Chocolate Torte
Nine ounces of good dark chocolate at 65 percent or higher, nine ounces of European style butter, a cup and a half of sugar and seven eggs. That is the whole list, and there is no flour to leave out because there never was any. The eggs go in one at a time, fully combined between each, until the batter turns thick and glossy. Bake at 375 for thirty to thirty five minutes and pull it while the middle still jiggles slightly, because a torte baked until set is a torte gone dry. Almond extract is the quiet ingredient that makes it taste expensive.
Get the full tutorial at Well Plated.
2. Cranberry Orange Biscotti
Biscotti made on certified gluten free oat flour rather than a blend, which means one flour, one bag, no xanthan gum. A cup and a quarter of oat flour with baking powder, ginger powder and the zest of a whole orange, creamed with brown sugar, coconut oil, vanilla and one egg. Chill the dough twenty minutes before you shape it or it will stick to everything you own. Roll it into a twelve by three inch log about half an inch thick, bake at 325, slice, bake again. White chocolate on the ends, dried cranberries on top.
Get the full tutorial at A Saucy Kitchen.
3. Gluten Free Pumpkin Roll
Three quarters of a cup of measure for measure gluten free flour, three eggs, two thirds of a cup of canned pumpkin, and eighteen minutes in a jelly roll pan. The rolling is the part people fear and the fix is heat: lay a thin tea towel on the counter, dust it thickly with powdered sugar, and flip the cake onto it the second it leaves the oven, then roll it while it is still hot. Cool it rolled, unroll, spread the cream cheese filling, roll it back. A cold cake cracks. A hot one does not.
Get the full tutorial at Meaningful Eats.
4. Gluten Free Mini Cheesecakes
This is where I would start. The crust is a cup and a quarter of finely ground blanched almond flour with sugar, salt, a tablespoon of lemon zest and three tablespoons of melted butter, pressed into twelve muffin liners at eighteen grams each and baked ten minutes. The filling is a pound of cream cheese, half a cup of sugar, vanilla and two room temperature eggs beaten in on low, one at a time, just until incorporated. Do not overmix once the eggs are in, because the air you beat in is exactly what cracks the tops.
Get the full tutorial at Texanerin.
5. No Bake Chocolate Tart
A food processor, a fridge and no oven at all. The crust is half a cup of pitted Medjool dates, about eight, blitzed with a cup of almonds, an ounce of melted 70 percent chocolate, a tablespoon of coconut oil and a pinch of sea salt. The filling is coconut cream heated and poured over three and a half ounces of chopped dark chocolate with coconut oil, more dates and vanilla, then chilled until set. Vegan, paleo and gluten free without a single substitution flour. Fresh berries and whipped coconut cream on top.
Get the full tutorial at Leelalicious.
6. Gluten Free Cream Puffs
Choux pastry sounds like the last thing a gluten free baker should attempt and it is genuinely one of the easiest. Two thirds of a cup of white rice flour and a third of a cup of sweet rice flour with xanthan gum, salt and baking powder, dumped all at once into a cup of boiling water and half a cup of butter and stirred until it looks like play dough. Beat it in the mixer to cool it, then four room temperature eggs one at a time. The dough breaks apart when each egg goes in. Keep beating, it comes back.
Get the full tutorial at Faithfully Gluten Free.
7. Gluten-Free Apple Cider Cupcakes
A fifteen ounce bag of gluten free yellow cake mix does the heavy lifting, and three tablespoons of apple cider, a tablespoon of cinnamon and a quarter teaspoon of allspice do everything else. Mix only until no dry streaks remain, because overmixing beats in air that rises and then collapses the cupcakes in the middle. Fill the liners two thirds full and bake at 350 for eighteen to twenty three minutes without opening the oven for the first eighteen. That part is not optional. Cinnamon cream cheese frosting on top.
Get the full tutorial at This Vivacious Life.
8. No-Bake Raspberry Chocolate Tart
Ten minutes of work and the fridge does the rest, which is why this is my other pick from this list. Two cups of almond flour, a third of a cup of cocoa powder, melted coconut oil, two tablespoons of maple syrup and salt press into a nine inch tart pan. Bring half a cup of full fat coconut milk just to a boil, pour it over six ounces of finely chopped bittersweet chocolate, wait a full minute before stirring, then whisk in a quarter cup of raspberry preserves. Press fresh raspberries in while the chocolate is still warm.
Get the full tutorial at Bakerita.
9. Cinnamon Sugar Gluten Free Churros
Churro dough is choux again, and the difference between a good churro and a greasy one is entirely the oil temperature. Get it to 350 with a candy thermometer and hold it there, because under 350 leaves them soaked and over 350 changes the flavor. Water, a stick of butter, kosher salt and a tablespoon of sugar come to a boil, then a cup of gluten free flour blend stirs in vigorously for one to two minutes until it forms a slightly sticky dough. Three room temperature eggs beat in one at a time. Four to six inches is the right length.
Get the full tutorial at Boulder Locavore.
10. Gluten Free Thin Mint Cookies
Ten ingredients, no wheat, no dairy and no eggs, and they genuinely taste like the box. A cup and a quarter of almond flour and three quarters of a cup of tapioca starch with a tablespoon of cocoa, bound with coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla. If the dough goes oily while you mix, put it in the fridge for ten to fifteen minutes and it firms right back up. Roll to a quarter inch on a surface dusted with tapioca starch, cut with a two inch round, then dip in vegan chocolate melted with peppermint extract.
Get the full tutorial at Where You Get Your Protein.
11. Gluten Free Carrot Cake
This one is ours, and the promise in the headline is one I will stand behind: you will not miss the gluten. Fresh grated carrots, cinnamon and brown sugar do so much of the work in a carrot cake that the flour is almost incidental, which is why it converts more easily than a plain vanilla layer cake ever will. Cream cheese frosting on top, obviously. Grate the carrots yourself on the large holes of a box grater, because the pre shredded bags are dry and cut for salads and they will not melt into the crumb.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
12. Gluten Free Strawberry Shortcake
Drop biscuits instead of rolled ones, which removes the only hard part of a gluten free shortcake. Two cups of gluten free all purpose flour with xanthan gum, salt and baking powder, six tablespoons of cold cubed butter cut in until the pieces are smaller than peas, then a cup of milk. The dough is wet and sticky and that is correct. Spoon eight mounds onto a sprayed sheet and bake at 425 for ten to fourteen minutes. Macerate the strawberries with two tablespoons of sugar for a few hours first.
Get the full tutorial at What The Fork Food Blog.
13. Mini Caramel Pecan Tarts
Grain free and gluten free, with a crust that tastes like graham cracker and is really almond flour, pecans, coconut flour, butter, coconut sugar and two teaspoons of cinnamon pulsed in a food processor. Press twenty grams into each of eighteen muffin liners and bake seven minutes. Then let them cool a full twenty minutes before the caramel goes in, because a warm crust lets the caramel leak straight through the bottom and you will not know until you peel the liner off. The caramel itself is no bake.
Get the full tutorial at Texanerin.
14. Gluten-Free Cake Doughnut Holes
Homemade doughnuts are easier than they sound and this is a plain cake dough: one egg, half a cup of milk, three quarters of a cup of sugar, salt, vanilla, baking powder, a tablespoon of melted butter and three cups of gluten free flour mix with a teaspoon of xanthan gum. Omit the gum if your blend already has it in. Roll to a third of an inch, cut, and fry at 365 until golden on the bottom, then flip. The dough can be rolled into a log, wrapped and refrigerated for up to a day before you fry.
Get the full tutorial at The Frugal Farm Wife.
15. Gluten Free Brownies
These are the gluten free brownies I had on repeat for far too long, and they deserve better than my boredom. Sugar, butter and two tablespoons of cream come to a boil in a saucepan first, which is the unusual step and the reason the texture is fudgy rather than cakey. Off the heat, two cups of chocolate chips melt in, then eggs, vanilla, two thirds of a cup of gluten free flour mix, baking soda and salt. Twenty five minutes at 325 in an eight by eight. Do not overbake. Nine brownies, one bowl, one pan.
Get the full tutorial at Your Home Based Mom.
16. Fresh Lemon Cupcakes With Blueberry Frosting
The frosting is the reason to make these: real blueberries beaten into butter and powdered sugar, so the color is fruit and not dye. The cupcakes run on a cup of white rice flour and half a cup of tapioca starch with three quarters of a teaspoon of xanthan gum, and the zest of two whole lemons plus a quarter cup of juice. Add the dry ingredients and the milk alternately, starting and ending with the dry. Mix the zest in by hand, because a mixer blade traps the long strips and you lose half of it.
Get the full tutorial at Evolving Table.
17. Yeast Free, Gluten Free Cinnamon Buns
No yeast and no rising time, which takes cinnamon buns from a half day project to under an hour. Three and a half cups of gluten free flour blend with xanthan gum, two and a half teaspoons of baking powder, salt, sugar, six tablespoons of room temperature butter, two eggs and a cup of milk. Roll the dough on floured parchment into a twelve by fifteen inch rectangle a quarter inch thick and no thinner. They bake in a muffin tin rather than a pan, twenty five minutes at 350, which keeps the sides tender.
Get the full tutorial at Gluten Free on a Shoestring.
18. Gluten Free Lemon Bars
Seven egg yolks and two whole eggs go into the curd, which is what makes the filling set into something sliceable instead of weeping. Two thirds of a cup of fresh lemon juice, from about five lemons, and there is no shortcut worth taking on that. The shortbread base is white rice flour, brown rice flour, cornstarch, xanthan gum and gluten free baking powder, creamed with butter and sugar and baked twenty minutes at 350 until the edges brown. If the dough is soft, chill it thirty minutes before pressing it in.
Get the full tutorial at Noshtastic.
19. Gluten Free Starbucks Copycat Cranberry Bliss Bars
Cranberry bliss bars turn up for about five weeks a year and then vanish, which is irritating enough before a gluten free diet makes them off limits entirely. This is our copycat and it solves both problems at once. A blondie base of melted butter, a cup and a half of packed brown sugar, two eggs, orange zest, ground ginger and a gluten free all purpose blend, studded with white chocolate chips and dried cranberries, then cream cheese frosting, more cranberries and a white chocolate drizzle. Chill it before you cut it.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
20. Cheesecake Bites
Sixty four bites from one eight inch square pan, each one dipped in chocolate, which makes this the best value on the list for a party. Crunchy cookie crumbs and melted butter press into the base, then sixteen ounces of room temperature cream cheese beaten with sugar, salt and two tablespoons of cornstarch until the mixture looks whipped. Eggs and vanilla go in last and only until just combined. Thirty minutes at 325, chill hard, cut into squares, then dip in bittersweet chocolate melted with coconut oil.
Get the full tutorial at Gluten Free on a Shoestring.
21. Italian Lemon Almond Cake
Naturally gluten free because it was never made with flour: 320 grams of almond flour, the zest of four lemons, 200 grams of white chocolate melted with cream, butter, sugar and four separated eggs. The yolks go in one at a time, the whites get whipped to soft peaks and folded in at the end, and that fold is the only thing standing between a light cake and a dense one. Thirty five to forty minutes at 350 in a nine inch springform. Limoncello instead of lemon juice if you have a bottle open.
Get the full tutorial at Cucina de Yung.
22. Gluten Free Strawberries and Cream Cake
Three nine inch layers, sixteen servings, and it runs on a one to one gluten free baking flour blend so there is no custom mixing. Four egg whites rather than whole eggs keep the crumb white and light, and two thirds of a cup of plain Greek yogurt alongside the milk is what keeps a gluten free cake from drying out by day two. Bake eighteen to twenty two minutes and cool in the pans ten minutes before turning out. Sliced strawberries with a little sugar between the layers, whipped cream over everything.
Get the full tutorial at Cupcakes and Kale Chips.
23. Vegan Peanut Butter Mousse
Aquafaba, the liquid from a can of chickpeas, whips to stiff peaks exactly like egg white, and that is the entire trick. Half a cup of it with half a teaspoon of vinegar, whipped in a scrupulously clean glass or metal bowl, because any trace of grease stops it foaming at all. Fold it into half a cup of smooth peanut butter whisked with maple syrup and coconut cream. If the peanut butter mixture seizes halfway through, whisk harder or add a splash of water. Five ingredients, gluten free, soy free.
Get the full tutorial at Lazy Cat Kitchen.
24. Gluten Free Cannoli
Fried shells, real ones, from two cups of gluten free flour blend with xanthan gum, confectioners sugar, cinnamon, salt, three tablespoons of butter and three quarters of a cup of room temperature Marsala wine. The Marsala is structural, not a flavoring. The dough should be stiff, so add lukewarm water only by the half teaspoon if it will not come together. The filling is a cup and a half of ricotta with twelve ounces of mascarpone, sugar, vanilla and a quarter cup of cream whipped in until it thickens.
Get the full tutorial at Gluten Free on a Shoestring.
25. Healthy No Bake Peanut Butter Kit Kat Crunch Bars
Five ingredients, five minutes and an hour in the fridge. Three cups of Rice Chex, a cup and a half of chocolate chips, a cup of peanut butter, half a cup of maple syrup and a quarter cup of coconut oil melted together and poured over the cereal. Press it into a lined eight by eight and chill until firm before cutting. Any nut or seed butter works, so sunflower seed butter makes it school safe. Check the Chex box, because not every flavor in that range is gluten free and rice is the one you want.
Get the full tutorial at The Big Man's World.
26. Gluten Free Lemon Yoghurt Muffins
Ten muffins, twenty minutes, and the method is the interesting part: alternate the Greek yogurt and the gluten free self raising flour into the creamed butter, sugar and eggs a little at a time rather than dumping either in. That stops the batter seizing up thick, which is what makes gluten free muffins heavy. 125 grams of butter, a cup of caster sugar or a bit less, three eggs, a tablespoon of lemon juice and half a cup of yogurt. Bake at 350, cool in the pan, dust with icing sugar.
Get the full tutorial at Sparkles in the Everyday.
27. Gluten Free Eclairs
The same choux dough as the cream puffs at number six, piped into fingers instead of rounds: white rice flour, sweet rice flour, xanthan gum, salt and baking powder dumped into boiling water and butter, then four eggs beaten in one at a time. Peanut butter pastry cream goes inside, which is a better idea than the vanilla you are expecting. The chocolate top is three quarters of a cup of gluten free semi sweet chips with a third of a cup of heavy whipping cream. About an hour and fifty minutes all in.
Get the full tutorial at Faithfully Gluten Free.
28. Gluten Free Coconut Cake
Coconut four ways, which is not an exaggeration: coconut milk, coconut oil, shredded coconut in the batter, coconut custard and coconut whip in the filling, and toasted coconut all over the outside. Six egg whites and no yolks keep it white. Three eight inch layers, twenty to twenty four minutes at 350, and the frosting is vegan butter and shortening beaten with three and a half cups of powdered sugar. Toast the coconut for the outside and watch it, because it goes from pale to burnt in under a minute.
Get the full tutorial at What The Fork Food Blog.
29. Gluten Free Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies
Soft, cakey and frosted, the kind sold in plastic clamshells, and the dough needs no chilling. Half a cup of softened butter, a cup of sugar, two eggs, salt, baking powder, xanthan gum, vanilla and three and a quarter cups of a gluten free cookie and cake flour blend. Roll the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap rather than on a floured counter. Eight to ten minutes at 350, and they will not look done. If they look done they are overbaked and the bottoms are already browning.
Get the full tutorial at Flippin Delicious.
30. Fudgy Gluten Free Brownies
Pureed black beans, and nobody has ever guessed. A little over half a cup of puree from a fifteen ounce can, blitzed until there is not one whole bean left in it, whisked into a cup of melted semi sweet chips and half a cup of coconut oil. Then vanilla, two tablespoons of dark cocoa, baking powder, a pinch of salt and two teaspoons of Truvia. Let the chocolate mixture cool to about room temperature before the three eggs go in or you will scramble them. Twenty five minutes at 350 in a seven by eleven.
Get the full tutorial at The Garlic Diaries.
31. Baked Apple Fritters Gluten Free
Apple fritters without the deep fryer, which means no oil thermometer, no splatter and no pan of used oil to deal with afterward. Chopped apple folded through a gluten free batter, scooped onto a sheet pan and baked until the edges catch, then glazed while still warm so the glaze soaks in rather than sitting on top. A firm apple holds its shape better than a soft one here.
Get the full tutorial at Officially Gluten Free.
32. Gluten Free Whipped Shortbread
Forty cookies from three quarters of a cup of butter, half a cup of confectioners sugar, and a flour mix of millet flour, tapioca starch, white rice flour, cornstarch and xanthan gum. The word whipped is doing real work: beat the butter and sugar for two or three full minutes after the extracts go in, because that is where the lightness comes from and there is nothing else in the recipe to provide it. Three quarter inch balls, two inches apart, flattened with a floured fork. Fifteen minutes at 325.
Get the full tutorial at Faithfully Gluten Free.
33. Chocolate Covered Banana Nice Cream
Four bananas, half a cup of cocoa powder, vanilla, salt and a little almond milk in a food processor until there is not a chunk left, then chopped chocolate stirred through and the whole thing frozen hard. No dairy, no ice cream maker, no added sugar beyond whatever the bananas brought. Whisk the cocoa into the milk before anything else, and expect it to take some stirring, because dry cocoa clumps. Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface before freezing or you get ice crystals across the top.
Get the full tutorial at Wyld Flour.
34. Canadian Butter Tart Squares
All the filling of a butter tart with none of the pastry fiddling, cut into thirty six bars. The crust is a cup and a half of almond flour with half a cup of oat flour, butter, sugar and salt pulsed to coarse meal and pressed thin into a nine by thirteen. The filling is three eggs with two cups of packed brown sugar, melted butter, baking powder, vanilla, a cup of raisins and a cup of chopped pecans or walnuts. Thirty to thirty five minutes at 350. Chill or freeze before cutting or they will not cut cleanly.
Get the full tutorial at Flavour and Savour.
35. Gluten Free French Macarons
Macarons are almond meal, egg white and sugar, so they were always gluten free, but the sifting matters more than usual here. Sift the icing sugar and the almond meal through a sieve that has never touched wheat flour and discard any chunks too big to pass. Six tablespoons of egg white with salt whipped to stiff peaks as a quarter cup of granulated sugar goes in gradually. The fold takes about forty turns and it will look impossible for the first twenty. Stop when it is smooth but not runny.
Get the full tutorial at gfJules.
36. Paleo Mini Lemon Tarts
Lemon curd made with honey instead of sugar and coconut oil instead of butter, in an almond flour crust, so these are gluten free, grain free and dairy free at once. Three eggs, a quarter cup of honey, the zest of two lemons, a pinch of salt, a quarter cup of coconut oil and a third of a cup plus a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice for the curd. The crust is softened coconut oil, honey, cinnamon, salt and a cup and a half of blanched almond flour. Curd thickens on gentle heat and never on high.
Get the full tutorial at Texanerin.
37. Gluten Free Berry French Toast Casserole
Fifteen servings from ten to twelve slices of gluten free bread, toasted first, which is the step that stops the whole thing turning to paste. Overlap the toast in a nine by thirteen and press it down to mold together, scatter four cups of berries over, then pour a custard of ten eggs, two cups of milk, a cup of maple syrup, nutmeg and cinnamon over the top. Fifty to sixty five minutes uncovered at 350. Dairy free milk works perfectly, so this handles both restrictions at one breakfast table.
Get the full tutorial at All For The Memories.
38. Gluten Free Tiramisu
Grain free and dairy free as well as gluten free, which means the ladyfingers are a pressed coconut flour and tapioca starch layer baked twelve minutes in two seven by eleven dishes rather than piped cookies. Prick the top with a fork before it bakes so air escapes. The custard is four egg yolks with coconut milk, honey and a split vanilla bean, and the cream layer is two cans of coconut cream with maple syrup. Three ounces of very strong coffee or espresso to soak, cocoa dusted over at the end.
Get the full tutorial at Eat Something Delicious.
39. Gluten Free Lemon Bundt Cake
Sixteen slices, one bowl for dry and one for wet, and the almond flour is what keeps it from drying out. Three quarters of a cup of almond flour with two cups of gluten free flour blend, baking soda, baking powder, cane sugar and salt, then milk, two eggs, oil, three tablespoons of lemon juice and a tablespoon of zest. Use four tablespoons of juice if you want it sharper. Mix until just barely combined, because overmixing makes it dense. Bake on the regular setting, not convection, fifty to sixty minutes.
Get the full tutorial at Fearless Dining.
40. Gluten-Free Blueberry Cobbler
Cobbler is the friendliest thing on this whole list for a gluten free kitchen, because the topping is a drop batter rather than a pastry and nobody expects it to be smooth. Blueberries sweetened and thickened in the dish, spoonfuls of batter dropped over the top so the fruit bubbles up through the gaps, then baked until the top is golden and the edges are properly jammy. Serve it warm with ice cream.
Get the full tutorial at Running to the Kitchen.
