6 desserts in 20 minutes
Dessert does not have to be a project. Every dish here takes twenty minutes or less, and the shortest ones are done before the kettle has boiled.
CThe Cookpath kitchen9 min read · 6 recipes
Chocolate Mug Cake
- 5 mintotal
- 8 gprotein
- 560kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 1serving
Why it's here: The fastest one here.
9 ingredients · 6 steps
Five minutes and one mug, so it opens the list. This is a single-serve chocolate cake with no egg in the batter, cooked in the microwave rather than the oven. One mug is 560 kcal and 8 g of protein, and there is nothing to preheat. It is rated beginner, and the only things to wash are the mug and a spoon.
Stir the flour, cocoa, sugar and baking powder with a pinch of salt, then add the milk and oil and stir until smooth. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top and wipe the rim of the mug clean. Microwave for 1 to 2 minutes. The recipe gives a range because microwaves differ, so go by yours. Top with chocolate hazelnut spread and eat it warm.
Chocolate Nice Cream
- 5 mintotal
- 22 gprotein
- 280kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 2servings
Why it's here: The most protein on this list. The fastest one here.
7 ingredients · 4 steps
Five minutes with no cooking at all, and the highest in protein on the page: 22 g for 280 kcal a serving. Frozen bananas are blended with milk, cocoa and chocolate protein powder into a thick, scoopable dessert. It makes two servings and is rated beginner, with coconut flakes, blueberries and strawberries on top. Nothing here goes near a hob or an oven.
The bananas need to be frozen, so this is the one sweet that asks you to plan a step ahead. The rest takes minutes: blend until smooth and creamy, scoop, swirl the top with the back of a spoon, then add coconut, blueberries and sliced strawberries. The protein powder is optional. Good for a warm evening or any time the oven is off limits.
Microwave Mug Cookie
- 5 mintotal
- 7 gprotein
- 500kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 1serving
Why it's here: The fastest one here.
7 ingredients · 5 steps
Another five-minute single serving, this time cookie dough: butter, two sugars, one egg yolk, vanilla, 30 g of flour and 25 g of chocolate chips, cooked in a mug. A serving is 500 kcal and 7 g of protein. It is rated beginner, and it asks for one mug and one spoon. The microwave time is about a minute in total, 20 seconds for the butter and 40 for the cookie.
Melt the butter in the mug first, 20 seconds in the microwave, then stir in the sugars, yolk and vanilla before the flour. The recipe calls for heat-treated flour, so use that. Cook on medium (500 W) for about 40 seconds, not on full power. Then wait: it needs 1 minute to cool before you eat it with a spoon.
Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 20 mintotal
- 3 gprotein
- 160kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 18servings
Why it's here: Makes 18 servings, so it covers several days.
8 ingredients · 6 steps
Twenty minutes gets you 18 cookies, so this is the one to bake when other people are coming. They are gluten-free, made with almond flour, and each has 160 kcal and 3 g of protein. The oven time itself is only about 10 minutes of that. The rest is whisking two bowls, stirring them together and shaping the dough into balls with your hands.
Whisk the almond flour with the baking soda and salt, and mix the melted butter with the brown sugar, egg and vanilla. Combine, fold in most of the chocolate chips, and press the last ones on top after flattening the balls so they show. Coconut sugar can replace the brown sugar, but keep the almond flour, because other flours behave differently.
Blueberry Almond Muffins
- 20 mintotal
- 7 gprotein
- 180kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 14servings
Why it's here: Makes 14 servings, so it covers several days.
9 ingredients · 6 steps
Soft gluten-free muffins from almond flour, Greek yogurt, eggs and honey, with 150 g of blueberries folded in. The recipe makes 14, at 180 kcal and 7 g of protein each, in 20 minutes. It calls them a snack or a dessert, and they work as either. The batter is a simple stir-together job, rated beginner, with a dry bowl, a wet bowl and the blueberries folded in last.
Use almond flour made from blanched almonds, not almond meal, and do not swap it for another flour, as the texture changes. Bake 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown. Ovens vary, so watch them. Cool before eating, or they may be too soft and fall apart. They keep 5 to 7 days in an airtight box in the fridge.
Speculoos Cream Glasses
- 20 mintotal
- 7 gprotein
- 610kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 4servings
Why it's here: A good one to have in the rotation.
6 ingredients · 6 steps
The richest sweet on the page at 610 kcal a serving, so it is meant as a treat. Crushed speculoos biscuits are layered with piped mascarpone cream and a drizzle of speculoos spread in glasses. It makes four in 20 minutes, with no oven needed. Nothing is heated at all, which leaves the whipping and the piping as the whole job.
Whip the cream first, then add the mascarpone, so it turns thick and smooth. Warm the speculoos spread slightly so it loosens enough to drizzle. Pipe neat layers so the glasses look tidy from the side. Make them a few hours ahead, as the crumbs soften into a cake-like layer. They keep 2 days in the fridge. It is rated beginner, so it suits a first try at layered glasses.
Most people skip dessert on a weeknight because it feels like a second dinner to cook. These are the answer to that: short lists, few dishes to wash, and no waiting around for something to set.
Some are made in a mug, some are baked in the oven and some are only put together in a glass. What they share is speed, and a result that tastes like you made an effort. The time on each card is the full time, from the first ingredient out of the cupboard to the first spoonful.
A few of them are also worth making when you are not hungry for dessert at all. A small portion after dinner is often all it takes to close the evening properly.
Keep a few staples in the house and you can make most of them without shopping: oats, an egg or two, a bar of chocolate, some fruit in the freezer.
Three things that help
It is ripe, cheap and already cut. Straight from the freezer it also keeps a quick dessert cold.
Microwaves differ. Look at the shortest time first and add ten seconds at a time; a few seconds too long makes it rubbery.
A few squares melted over or chopped into almost anything turns a plain dessert into a good one.
Every dish here is in the app with timers inside the steps, servings you can change and a shopping list that builds itself.
