43 Gluten-Free Desserts for Every Occasion
Chocolate chip cookies, blondies, banana bread, carrot cake, chocolate cake, cupcakes—you love them, but youwish they didn’t have the gluten. Never fear: These gluten-free desserts are here to delight you and to be gentle on your tummy, because you’re certainly not the only one with celiac diseaseanda sweet tooth.
And, by the way, you don’t have to have celiac disease to prefer gluten-free baking. Maybe you have a wheat allergy or you experience uncomfortable symptoms whenever you consume gluten (something that can be referred to as non-celiac gluten hypersensitivity). The point is: If you don’t feel great after eating gluten and want to reduce its consumption or remove it from your diet completely, you should still get to enjoy sweet treats. Life! Live it!
So, from poolsidefrosé popsto fall-friendlybaked apples—which extensive research shows taste best when consumed while wrapped up in a cozy blanket ormassive scarf—to eat-them-anytime peanut butter cups, here are our best gluten-free dessert recipes. You deserve them.
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Photo by Isa Zapata, Prop Styling by Stephanie De Luca, Food Styling by Yekaterina Boystova2/43Flourless Chocolate Cake
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Photo by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Yekaterina Boystova3/43Sticky Rice With Mango
The classic combination ofcoconut milk, sticky rice, and sweet ripe mango has been a popular Thai dessert for centuries. It’s time to bring it into your home if you haven’t already.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich5/43Mochi Doughnuts
These ring-shaped mochi doughnutsfrom pastry chef Clarice Lamuse mochiko and tapioca flours to get a little extra chew and bounce.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne8/43One-Pot Honeycomb Cake
On the outside, thisiconic Vietnamese cakelooks like any otherBundt cake. Cut it, though, and you’ll reveal its vibrant shade of green, which comes from pandan extract.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell9/43Buttery Baked Apples
Picture this: You have all the ingredients forapple crisp, but you’re too tired to make it. Enter simple, old-fashioned baked apples, a great cold-weather dessert to have in your back pocket.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Nathaniel James, Food Styling by Simon Andrews10/43Chocolate Mousse
Thisclassic dessertis made with dark chocolate, eggs, and cream. Since it has to chill for at least six hours (and can be made even a few days ahead), it's the ideal dessert for a dinner party.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Erika Joyce11/43Ember-Roasted Strawberries
When the farmers market’s fineststrawberriesmeet brown sugar, foil, and fire, it’s the beginning of a beautiful (and low-carb) friendship. Serve them on their own, with a dollop of sour cream or crème fraîche, or spooned overvanilla ice cream.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle12/43Almond-Apricot Food Processor Cake
This dessert comes together quickly in the food processor. How does it get so wonderfully moist? Puréedapricots, folded into the batter.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton13/43Bibingkang Cassava (Cassava Cake)
Grated cassavatakes the place of flour in this Filipino cake recipe. The starch content in the tuberous root helps it absorb the coconut and sweetened condensed milks and transform into a sweet, chewy dessert.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Rhoda Boone14/43Boozy Piña Colada Ice Cream
When challenged to turn our favorite beachsidepiña colada cocktailinto a delicious gluten-free dessert, this is where we landed: store-bought coconut ice cream with a sunny, boozy kick.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell15/433-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
No butter, no flour. In fact, there’s not really even cookie dough, in the classic sense. All you need to make thesegluten-free cookiesis peanut butter, sugar, and an egg.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Erika Joyce17/43Halva 5 Ways
Halvah, a dense Middle Eastern confection, gets itsnutty and creamy texturefrom tahini. Use your favorite flavorings to make a customized version for your family and friends.
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Photo by Paige Green20/43Jam Bars
A combination of almond flour, oat flour, and rolled oats give these jam bars their nutty-sweet crumble. Use anystore-bought jamyou like, or go for gold and make your ownraspberry jam.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne21/43Chewy Flourless Pistachio Cookies
These chewy-crisp cookies get their bright color from ground pistachios. Be sure touse raw nutsas toasted ones will turn out darker.
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Photo by Con Poulos22/43Baked Chocolate Tofu Cheesecake
This dairy-free, gluten-free dessert has a secret. Well, it’s not a secret, really, since it’s right there in the title, but just wait until you reveal to yourdinner partyguests that the rich, mousse-like texture of this cheesecake comes not from dairy, but from tofu. It never fails to surprise.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne23/43Frozen Yogurt Ice Pops With Lemon Curd
Need an easier-than-easy recipe? Don’t make your ownlemon curd—store-bought will work just fine—or riff on these ice pops by swirling in your favorite jam instead.
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Photo by Akiko Ida & Pierre Javelle25/43Mitarashi Dango (Rice Balls in Syrup)
Why settle for rice pudding when you can have grilled rice dumplings coated in a sweet soy glaze? (Okay, okay, we loverice pudding, too, but do try these Japanese rice balls.)
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Lillian Chou26/43Khajur Ladu (Date, Pistachio, and Almond Morsels)
These truffle-like bites are fudgy—but there’s no chocolate. The secret to their luscious texture is a mixture of milk and choppeddates, which disintegrate into the liquid, thickening it.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell27/43Frozen Yogurt Bark
Just the right mix of crisp, creamy, and slightly sweet, this no-bake dessert is what we want to snack on all summer long. (It could serve asbreakfastin a pinch, too.)
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Photo by Romulo Yanes30/43Pavlova With Lemon Curd and Berries
你见过奶油蛋白甜饼,南国的国家的菜ia? It’s a rufflymeringuemade with vigorously whipped egg whites and, in this case, silky lemon curd and juicy berries.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Kat Boytsova31/43Frosé (Frozen Rosé) Ice Pops
There’s no better way to celebrate warm, sunny days—also known asroséseason—than by sharing these fruity, boozy ice pops with your friends.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell32/43Gluten-Free Lemon Bars
Master ourgluten-free, multi-purpose sweet pastry doughand you can use it for this citrusy summertime classic and much more. (By the way, these bars are best after a day of chilling, so plan accordingly.)
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, food styling by Anna Stockwell33/43Flourless Pistachio Cake With Strawberry Meringue
Thisgluten-free cakemakes a stunning end to any springtime dinner, with surprisingly bright layers of green pistachio cake and pink strawberry meringue that crackles in the oven.
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Photo by Tara Donne, Food styling by Liza Jernow35/43Gluten-Free Citrus Sugar Cookies
Similar to shortbread cookies, these butter cookies, made with gluten-free flour, come in three flavors: lime, lemon, andgrapefruit. Make them all or pick one; just be sure to triple the amount of zest and juice if you go the latter route.
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Photo by Kim Lightbody36/43Gajjar Ka Halwa (Carrot Halwa)
Our two favorite gluten-free carrot desserts of all time: gluten-free carrot cake (hard to compete withcream cheese frosting) and this Indian-style carrot halwa. It’s not a quick dessert, but itisexceptionally delicious.
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Photo by Michael Graydon & Nikole Herriott37/43Chocolate-Covered Marshmallow Cookies
This ambitious Mallomars-inspired recipe is a project: Make the (wheat-free!) cookie base and top withmarshmallowon day one; enrobe in chocolate on day two.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, food and prop styling by Ali Nardi39/43Yogurt-Peach Semifreddo
This make-ahead frozenGreek yogurtdessert is so soft, you’d think you were eating pure buttercream. Leaving the skins on the peaches for the purée makes for a beautifully pink swirl throughout the semifreddo.
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Photo by Quentin Bacon40/43Apricot Almond Layer Cake
This is not the kind of cake you make on an average Tuesday night. This one—apricot compote, layers of almond macaroon,pralinealmonds, mascarpone cream—is a special-occasion dessert.
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42/43Bananas Foster
Bananas Foster, a flambéed dessert of halvedbananasin a syrupy rum sauce, is a New Orleans favorite that never fails. Don’t forget the ice cream.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Michelle Gatton43/43Classic Crème Brûlée
We wouldn’t give you a list of gluten-free desserts without also giving you a reason to use a kitchen torch. And once you have one, you’ll come up with all kinds of ways to use it (likecoffee crème brûlée,coconut crème brûlée, andpistachio crème brûlée).
