9 No-Bake Desserts for When It’s Too Hot to Bake

No-Churn Ice Creams

Our no-churn ice creams are the perfect thing to make (and eat) on a hot day. With 12 flavors, ranging from strawberry-buttermilk to mint cookie, there’s sure to be one you’ll love. And there’s no need to pull out the ice cream maker; you’ll just need a blender. Watch the video below to learn how, and then explore the full collection.

Strawberry Sorbet

Looking for something a little lighter than dairy-rich ice cream? How about our Strawberry Sorbet? For this sweet, frosty treat, you’ll process the ingredients in a blender and then chill them to 40 degrees. At that point, you simply churn the mixture in an ice cream maker and then freeze it until firm. If you’ve got gorgeous strawberries on hand, this should be high on your to-make list.

Blueberry Swirl Semifreddo

Semifreddo, meaning “half frozen” in Italian, is what we in the test kitchen like to refer to as “slice cream,” or sliceable ice cream. If you’re having a dinner party and want to serve something a little fancier than ice cream to top off the meal, then semifreddo is the thing to make. For our blueberry swirl version, you’ll whip up some cream, cook the custard base, and fold the cream into it before layering the mixture in a loaf pan and swirling in blueberry jam. After 8 hours in the freezer, it’s ready to slice and serve (which means dessert can be out of the way and ready to go before you even start making dinner).

Chocolaty Tiramisu

Tiramisu is an iconic Italian dessert made with ladyfingers soaked in espresso and a luscious mascarpone cream filling. It is absolutely delicious as is, but our version takes it to a new level of decadence by incorporating a layer of chocolate ganache. Hello, chocolate and coffee lovers! 

Chocolate Eclair Cake

We recently declared our Chocolate Eclair Cake the most popular Cook’s Country dessert of all time! You, our readers, love this icebox-like cake. It’s made with graham crackers, a luscious cream filling, and a chocolate ganache frosting. 

Chocolate Cream Pie in a Jar

Our Chocolate Cream Pie in a Jar recipe gets around the need to bake a crust by calling for simply crumbling Oreo cookies into twelve 4-ounce glass jars. A luscious chocolate pudding that you cook on the stove goes into the jars next. Then, a topping of whipped cream and more crushed cookies finishes off the little jars for perfect individual servings.

Cannoli Dip

This five-ingredient stir-together dip will be the life of any party it’s served at. It’s cool, creamy, and rich. Serve it on a platter with various dippers from fruit to broken cannoli shells. And if you want to add a couple more ingredients, try our chocolate chip–orange and pistachio-lemon versions too. They’re so easy to make, you can serve a couple flavors together. 

Scotcheroos

These chewy cereal-based bars are no-bake and pantry-friendly. For our version, we use Special K cereal and chunky peanut butter, and we spread a mixture of melted butterscotch chips and chocolate chips on top. Feeling fancy? Finish them with a sprinkle of flake sea salt.

Nanaimo Bars

Nanaimo Bars hail from Canada. They feature three layers of goodness: coconutty cookie bases, custardy centers, and chocolate ganache tops. Unlike most crusts, theirs doesn’t need any baking. The combination of graham crackers, shredded coconut, toasted pecans, and cocoa is held together with melted chocolate that solidifies once cool. And the custard easily comes together in the food processor.

When the next heat wave strikes, you’ll be ready with this handy list of no-bake desserts. What will you make first?