42 Mini Thanksgiving Desserts for Cute Individual Servings
Whip up one of these tiny desserts to make a big impression.
The little things in life mean the most, and these tiny treats prove it. We love these mini dessert recipes for Thanksgiving because they're portioned into single-serve treats. What's more, most are make-ahead and stored in the refrigerator, so you can give more attention to the main course and your guests on Turkey Day.
Many recipes in this mini-dessert collection—from cheesecakes and mini-pies to fudge balls and brownie bites—travel well for guests bringing dessert to their holiday meal. But don't limit these delicious ideas to Thanksgiving. You can enjoy these sweet treats any time of year!
Pumpkin Cream Puffs
If a pumpkin turned into a cloud, it would taste like one of these little numbers. Each delightful puff consists of a classic choux (pronounced "shoe") pastry filled with sweet, dreamy, pumpkin pastry cream. Make the filling ahead to avoid a last-minute Thanksgiving frenzy.
Salted Caramel Brownie Bites
Need something quick, easy, and decadent? Whip up your favorite brownie batter, scoop it into a muffin tin, and then insert a salted caramel chocolate in the center before baking. Alternatively, swap in whatever you have—peanut butter cups, mint chocolate morsels, or extra dark chocolate chips—to treat your guests to a sweet surprise.
Mini Pumpkin Pies With Speculoos Crust and Whipped Cream
These custardy, ginger-scented pies have a spiced cookie crust that will have guests reaching for seconds. If you can't find speculoos cookies for the crust (we bought ours at Trader Joe's), gingersnaps work just as well. Paper liners in your muffin tin make clean-up a breeze, which is always welcome, but more so on Thanksgiving.
Mini Chocolate Olive Oil Cakes
Victor Protasio
Don’t be fooled by how cute these mini chocolate olive oil cakes are: They're easy to make and vegan, too. Brewed Earl Grey tea whisked into the batter brings floral, aromatic, and citrusy notes, and good-quality olive oil offers moisture and richness. Top these cakes with a simple silky chocolate glaze and a light shower of candied orange peel.
Chocolate Pecan Fudge Balls
Chocolate fudge balls covered in chopped pecans are a delicious, easy, no-bake treat. After the fudgy mixture cools, enlist the kids to help with rolling. Make these well ahead of the busy holiday and store them in the fridge for up to a month.
Mini S'mores Cookie Cups
The recipe for this diminutive dessert turns a sweet summer staple into a holiday hero. It uses a mini-muffin pan to form graham cracker cookie dough, half a marshmallow, and a Hershey's Kiss into an adorable single-bite treat.
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Scones
The popular combo of white chocolate and macadamia nuts strikes in this recipe for the iconic British quickbread. These flaky bite-sized scones are packed with white chocolate chips and chopped macadamias, then topped with a buttery caramel glaze, more chopped nuts, and flakey salt.
Dark Chocolate Coconut Tartlets
Peanut butter cups meet coconut macaroons in this little nest-like presentation. A toasted shredded coconut crust holds a filling of nut butter (your choice) and chocolate topped with flakey salt. What's best is these not-too-sweet, gluten-free tartlets are actually healthy-ish.
Dark Chocolate Truffles
These homemade dark chocolate truffles look and sound impressive but are deceptively easy to make. Once you conquer the basic recipe, branch out and try its six creative variations, or come up with some of your own.
Cardamom Bun Cookies
Each of these pinwheel bites looks like a cinnamon roll but carries the warm spiced flavor of a cardamom bun. Not a fan? Experiment with other festive fall flavors by swapping the cardamom with pumpkin pie spice, apple pie spice, or classic cinnamon.
Pumpkin Cupcakes With Cream Cheese Frosting
Simple, classic, and universally loved, these cupcakes are just the mini dessert to cap off a feast. This recipe starts with a boxed yellow cake mix, so it doesn't add much to your culinary workload. Make these in a mini muffin pan to accommodate guests who have room for only one bite of dessert.
Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
Store-bought puff pastry—a busy baker's best friend—plays a prominent role in these too-easy-to-be-true treats. Just unfold the pastry sheets, brush with egg, spread on a cinnamon-pecan-sugar mixture, then roll, slice, and bake. Once cooled, you have two dozen flaky, buttery sugar cookies that you'll have to hide until dessert.
Cinnamon-Spiced Apple Cider Donuts
Donuts for breakfast are a treat, but donuts for dessert are extra special. Easier to make than you think, these come out of the fryer light and airy. For mini-treats, make a holes-only batch using an upside-down shot glass as a donut-hole cutter.
Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake Bars
A generous slice of cheesecake may be just too much of a good thing on Thanksgiving, and that's where these little bites come in. Spread a speculoos cookie crust onto a 9 by 13-inch baking pan, swirl the pumpkin and cheesecake fillings on top, and bake. Once cooled on the counter and then set in the fridge, cut into bite-sized squares so everyone can savor just a taste.
Malted Chocolate Brownies
Victor Protasio
Easy and universally loved, brownies are a crowd-pleaser under any circumstance. This recipe adds malted milk powder to the batter and then mixes in crushed malted milk balls to give this familiar treat an unexpected twist. Cut these into extra-small squares for a one-bite Thanksgiving showstopper.
Chocolate Espresso Truffles
Whoever thinks these delectable morsels are not addictive is just not paying attention. They're comprised of instant espresso powder, two types of chocolate, cocoa powder, and an optional splash of coffee liqueur for a sophisticated, not-too-sweet bite. Allow at least 4 hours for the chocolatey mixture to cool before forming into balls.
Apple Rugelach
Victor Protasio
Get a jump on Thanksgiving dessert by making these light-and-airy apple pastries two days ahead. Start by making a crescent roll-style dough, spread with an apple butter mixture, and then roll and bake. Leftovers are great for breakfast!
Potato Chip Crispy Treats
Allow guests to indulge their inner child with this twist on crispy treats. In addition to rice cereal and marshmallows, the recipe calls on crushed potato chips, macadamia nuts, and white chocolate chips for this gooey confection. The result is a salty-sweet bite guests of all ages will go for.
Pumpkin Caramel Pie Bars With Toasted Coconut
This recipe is so much easier than a classic pumpkin pie, it's almost cheating. It also has what pumpkin pie doesn't have: a homemade caramel sauce in the filling, a toasted coconut topping, and individual portions that are just the right size for Thanksgiving.
Marshmallow and Chocolate Shortbread Slices
Decadent and fancy-looking: Isn't that what Thanksgiving dinner is all about? These bites certainly qualify, despite being surprisingly easy to make. To offer guests this homemade candy bar experience, we recommend cutting them into bite-sized servings instead of slices.
Lemon Pistachio Bars
Antonis Achilleos
Need a gluten-free finale for your Thanksgiving production? Try these bright, beguiling bars with a pistachio crust and lemony-custard filling. Allow 4 hours to cool at room temp and set in the fridge, then serve with a sprinkle of nuts and lemon zest.
Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Brownies
When brownies and cheesecake clash, you can count on doubling down on decadence. Add a cookies-and-cream filling and you're tripling down, if that's even a thing. To prevent buttons from busting, serve in bite-sized portions.
Carrot Cake Cupcakes With Browned Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
These carroty cakes are pretty standard, but an extra ingredient in the icing qualifies these as Thanksgiving-worthy. An influx of browned butter makes an ordinary cream cheese frosting extraordinarily rich and intense. Pour these into a mini-muffin pan to turn them into one-bite wonders.
Coconut Macaroons
Looking for something easy to make, quick to bake, and a delight to bite? Try these chewy flour-free cookies that are perfect for topping off a Thanksgiving meal. Make them up to five days ahead for a trouble-free holiday mini-dessert.
Holiday Brigadeiros
These chocolatey make-ahead morsels are a celebration for your taste buds. This recipe for brigadeiros—the national truffle of Brazil—requires just sweetened condensed milk, cocoa powder, heavy cream, and salt. For toppings, the sky's the limit—edible glitter, sprinkles, or shredded coconut—but for Thanksgiving, we suggest finely crushed nuts like pistachios, pecans, or walnuts.
Chocolate Bark With Dried Fruit and Spices
This rich, no-bake confection is studded with dried fruit: namely apricots and figs. A punch of cinnamon and cayenne gives a Mexican-chocolate twist to each sweet-and-spicy bite.
Chickpea "Cookie Dough" Bites
This recipe transforms chickpeas into what tastes like oatmeal-raisin cookie dough. Besides tasting great, they're a whole-grain, no-bake, protein-packed, fiber-rich, gluten-free dessert that's a no-brainer for a guilt-inducing Thanksgiving menu. For a more seasonal bent, switch out raisins for dried cranberries.
Pecan Logs
These make-ahead sugar cookie treats are embarrassingly easy to make. Roll a basic sugar cookie dough (homemade or store-bought) into logs, brush with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar and crushed pecans, and bake. The result is four dozen delightful little bites that are just right for Thanksgiving guests.
Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies
Antonis Achilleos
This healthier take on a classic carrot cake turns the dessert inside-out and into finger food. The sandwich cookies are loaded with hearty rolled oats, but the filling is that oh-so-familiar cream cheese frosting we can't imagine eating carrot cake without.
Puff Pastry Cinnamon Rolls
Is anyone interested in making cinnamon buns without the rising, proofing, and kneading? This dessert recipe uses store-bought puff pastry sheets to bypass all that yet retain their comforting, cinnamony goodness. Make a double batch of these little gems: one for dessert and one for breakfast the next day.
Golden Grahams Peanut Butter Truffles
This recipe elevates a humble breakfast cereal to holiday heights. It turns Golden Grahams, chocolate (white, dark, or both), and peanut butter into sweet morsels worthy of a confectioner's display case. Hold on to the recipe after Thanksgiving because a bag of these makes a wonderful edible holiday gift.
No-Bake Cranberry Orange Cheesecakes
Instead of cramming another dish into an overcrowded oven, opt for a no-bake dessert you can serve straight from the fridge. Guests will swoon for these creamy, decadent cheesecakes—recipe courtesy of My Baking Addiction—that meld sweet and tangy flavors. The cranberry sauce topping makes smart use of what's already on hand at Thanksgiving.
Banana Cream Pie Parfaits
End the meal on a lighter note with this wonderfully nostalgic cream pie parfait recipe from Rachel Hollis. To keep day-of stress at bay, prep the pudding and whipped cream in advance, then top with bananas right before serving. Serve in mini mason jars for a playful presentation.
Mini Pumpkin Layer Cakes
Baking tiny cakes may seem like tedious work, but this clever recipe from The Baker Chick simplifies the process. Cut individual rounds with a biscuit cutter, and sprinkle leftover cake crumbs on top. Freezing the layers helps you frost them with ease.
Pumpkin Cheesecake Mousse
A simple slice of cheesecake is tasty but uninspired. Instead, opt for this creamy cheesecake mousse from The Gunny Sack, made with cream cheese, powdered sugar, pumpkin puree, and graham cracker crumbs. For a whimsical, kid-friendly treat, use a piping bag to create picture-perfect swirls served in hollowed-out mini pumpkins.
Mini Iced Oatmeal Cookie Apple Pies
Combining two dessert favorites, these tiny pies from Girl vs. Dough are guaranteed to please the whole table. The deliciously crunchy iced oatmeal cookie topping pairs wonderfully with warm apples and a buttery crust. These are the perfect way to use up your haul from apple picking, and you likely have the rest of the ingredients on hand.
Mini Chocolate Ganache Cake
Gold crystal sugar sprinkles add sparkly elegance to this three-layer chocolate ganache cake from Oh Sweet Day. To create the miniature cake rounds, bake a chocolate cake in a 9 by 13-inch pan, then use a 3-inch cookie cutter to create 12 rounds. The dark chocolate flakes cover the cake's exterior, so no need to worry about pouring the ganache perfectly.
Mini Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pies
Instead of settling for mediocre pecan pie, try this recipe for boozy single-serve pies from Freutcake. To create the miniature shells, press dough into a muffin tin, pile in the filling, then send them to the oven. Serving warm with ice cream is an absolute must.
Mini Vegan Pumpkin Pie
Thanks to a combination of almond milk, cornstarch, and pumpkin puree, the filling of this pie from Love & Lemons is supremely creamy without a drop of cream. Maple syrup adds sweetness, and the five-ingredient crust is held together with coconut oil, not butter. Serve with crushed pecans, coconut whipped cream, and a light dusting of cinnamon.
Mini Baked Alaskas
This dinner-party-worthy dessert from Dessert for Two technically requires you to bake a cake for the base, but buying a store-bought version gives you and your oven a much-needed break. Once the base is prepped, add a dollop of sorbet, surround the scoop with meringue, then brûlée away.
Brown Butter Jam Tarts
Fred Hardy
You'll need to get out your trusty muffin pan for these tasty individually-portioned tarts. Toasty brown butter, fruity and smooth jam, crunchy almonds, and a crumby cookie shell come together in this take-home friendly dessert recipe. You'll have them prepped in less than an hour, and you can make them up to three days in advance (read: a dessert perfect for busy Thanksgiving.)
Macaroon Thumbprints With a Surprise Nutella Center
Fred Hardy
If you're looking for a simple and sweet treat to serve this Thanksgiving, try these hazelnut macaroon thumbprints. Crunchy and nutty with a delicious dollop of Nutella in the middle, these cookies are bite-sized and irresistible. Plus, the recipe makes over two dozen of them so you don't have to feel bad when grabbing two (or more).
For more Real Simple news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on Real Simple.
