No Room in the Oven? Try No-Bake Desserts for the Holidays

By Sarah Simms

It’s Thanksgiving Day and you’ve been slaving in the kitchen for eight hours since 6 a.m. (that’s not counting last night’s turkey brine party). Your perfectly calibrated timeline allows no oven or burner to go unused at any time throughout the day. The last thing you want to think about is preparing the dessert in the confines of the pit of the overused oven. “Why can’t some amazing no-bake desserts just magically appear before my eyes?”

Then it hits you: No-bake desserts!

No room in the oven? No problem. Now the question is, which one do you choose for your Thanksgiving grand finale?

Pumpkin Pie Parfait

You can always turn to Pinterest for some “I need that in my mouth now” dessert recipes. This one might just be the easiest you’ll ever make. You’ll need five ingredients:

Ingredients

• 1 package instant butterscotch pudding
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• Whipped cream
• Gingerbread
• 2 piping bags

Directions

1. Combine ingredients in a large bowl and mix.
2. Cover and chill one hour.
3. Fill one piping bag with mixture and the other with whipped cream.
4. Cut gingerbread in the shape of dessert dishes or rock glasses you will use to serve.
5. Place gingerbread at the bottom of the glass.
6. Layer whipped cream and pumpkin mixture to top of serving dish and garnish with a few sticks of gingerbread.

Recipe adapted from Nubry.com. For another yummy rendition of this no bake dessert, check out Daisy Brand’s recipe (pictured above).

Rocky Road No-Bake Cheesecake

Move over ice cream, this dense-but-light cheesecake won’t melt before everyone at the table is served. Here’s the lowdown on yet another of the good Thanksgiving desserts on the horizon.

Ingredients

• 3 ounces baking chocolate, semi-sweet, divided
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 2 8 oz. packages of cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 c. miniature marshmallows
• 1/3 c. peanuts, chopped
• 2 c. thawed Cool Whip
• 1 6 oz. cookie pie crust (OREO)

Directions

1. Melt 1 oz. chocolate in microwave and coarsely chop other 2 oz.
2. Blend cream cheese, milk and sugar with mixer.
3. Mix in melted chocolate.
4. Whisk in Cool Whip, chopped chocolate, nuts and marshmallows. Pour into crust and refrigerate 4 hours.
5. Soften cream cheese by microwaving in a microwavable bowl for 10 seconds.
6. Microwave chocolate in a microwavable bowl for 30 seconds, stir, microwave 30 seconds more, stir.
7. Heat in 10-second increments until melted completely.

Recipe adapted from kraftrecipes.com (as pictured above).

No-Bake Turkey Cookies

When holiday decorations and dessert go hand-in-hand, you know you’re onto something special. These decorative no-bake turkey cookies can double as the kids’ table centerpieces.

Ingredients

• 1 package Fudge Stripe cookies
• 1 package of wrapped caramels (e.g. Rolos)
• 1 package candy corn
• 1/4 c. frosting

Directions

1. Unwrap caramels.
2. Use frosting to glue caramel ends to bottom of striped flat side of cookie.
3. Glue a piece of candy corn on top of caramel with frosting. It looks like a turkey!

Recipe adapted from Honey & Butter. Image above from the Pillsbury version of this recipe.

Voila! Easy breezy no-bake Thanksgiving desserts for a variety of audiences.

Sarah Simms is a culinary master who writes for various cooking blogs. She looks forward to the upcoming holiday season so she can share her kitchen creations with the world.