55 Desserts That Are Pure Comfort

Whip up decadent, feel-good treats like cream pies, chocolate cake and more.

February 16, 2023

By: Food Network Kitchen

Related To:

Photo By: Armando Rafael

Photo By: Matt Armendariz

Photo By: Kate Mathis

Photo By: Tara Donne

Photo By: Ryan Liebe ©Ryan Liebe — 2016

Photo By: yia thao

Our Most-Comforting Ideas

When you’re craving comfort food, only the most decadent dishes will do—desserts included. From cakes layered with creamy frosting and sugar-dusted doughnuts hot from the fryer to rich, fudgy brownies and chocolate desserts galore, you’ll find all the sweet treats you need right here. Ready to dig in? This easy-to-make pie will take your obsession for chocolate-peanut butter desserts to the next level. It starts with a chocolate graham cracker crust that’s filled with whipped peanut butter. After a layer of whipped cream, it’s topped with roasted peanuts and mini chocolate chips for the perfect finishing touch.

Get the Recipe: Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Pie

Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding with Bourbon Ice Cream Sauce

Michael Chiarello keeps his bread pudding extra moist and flavorful by using buttery croissants and then pairing it with an ice cream-flavored sauce spiked with bourbon whiskey.

Get the Recipe: Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding with Bourbon Ice Cream Sauce

Peanut Butter Bars with Salted Chocolate Ganache

For the perfect finishing touch, sprinkle flaky sea salt atop the chocolate layer on Nancy Fuller's peanut butter bars.

Get the Recipe: Peanut Butter Bars with Salted Chocolate Ganache

Baked Fudge

Ree's chocolatey baked fudge is like a cross between pudding and brownies.

Get the Recipe: Baked Fudge

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This chewy version of the comforting classic is foolproof — and perfect for dunking into a cold glass of milk.

Get the Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Banana Pudding

Sweet, creamy and ready in just 45 minutes — what’s not to love about Trisha’s take on this comfort food classic?

Get the Recipe: Banana Pudding

Boston Cream Pie Cheesecake

When two beloved desserts combine into one delicious mashup, you never have to choose again.

Get the Recipe: Boston Cream Pie Cheesecake

Chocolate Fondue

In less than 20 minutes you'll be dipping biscotti bits, strawberries and pound cake into rich chocolate.

Get the Recipe: Chocolate Fondue

Mini Peanut Butter & Jelly Pies

There's no need to fight over the last bite when you give each guest his or her own individual peanut butter pie.

Get the Recipe: Miniature Peanut Butter and Jelly Pies

Red Velvet Bread Pudding

Classic red velvet cupcakes get extra moist and flavorful when baked into a creamy bread pudding. You can start with cupcakes and frosting made from scratch or use frosted cupcakes from the bakery.

Get the Recipe: Red Velvet Bread Pudding

Alton's Chocolate Pudding

Alton Brown's homemade pudding mix with Dutch-processed cocoa and confectioners' sugar is great to have on hand when a chocolate craving strikes.

Get the Recipe: Chocolate Pudding

Homemade Glazed Doughnuts

Why not fry these breakfast favorites at home? To make the most of the glaze, set the holes underneath the doughnuts so they can catch the extra good stuff.

Get the Recipe: Homemade Glazed Doughnuts

Warm Chocolate Cakes with Berries

Giada's decadent chocolate cake with a hint of espresso will warm you up from the inside out.

Get the Recipe: Warm Chocolate Cakes with Berries

Peanut Butter Cupboard Cookie Bars

This salty-sweet treat is a triple threat, topped with pretzel sticks, potato chips and candy-coated peanut butter pieces.

Get the Recipe: Peanut Butter Cupboard Cookie Bars

Banana Pudding Tiramisu

Layers of creamy mascarpone pudding, bananas and coffee-soaked vanilla wafers bring together the best parts of these two classic comfort desserts. Make it the night before you plan to serve — the flavor and texture only get better.

Get the Recipe: Banana Pudding Tiramisu

Amaretto Chocolate Brownies

Tyler Florence's rich brownies are dusted with powdered sugar for an extra sweet finish.

Get the Recipe: Amaretto Chocolate Brownies with Walnuts

Triple Chocolate Pudding

Make this eggless custard up to two days in advance and store in the refrigerator.

Get the Recipe: Triple Chocolate Pudding

Best Bread Pudding

Look no further: We've got the only bread pudding recipe you will ever need. This super-thick version is equal parts sweet and custardy, with just a touch a spice. Perfect for a special event, or for Sunday morning breakfast at home.

Get the Recipe: Best Bread Pudding

Lizzie's Old-Fashioned Cocoa Cake with Caramel Icing

Trisha Yearwood's tip: Make sure to pour the same amount of batter into each pan so the layers cook at the same rate.

Get the Recipe: Lizzie's Old Fashioned Cocoa Cake with Caramel Icing

Rocky Road Pudding

Turn a favorite ice cream flavor into a pudding that will please kids and adults alike.

Get the Recipe: Rocky Road Pudding

Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies

Get all the flavors of fluffy red velvet cake in a snappy sugar cookie, then make cookie sandwiches with cream cheese filling.

Get the Recipe: Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies

Vanilla-Banana Pudding

Think of this as a quicker, stir-together version of traditional banana pudding — same great flavor, but less fuss.

Get the Recipe: Vanilla-Banana Pudding

Ooey Gooey Butter Cake

This crowd-pleaser definitely lives up to its name — it's buttery and gooey, with a crisp cake-mix crust. Vanilla bean paste and nutmeg give it a warm and comforting flavor you'll crave year-round.

Get the Recipe: Ooey Gooey Butter Cake

Monster Cookies

Ree's Monster Cookies, also known as her "everything cookies," are chock-full of fun ingredients like oats, pecans, rice cereal, chocolate chips and chocolate candies.

Get the Recipe: Monster Cookies

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bundt Cake

This cake will satisfy any PB&J lover's sweet tooth. For a garnish upgrade, sprinkle honey-roasted peanuts on the top, or decorate the cake with halved raspberries.

Get the Recipe: Peanut Butter and Jelly Bundt Cake

Individual Caramel Cakes

Ree tops individual spice cakes with a caramel frosting that’ll warm you up from the inside-out.

Get the Recipe: Individual Caramel Cakes

S'more Brownie Bites

These decadent bites have the flavor of s'mores with the texture of brownies.

Get the Recipe: S'more Brownie Bites

Tarte Tatin

An apple a day ... is best eaten in this classic dessert. A simple three-ingredient technique makes the recipe easy enough for even a beginner baker.

Get the Recipe: Tarte Tatin

Carrot Cheesecake

Most people would agree that the cream cheese frosting is the best part of any carrot cake, so it makes perfect sense to replace it with a thick layer of creamy cheesecake. These two classic cakes make one showstopping mash-up dessert.

Get the Recipe: Carrot Cake-Cheesecake

Brownie Batter Cookies

Trisha's crisp-yet-chewy cookies made with cocoa powder and chocolate chips are ready in less than 40 minutes.

Get the Recipe: Brownie Batter Cookies

Red Velvet Icebox Cake

This easy-yet-impressive cake layers red velvet cookies, sweetened cream cheese and shaved milk chocolate. The cookies soften up nicely as the cake sits overnight.

Get the Recipe: Red Velvet Ice Box Cake

Cookies and Cream Pudding

This vanilla pudding is delicious all on its own, but adding in crushed chocolate wafer cookies adds great texture and nostalgic flavor.

Get the Recipe: Cookies and Cream Pudding

Cookies and Cream Cake

The Neelys take the familiar ice cream flavor and turn it into a cake. The star of this dessert? The cookies-and-cream cheese icing.

Get the Recipe: Neely's Cookies and Cream Cake

Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies

This easy recipe ensures a crispy chocolate chip cookie with just 20 minutes of prep time.

Get the Recipe: Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Bananas Foster

Ree's banana aversion doesn't keep her from making a mean bananas Foster, fire and all. Spoon these boozy, buttery bananas over ice cream, French toast or crepes.

Get the Recipe: Bananas Foster

Peanut Butter and Jelly Crumb Cake

You can use your favorite jelly, jam or fruit preserves for this easy crumb cake. If you can't find honey-roasted peanuts, roasted and salted ones are a good substitution.

Get the Recipe: Peanut Butter and Jelly Crumb Cake

Snickerdoodles

What could be better than cinnamon, sugar and butter? Warm and comforting, these iconic cookies are best served fresh from the oven — with a glass of milk, of course.

Get the Recipe: Snickerdoodles

Giada's Rice Pudding

This five-star dessert from Giada De Laurentiis elevates rice pudding with dark rum, orange peel and vanilla bean.

Get the Recipe: Rice Pudding with Vanilla Bean, Orange and Rum

Fried Apple Pies

Bobby Flay's secret dough ingredient: lard. He likes to use Golden Delicious and Granny Smith apples because they're tart and remain firm after baking.

Get the Recipe: Fried Apple Pies

Dark Chocolate Mousse

This rich mousse is a surprisingly better-for-you dessert! Ellie Krieger uses silken tofu for a creamy texture and far less fat than regular cream.

Get the Recipe: Dark Chocolate Mousse

Cake Doughnut Bread Pudding

This rum-topped dessert goes from oven to table in a little over an hour.

Get the Recipe: Cake Doughnut Bread Pudding

Oatmeal Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

As if oatmeal cookies weren't comforting enough, Gina sandwiches ice cream between them and rolls these powerhouse desserts in chopped pecans for extra crunch.

Get the Recipe: Gina's Oatmeal Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Devil's Food Cupcakes

Got a craving for chocolate? The Neelys' decadent cupcakes will hit the spot. The single raspberry on top not only serves as a pretty garnish, but also plays a key part as a fruity balance to the bittersweet devil's food cake underneath.

Get the Recipe: Devil's Food Cupcakes

Peanut Butter and Jelly Pudding

Fold fresh grapes, roasted peanuts and peanut butter chips into creamy vanilla pudding for a snack or dessert that tastes just like the beloved sandwich.

Get the Recipe: Peanut Butter and Jelly Pudding

Peanut Butter-Chocolate-Coconut Layer Cake

This trio of ingredients makes the perfect showstopper of a cake. To create the frosting, reserve half of the cake filling and whip it with heavy cream.

Get the Recipe: Peanut Butter-Chocolate-Coconut Layer Cake

Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ree Drummond uses malted milk powder to give her chocolate chip cookies a special twist.

Get the Recipe: Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

Vanilla Pudding

Super creamy and easy, this classic pudding is great all on its own or can be dressed up with our suggested stir-ins.

Get the Recipe: Vanilla Pudding

Chocolate-Nut Slab Pie

Let your trusty sheet pan help you bring nutty, chocolatey comfort to the dessert table. Even if you've got more than a dozen mouths to please, this pie will get the job done.

Get the Recipe: Chocolate-Nut Slab Pie

Birthday Cake Doughnuts

These crispy, cakey doughnuts were meant to be frosted. Make the doughnuts a day in advance of your celebration and store in an airtight container. When needed, just frost, decorate and serve — no cake cutting required!

Get the Recipe: Birthday Cake Doughnut

Lemon Rice Pudding

Ree cuts down on time, but not flavor with this fuss-free rice pudding that you’ll be making over, and over again.

Get the Recipe: Lemon Rice Pudding

Loaded Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

We use walnuts and raisins in these cookies, but feel free to try your own favorite mix of nuts and dried fruit, like pecans and cranberries or roasted peanuts and chopped apricots.

Get the Recipe: Loaded Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

Chocolate Bread Pudding

Alton recommends stale challah bread and bittersweet chocolate for this warm, rich dessert.

Get the Recipe: Chocolate Bread Pudding

Chocolate Rice Pudding

Six ingredients are all it takes to whip up Sandra Lee's easy dessert. Serve it either warm or cool.

Get the Recipe: Chocolate Rice Pudding

Double-Chocolate Bread Pudding with Bourbon Whipped Cream

The chocolate in this decadent bread pudding comes twofold: chocolate chips and chocolate syrup. And, as if that weren't special enough, Sunny Anderson uses a delicious combination of buttery croissants and cinnamon raisin bread to soak up the chocolatey custard.

Get the Recipe: Sunny's Double Chocolate Bread Pudding with Bourbon Whipped Cream

Mexican Hot Chocolate Layer Cake

Chipotle powder and cinnamon turn up the heat in this chocolate cake. It’s the perfect dessert for anyone who likes to spice things up.

Get the Recipe: Mexican Hot Chocolate Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

On Tonight

Comfort Food Recipes