14 Favorite Mini Dessert Recipes

Red Velvet Cake Truffles

Rich, decadent red velvet cake is nearly impossible to resist, especially when it's this adorable! Moist red velvet cake is mixed with real cream cheese frosting and then formed into cute little cake balls. The cake balls are dipped into a crunchy candy coating, for a moist, sweet, and tangy cake bite in candy form. You can even skewer the cake balls on lollipop sticks to make red velvet cake pops.

Hot Chocolate Mini Donuts

What's more perfect than a rich, velvety cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter day? Hot chocolate transformed into donuts, that's what. These sweet little donut treats are absolutely packed with chocolate flavor, and make a fabulous dessert for Valentine's Day dinners, or just a snow day treat. It's an inspired mini dessert idea that kids and adults are both sure to love.

Mini Peach Cheesecakes

Serve up the South on a dessert plate when you offer guests these sweet, bite-sized peach cheesecakes. Miniature individual cheesecakes with graham cracker crusts are baked in muffin tins for simple preparation. You'll swoon over the creamy, fruity peach and cream cheese filling that's flavored with cinnamon and vanilla. They make a wonderful special dessert, especially when you add the scrumptious cinnamon peach topping.

Banana Splits On A Stick

Kids will be delighted—and adults will be nostalgic—when you serve these delicious banana split skewers that are a healthier take on the ice cream parlor classic. This clever mini dessert recipe uses fresh fruit chunks, chopped nuts, and melted chocolate to create the essence of the ice cream sundae without all of the calories. Feel free to use any of your favorite fruits or keep it traditional with bananas and cherries.

Hand-Held Apple Pies

Almost everyone loves apple pie, and these cute single-sized apple pies are a wonderful way to serve this all-American dessert. Hand-held apple pies are especially great for outdoor gatherings of all kinds, from cook-outs and pool parties to picnics, as well as the holidays after we've eaten our fair share at the main meal.

This wonderful recipe produces pies with a flaky all-butter crust and an addictive, vanilla-flavored chopped apple filling. Make the filling the day before and then simply bake them up when ready to serve. Even better, this recipe freezes well, so you can make the little pies well ahead.

Brownie Bites

If you love moist, chocolate brownies, you're sure to adore these tiny brownie bites (and will feel less guilty when eating one!). Easy to make using mini muffin pans, these treats become crispy on the outside and moist on the inside, just the way brownies are meant to be. The best part is you can use any brownie recipe to create these bite-sized pieces of chocolate heaven. You can also spruce them up for serving by adding candy toppings, whipped cream, or chocolate sauce.

Chi Chi Dango Mochi

As fun and delicious to eat as their name is to say, chi chi dango mochi is a Japanese dessert treat that is hugely popular in Japan and Hawaii, especially among children. This sweet and pillowy soft mini dessert is made of rice that's sweetened with sugar and coconut milk, made pink with a few drops of red food coloring, and then baked in the oven. The result is a moist and sticky, candy-colored treat that's sweet, a little unusual, and super fun to share.

Mini Chocolate Caramel Apples

Caramel apples are a fall favorite but sometimes a large apple coated in rich caramel is just too tricky and too much to eat. This recipe is a grown-up way to serve this classic autumn season dessert, for all your fall parties and gatherings.

The fun new twist in this recipe is the serving size. You simply use a melon baller to scoop out balls of fruit from large, full-sized apples; then, skewer the fruit, dip each mini apple in caramel, and finish with melted chocolate and your favorite candy or nut coating.

Dulce de Leche Bites

Dulce de leche is a traditional Argentine dessert made by caramelizing the sugar in milk. This recipe gives that traditional dessert a modern twist, by re-imagining it as finger food. Easy to make when you use frozen puff pastry, these little bites of puffed, golden brown dough filled with a sweet caramel filling are heaven to eat.

Lemon Creams

Although these sweet lemon creams take less than 30 minutes to prepare, this recipe is super impressive and people will think you bought the treats in a fancy candy shop. With an irresistible filling that's made from lemon juice, sugar, butter, and marshmallow cream, you can whip up these creams in your mixer in no time. Simply roll the dough into balls, dunk them in chocolate, and refrigerate until firm.

Mini Cheesecakes With Vanilla Wafer Crust

These mini gourmet cheesecakes might just be too cute to eat. A vanilla wafer crust is layered with a creamy, sweet-tart grapefruit juice filling; the little cakes are topped with a delicious strawberry glaze, giving these desserts a fresh, tangy twist. Serve them at parties and watch guests snatch these mini dessert cheesecakes right off the serving platter.

Inside-Out Chocolate Covered Strawberries

In this fun and elegant mini dessert recipe, chocolate covered strawberries are given a tasty twist by filling the fresh strawberries with a rich chocolate truffle mixture instead of coating them, for a presentation and flavor combination that can't be beaten. These inside-out chocolate-covered strawberries make a fabulous Valentine's Day dessert, delightful party sweet, or a special treat anytime.

Rocky Road Fudge Bites

If you like fudge and rocky road ice cream, then you'll love this rich and crunchy chocolate treat that brings them both together. Use your favorite type of nuts to make this fudge, which can be cut into little squares for individual bite-sized servings. Try serving them on skewers placed atop a pretty tray for a party.

Pumpkin Mini Cupcakes

The fall means pumpkin spice, and these mini cupcakes pack the quintessential autumn flavor into small, tasty bites. The pumpkin filling is spiced up with cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger for the cupcake batter, which is then baked in mini muffin tins and topped with buttercream or cream cheese frosting for a pretty presentation.