Whether you’ve got friends coming round for a dinner party or you’re just planning a simple mid-week family dinner, there’s no need to skip dessert just because you’re on a budget. I’ve come up with five of my favourite low-cost pudding recipes so that you can enjoy a sweet treat without splashing the cash.
Crepes
It sounds super-fancy to serve crepes for dessert, but it’s just your classic pancake-day mix. The thing that turns it into a rather luxurious pud is the topping you choose. No need to splash out – you’ve probably got some lovely toppings in your kitchen already, like jam, chocolate spread or frozen fruits. All you need to make this pancake recipe is eggs, flour and milk and you’ve got yourself a low-cost pudding.
Crumble
This pudding is a family-pleaser – it’s filling, warm and absolutely delicious. It’s a great one for the winter months and it’s easy to leave cooking in the oven while you enjoy dinner. There are no set rules for what fruits you can put in a crumble, so simply use up anything you’ve got. Plus, you can serve it with whatever’s already in your fridge or freezer; custard, cream, ice cream, even thick greek yoghurt.
On my allotment at the moment, I’ve got plums and rhubarb ready, so that’s two different types of crumble I can make. Soon, I will have cooking apples ready to harvest, along with pears – both of which will be lovely in a crumble or pie. Throw in a handful of berries or blackcurrants to mix up the flavours like I did in my apple-crumble-two-ways blog post.
Bread and butter pudding
This recipe is a great way to use up bread that’s going stale – or even burger buns, brioche, finger rolls, and panettone at Christmas. Any bread products that absorb moisture can be turned into a bread and butter pudding. As the name suggests, you simply need to butter some bread, then sprinkle on sugar and sultanas, and bake in an egg-and-milk mixture.
Ice cream sundae
There’s no limit to what you can include in an ice cream sundae so you can really go to town with any treats you’ve got in your pantry. Add some scoops of ice cream to a bowl and squirt on cream, sprinkle on crushed shortbread, drizzle over some warmed-up jam, dice up chocolate bars, slice some fresh fruit or even add sweets and sherbet.
Cupcakes
Yes, actually cakes in a cup. You can make a cake in just one minute in the microwave with this recipe I’ve shared for cup cakes. It’s a simple recipe that uses butter, flour, sugar and eggs but there’s no wastage from baking a whole cake – you only need to make the number of portions you need. One cup per person and one minute of cooking. So easy!
I hope these recipes will save you time and money next time you want to make a dessert for your family or friends. Let me know if you have any thrifty go-to recipes of your own in the comments below, I’d love to hear your ideas for low-cost puddings too. 🙂
Pin it for later
This article is a sponsored collaboration. The pink links in the content indicate a sponsored link or information source. The blog post reflects my own experience and the sponsor hasn’t had any control over my content 🙂
