Serve Something Unexpected This Holiday Season – Crockpot Dessert Recipes

When you’re planning your big holiday meal, do you often feel like you spend way too much time figuring out how you’re going to shuffle all your dishes in and out of the oven to make room to cook your desserts? My solution this year is to take my favorite desserts and transform them into crockpot dessert recipes. Using your crockpot to make desserts is a great way to free up valuable oven space so you can keep your main courses cooking instead of spending time rotating them in and out of the oven.

Turning your family’s favorite desserts into crockpot dessert recipes isn’t difficult. I have chosen three of our favorite recipes to make in our crockpot this year. Let’s see how these crockpot dessert recipes differ from their original recipes.

Apple Crisp: This dessert is one where the timing is most important. You want to serve this dessert hot with a little scoop of ice cream or whipped topping. The melting topping is what makes this dessert wonderful! Use your basic recipe, but add a touch more butter, then cook it on low for a couple hours or until the apples get soft, but not all mushy. Figure out your timing so that you turn off the heat just before serving.

You can add a crunchy topping just before serving if you wish. Just mix the ingredients together in a small saucepan and heat until butter is incorporated. Sprinkle on your mixture either just before serving or after you scoop the apples into dessert bowls.

PB and Chocolate Brownies: Brownies are always yummy, but this brownie dessert tops them all with the added peanut butter! You begin with a regular brownie mix, but the dessert isn’t cut into squares like normal brownies. You spoon the dessert into bowls instead of cutting them into traditional brownie squares. Serve while hot so that the added ice cream or whipped topping melts a little. Very yummy!

Top this brownie dessert with some sprinkles of Reese’s Pieces or other candy topping that you like. Cut a peanut butter cup in quarters and garnish with one quarter for each serving. You want to time the cooking and serving of this so that you are ready to scoop up your dessert just minutes after you shut off the heat.

Classic Pecan Cheesecake: If you have a favorite cheesecake recipe you might as well use it. I make a graham cracker crust with some finely chopped pecans added. The filling I use is pretty classic. The tricky part of this dessert is that you’ll have to make sure a 7″ springform pan will fit. Usually a 5 quart or 6 quart size will work, but make sure before you begin.

Now, If you have a little cooling rack that fits, put that in to keep the pan up off the bottom. If you don’t have a small enough rack, take some aluminum foil, roll it up and form sort of a donut out of it. Use a big enough piece so your foil donut sits up an inch or so in order to keep your pan supported and off the bottom. You’ll be cooking your cheesecake on high for a couple hours, then turning the heat off and letting it sit undisturbed for an hour or more until you can remove it. Then you’ll want to cool it further until you remove the pan from the cheesecake. This process is a little more timely, but you’ll be serving the cheesecake either at room temperature or cold, so you can actually prepare this well before you want to serve it.

Rather than struggle another year shuffling food around all around the kitchen, leave your dinner cooking in peace and quiet, tucked safely away in the oven where it belongs. Because a holiday dinner is not complete without desserts, this simple plan to create new crockpot dessert recipes out of favorite old standards will help with all that last minute chaos. Why sacrifice any sweet treat because you lack room in the oven? Get out your crockpot and start re-creating your own favorite dessert recipes. Enjoy!

Need some special crockpot dessert recipes for the holidays? Start right here! Crock Pot Cooking has never been easier – or better tasting!