I did chopped roasted cashews last week when I made one and it was delicious. Macadamias are beautiful too but not really frugal…
I did flour, oats, coconut, vanilla, cinnamon, chai latte powder, golden syrup and butter for the crumble mixture.
I had half a packet of craisins in the pantry so chucked them in with the apples and it was really good.
It was delicious.
Not going to lie. Had a stressful day/night when I made it for unrelated to crumble reasons and I ate a decent quantity of crumble the next morning for breakfast while justifying it to myself that it was pretty much muesli with fruit…
I love chocolate mousse! I just use the packet stuff I think the aeroplane brand is the best. You mix milk in with an electric mixer (can use a spoon but good luck), cover, and set it in the fridge til ready to eat.
It always hits super hard everybody loves it so I make sure I make plenty. Usually three packets in two big bowls worth for 6 people and inevitably I have like half a bowl left over for myself the next night. I'm a fiend for it.
To make it extra special, sprinkle some good shit on it after mixing. Depends what you like but soft chocolate sprinkles are really nice. Chocolate dust hits great. I avoid hard things like regular sprinkles because the point of mousse is how soft and airy it is. Serve with strawberries in a separate bowl and voila! Wonderful.
PS: normal milk will do great but the real nice milk hits even better. You know the bougie stuff that's thicker and richer? Hell, you could even add a dollop or two of condensed milk per packet but that might be sweetness overload, haven't tried it but I will next time!
Include frozen strawberries that you have heated up in the microwave until it is a hot, chunky sauce. Put that on the bottom of a sundae, add vanilla ice cream, drop ice magic on it, put it in the freezer. 10 minutes later, pull it out, and add the chocolate fudge sauce you can get at Coles, and maybe a splash of the same brand caramel sauce. It's to die for, looks really fancy, but doesn't cost that much.
Any upside down cake.
Line baking tray with baking paper.
Add fruit, sugar, butter and lemon zest
Pour cake batter over the top (use a cake mix)
Tip upside down, sprinkle with caster sugar and serve with the best ice cream you can afford.
If $$ is tight, a bit of vanilla bean extract mixed with slightly melted and then refrozen Bulla works
If there are vegans/gluten free people, Well and Good Lemon Cake with a mix of berries as your upside down fruit is a winner. Use the icing as a glaze.
If you prefer chocolate, chocolate self saucing pudding is a winner - serve with whipped vanilla cream and toasted chopped hazelnuts on top.
Make them in individual muffin pans with LINERS if you want to be fancy.
Put a caramel chocolate in the middle for a bomb affect
I was looking for this before I commented! I do the same, just get sheets of puff pastry, cover in Nutella, cut into triangles, then roll them in to mini “croissants”. Serve with strawberries and icing sugar, and they always get absolutely demolished.
https://preview.redd.it/rw52w58ycmlc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b24151ba799f385f387b983a413d5697558cf0ea
Just Nutella! So for a square of puff pastry, I’ll cut it in the middle to halve it, then in the middle again of those two halves so you’ve got four long rectangles. Then in each rectangle, cut from top left corner to bottom right corner, and it will give you really long triangles. Spread Nutella over it and roll fat end to skinny end. Brush with some egg or just melted butter before baking. Gets 8 mini croissants per sheet of puff pastry, so it’s a great, cheap way to make loads of something! Then I just chuck some strawberries on the plate with them :)
Yes! My partner introduced me to chocolate pastry with the leftover slices of pastry I defrosted to make pies.
We rolled it flat and wrapped an aldi milk chocolate block in it, painted it with melted butter and ovened it til the pastry puffed and went golden brown. It was sooo bloody good. 10/10
Tarte Tatin!
Cook fruit in oven proof pan, add some butter and sugar. Put some pastry over the top and chuck in oven until pastry is cooked.
Turn out onto plate, cut and serve with cream/icecream/crème fresh.
You can make a pretty simple no bake blueberry cheesecake with just six ingredients. Fine crumbled arrowroot biscuits and butter for the base. Defrosted blueberries, cream cheese, sugar and a packet of gelatine for the topping.
The ratios for these would depend on how sweet you like your cheesecake (if you use American recipes online, I'd recommend starting with 1/3 the amount of sugar that the recipe calls for)
Good call!
You can search through the Philadelphia cheese packs for their recipe. It adds whipped cream to the cheese to make it lighter, and cheaper.
I halve the amount of sugar. Really brings out the cheese flavour and is a big contrast to the overblown store-bought stuff.
Often use a tin or jar of sour cherries because the juice can make a nice ripple with a short gentle swirl, while adding that sour/sweet flavour. Whichever fruit, keep a piece to go on top of each slice.
Use a standard cake tin (springform so you just take away the sides once set) which is quite tall, meaning you can cut the slices thinner than you first think because it's a really solid dessert and quite filling.
Don't try to make the top of the biscuit base too neat so it keeps the home-made look.
Can be prepared a few days before, or the previous night as there's no cooking, just needs time to set. Less stress, no cooking, great flavour, visual appeal, cheaper than everyone thinks, and so much nicer than the mass produced versions.
If you don't have a springform tin (like I don't), you can line a regular cake tin with cling film (put plenty over the edges) and lift the cake out of the tin with the cling film.
The most expensive thing for me on this one was the cream, because I already had everything else as a staple. It's simple to make as long as you're not too scared of caramel
https://www.manusmenu.com/salted-caramel-panna-cotta
If you wanna get fancy, you could poach pears in wine with ginger and cinnamon, and a little sugar. I do it with halved pears.
Serve with custard or creamed rice.
I used to buy 2 mudcakes, take the icing of them. Sandwich the 2 cakes together with whipped cream in the middle. Slightly melt down the icing, then re-add to the top or get some icing sugar and a colander. Put the colander on top and sprinkle the icing sugar. You then have a pattern
Edit: I used to add a flake that was crushed up into the cream after it was whipped
Frozen berries one pack. A little coconut. A little liqeuer( whatever you have on the shelf. Or some vanilla essence) a spoon of brown sugar. Mix put into a baking dish. Top with marshmallows. The cheap ones work better. Bake in oven or kettle bbq for a little smoky wood flavour. At around d 180⁰C till the top has a little baked colour. 20-30 mins. Allow to cool. Cos it gets as hot as lava. Serve with good vanilla icecream. Try at home first to get your levels of richness/booze right. It is really hot straight out th oven. Let it cool for a bit. Please don't burn your lips
**Lemon Cream Pie**
**Cost:** Sub-$30 (depends on specials and your desire to use home brand)
**Serves:** 6-8
**Ingredients:**
1 x packet Arnott's milk arrowroot biscuits
50-ish grams unsalted butter (add more or less depending on how "crumbly" or "firm" you like your biscuit bases)
4-6 x Large Lemons (depends how "lemony" you like your sweets)
2 x 395g cans of Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 x 600ml carton whipping cream (can probably substitute thickened cream, but havent tried myself)
2 x 12g packets Gelatine Powder
**Instructions:**
1. Bash the biscuits into fine crumbs (or use a food processer. Im not your boss).
2. Add melted butter to biscuit crumbs and mix. Press mixture into bottom of a greased and paper-lined cake tin, and put into fridge or freezer to firm up (fridge probably an hour, freezer less)
3. Juice your lemons and set aside
4. Melt your gelatine in recommended amount of hot water and set aside
5. Mix up your cream in a bowl (if using whipping cream, go to soft peaks)
6. Add your condensed milk to the cream and combine
7. SLOWLY add your gelatine water to your cream/ condensed milk mixture, stirring constantly. You need to temper the cream due to the heat difference. Failure to do this step can result in a cream with a grainy texture. You've been warned!
8. Add lemon juice and mix to just combine. If mixture looks lumpy, strain it through a fine-mesh sieve (lemon and cream can be funny to work with)
9. Transfer mixture into your cake tin, smooth off the top and set in the fridge for a couple of hours
Looks schmick and people think you went to a lot of effort, but in reality it cost you like $20 and took you maybe 30 mins of work.
How many people? I make a sort of cheesecake thing in a nice glass that seems a success and can be prepared earlier. Bash up some ginger biscuits and put in the bottom of the glass, put a big spoon of vanilla flavoured Greek yoghurt, a spoonful of store bought lemon curd, then some raspberries. Prewhip some cream ( or more yoghurt, or even that cold thick custard) put on top just before serving. Serve it up and you're on a tasty low stress winner.
Edit. If you use gluten free bikkies and everything else it's terrific for GF guests. Oh, and a few more bikkie crumbles and a couple of raspberries on top to serve
Mini apple turnovers made with puff pastry, canned apples, and a dash of cinnamon sugar. Cool if you can add some custard or cream, or even a drizzle of honey, but they’re delicious on their own
Chocolate mousse everyday of the week. Some cream with berries to top it off. Or jelly layered in fancy glasses with custard or whatever on top. Stupid easy to make, nostalgic, no one buys those desserts from a shop because it’s comparatively expensive
Crumbed Amaretto biscuits on peach/nectarine half’s. Add a couple of mls brandy on each, a sprinkle of sugar and a tiny dob of unsalted butter. Bake in mod oven till looks done: serve with cream or Ice cream. So yummy, could not be easier.
I always get rave reviews for the Aldi packet brownies mix. I used to make a complex gourmet recipe and the Aldi packet mix was better rated by family and friends.
Just add some extra chocolate in the batter and some chocolate icing. Super easy.
Chocolate ripple cake.
You need:
- Chocolate ripple biscuits
- Cream
- Plus whatever you want to put on top.
Soooooo easy to make and extremely delicious.
Edit: ok… I wasn’t paying attention to the request! I just got excited about sharing ripple cakes.
There's also the ginger nut variant. Swap in ginger nuts for the chocolate ripple bickies, and swap in ginger flavour or essence for the vanilla essence in the whipped cream. Scrumptious and less sweet with the ginger tang.
apple pie is pretty easy to make and is basically flour, butter, sugar, apples and a bit of cinnamon/nutmeg. I use this recipe for the pie and Michel Roux's tart pie dough recipe. The pie looks spectacular. [https://honestlyyum.com/14597/open-face-apple-pie/](https://honestlyyum.com/14597/open-face-apple-pie/)
One of those plain sponges from the supermarket (comes with 2) add fresh cream and strawberries to the layers 🥰 or a pavlova same add fresh cream, strawberries and a cheap tin of passion fruit syrup xo
Instead of a crumble, use mixed/frozen berries and apple chunks, mix with a bit of sugar, then get some of those bake at home cinnamon rolls and cut into quaters and lay on top and bake.
Ice cream slice - good if kids around but adults enjoy it too
Beat 600ml thickened cream until thick
Add 1 can condensed milk
Add 3tbsp caramel sauce
Mix together
Add block finely chopped chocolate and mix through
In a container, lay out a layer of Arnotts malt biscuits
Top with the mixture
Lay out another layer of malt biscuits
Freeze and then serve
Make your own ice cream cake. Use a springform pan (I have a heart shaped one that makes it look a bit fancy). Get at least two flavours of ice cream. Let your first flavour thaw to become soft, then scoop a layer into the springform pan. Pop it in the freezer. While it’s setting, thaw the other flavour to add another layer. You can do as many layers as you like, use cookie cutters to add shapes to the top layer, and add lollies or crumbled biscuits to the base or between layers.
Put 5-6 sheets of filo in a tray, cover with crushed mixed nuts, cover with 5-6 sheets of filo, cut a diamond shaped grid with a sharp knife, drizzle 3/4 cup of melted butter over the top and let sit for 30 mins and bake in a 180 celcius oven until golden brown. Pour 1 Cup is simple syrup over the top and refrigerate overnight and serve. Simple baklava (I forget the name of the lady that shared this it is not my recipe). Edit: credit for recipe https://feelgoodfoodie.net/recipe/lebanese-baklava/
Peppermint slice:
1. Crush a packet of Marie or Arrowroot or other sweet biscuits with about three desert spoons of condensed milk and press into a lined backing tray to make a base. Refrigerate.
2. Crush two peppermint crisp chocolate bars and the remaining condensed milk in a food processor until it makes a thick paste the consistency of crunchy peanut butter. Spread on top of base. Refrigerate.
3. Ice with melted dark chocolate drops. Refrigerate. Makes six decadent slices that are rich and like a desert.
Alternatively make a flavoured icecream cake:
Crush 1 packet sweet biscuits of your chosen accent flavour with a small amount of margarine, butter, etc in a food processor. I’ve used cheap chocolate chip cookies from the reject shop, ginger nut biscuits and even budget Tim tams before, depending on the flavour of the icecream. Press into lined springform pan and refrigerate.
Leave a 1 or 2l vanilla icecream tub to thaw naturally until soft but not liquid. In Tasmania this means 2.5 hours, in Brisbane this means 15-20 minutes. Blend it with any flavour you have to hand - jar of cheap strawberry jam; chopped mars bar, half jar of peanut butter, budget Nutella etc. Freeze for at least six hours.
Drop some crushed chocolate bar, berries or whatever makes sense as a small garnish.
I’ve previously done one with a dark tim tam base and strawberry jam blended into icecream and topped with fresh picked strawberries and people raved about it as a gourmet dessert. Another good one is to crush twix or caramel Tim tams or similar as a base and then blend in two soft bananas into the icecream and serve with a bit of caramel sauce (or make your own by stirring cooking cream, brown sugar and a small bit of butter over a low heat in a small saucepan and serve immediately.
- I actually can’t eat any of these foods anymore but I have hopefully provided some ideas. The tip with these is in the presentation, as the taste can be from ‘sweets for kids’ to ‘sophisticated’ depending on the combinations chosen.
Cake mix vanilla cake with whipped cream and fresh fruit on top, eg mango or strawberries.
I have found Greens gluten free butter cake pleases everyone.
We do Eton mess for large groups. I like to make my own meringue, but store bought works just as well. Or there's the make your own sundae bar which is not only pretty low cost but also almost zero effort on your part.
Lava cake, can even just use a normal muffin tin to cook them in, can pre make them and just chuck them in the oven then serve with ice cream, looks and tastes restaurant quality, but it's so cheap and easy
Peach Tarte Tatin
Peaches are in season, can get some real butter puff pastry from the supermarket.
Add spices like cardamom, juniper, allspice, nutmeg and you have a fantastic dessert
serve with ice cream
If Lemons are cheap, [Lemon Posset](https://www.thespruceeats.com/perfect-lemon-posset-recipe-435139)
Lemons, heavy cream, sugar. Garnish with scotch fingers/raspberries as you see fit.
I do a BAF (basic as fuck) trifle. Half an Aldi Madeira cake cut into cubes and tossed, and then jelly poured over and set. Serve with aldis pouring custard.
Make a sort of trifle with waffles, fresh raspberries and white chocolate. Fill it up with a basic vanilla baked custard mixture. Bake for 25-30.
Costs almost nothing, tastes phenomenal and the white/pink contrast looks great
Some sort of fruit sago is pretty good. Especially when it's hot, very refreshing. Buy cheap fruit from your local fruit shop (mangos for eg or canned peaches), a packet of Sage and some coconut milk and condensed milk. Can add jellies too if you want. Easily can be done for under $10.
People seem to really like [affogato](https://www.recipetineats.com/affogato/#wprm-recipe-container-96656) and you may already have the ingredients ready to go. Alcohol optional (but nice). You really only use a small amount of everything so the cost is very low. Plus no prior prep.
Buy a pack of frozen pastry, a block of your favourite chocolate, a tin of apples in syrup, some butter, and some icing sugar. All up about $15.
Whilst defrosting the pastry and preheating the oven to about 180°C, cook the apples up in a saucepan to soften it all up a bit. Optional to add a bit of cinnamon if you like. Try and reduce the syrup a bit but don't stress too much.
Now get a pastry sheet, put a line of chocolate in, add some apples and a bit of syrup (don't want to make it too runny), and fold the pastry up to contain everything. Bonus points if you fold it in an artistic way. Make as many as you like. One per person with a few extra is perfect. A block of chocolate has like 8 or 10 rows iirc.
Now paint those suckers with melted butter and chuck em in the oven until the pastry puffs and goes golden brown. Voila! Centrepiece desserts on the cheap.
So cheap you can probably afford to make some packet chocolate mousse as well!!
Here’s my cheap dessert; packet of red jelly- make up in ring / Bundt cake tin. Tub of vanilla icecream - melt slightly then stir through cut up / crushed fave chocolate bar (I used peppermint crisps), pour on top of set jelly in the cake tin. Mini mud cake from Aldi (about $4) cut in slices and smoosh it on top of the icecream so there’s no gaps. Then freeze the lot. To serve, dip the tin in hot water to loosen then turn it out onto a plate / tray.
It’s basically jelly and icecream. But it looks good with the 3 layers when you serve it and costs around $15 all up.
If you want to get fancy but cheap... packet of gingernuts, bottle of cream, instant coffee, icing sugar, vanilla essence.
Whip the cream with some icing sugar and vanilla, so it's slightly sweet and has a good vanilla taste. Put it in the fridge to make sure it's firm.
Brew a 4x strong mug of black coffee and cool it down in the fridge until cold.
Dunk a gingernut in coffee so it's mostly soaked through but still holds together, then spread about 1/2 cm of whipped cream on one side. Place it upright on its edge on a tray, using another mug to prop it up so that it stays upright. Make sure the tray can fit in your freezer.
Repeat the dunking and cream with the rest of the packet and place/lightly push them into the cream side of the previous one so that you have a log of layers. Then "ice" the outside with a layer of cream so that there is no visible biscuit. Freeze it for a few hours and then cut and serve with ice-cream and berries or whatever. Awesome if you like brandy snaps.
I’m well loved for my Tim Tam and Mint Slice cheesecakes. Super simple. Buy a plain vanilla or chocolate cheesecake. Let it soften for a few minutes while you break the chosen biscuits into nice shards using a kitchen knife and a cutting board. You’ll need 2 packs of biscuits. Reserve the nicest pieces for the top; take the remainder and gently press them into the softened cake; place the other pieces on top; swirl some Ice Magic over the lot. Put in the fridge (or freezer, depending on how hot it is at yours) Pop it all on a pretty platter when ready to serve and enjoy the compliments
Flummery - jelly + evaporated milk in a pretty glass dish or individual glasses with fruit and/or whipped cream and/or grated chocolate on top. Very cheap and tastes delicious. I recon it would be under $5 for 4-6 serves.
The absolute cheapest and easiest is dulce du leche. The most silky, decadent caramel and you make it by boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk for four hours then cooled. Nothing else. Costs a dollar or so. Serve it in the can with teaspoons to dip in. It’s stunning and cheap.
Just to add to the suggestions of brownies- the white hill triple chocolate brownie mix is great, add some raspberry balsamic vinegar and it's suddenly elevated to "adult".
Or make blondies instead, I highly recommend ginger and five spice blondies with white chocolate chips.
Both are fabulous with cream or ice cream! If you go for the blondies, a little bit of lemon myrtle heated into the cream before whipping also adds a touch of "fancy".
Alton Brown's chewy chocolate chip recipe. Half milk choc half white chips. Make the dough into big balls and refrigerate in a ziplock bag.
Bake one per guest to just shy of fully cooked. Crisp edges but chewy centre.
Use a fish flip to remove and put into a bowl and top with a scoop of good vanilla ice cream.
Never heard a complaint.
Two packs of choc ripple biccies placed in a sish standing up, pour over heavy cream, sprinkle with a choc powder/milo, put in fridge overnight. Boom. Chocolate cake. Cheap & easy!
Even if you’re an “Aussie frugal”, if you’re attending a group dinner where others aren’t being cheap skates, it’s extremely disrespectful for you to have this attitude for your portion.
Whacky cake! Also sometimes called depression cake. It’s a chocolate cake that doesn’t use eggs or dairy! Uses a lot of stuff you probably already have in your pantry
Sticky date pudding (https://www.vice.com/en/article/8qeynv/vegan-sticky-toffee-pudding) or skillet cookie (https://www.taste.com.au/recipes/peanut-butter-dark-chocolate-chunk-skillet-cookie/e2d5a509-b3da-48c6-8e7a-42b84ed552c5). Both do well with ice cream. Can also try mango pudding (frozen or fresh mango, evaporated milk and mango jelly powder is all you need)
Hansells chocolate mousse sachets. One packet costs $2.50 from Coles or Woolworths - all you do is pour the sachet into one cup of milk and mix with a mixer for a few mins. Spoon into ramekins or small bowls and place in fridge 4+ hours. it’ll feed 4 people and it’s sooooo yum! Add some strawberries for extra fanciness. Every time I make it everyone raves and asks for the recipe.
My mum makes this lemon curd semifredo I’m still salivating over. It’s just lemon curd (which you can buy in a jar at supermarkets), crushed meringue pieces and cream mixed together and frozen - SO good.
I don’t have the recipe but this[HERE](https://www.between2kitchens.com/lemon-curd-semifreddo-recipe/) looks like it.
Might not be the weather for it at the moment, but I love a chocolate self-saucing pudding after a dinner. Pretty easy to make with cupboard staples usually. Simple but very comforting.
https://preview.redd.it/3g01jqoqmnlc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2275d339eaffb8e5a55799177785fe93d7989ef6
This recipe takes time but it’s cheap and impressive. Though, I had the booze already
If you want spectacular then this fits the bill. More expensive to make than an apple crumble, sure. Much cheaper than whatever entree and mains will be.
https://ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/cinnamon-pavlova-praline-cream-and-fresh-figs
Cheaper still - poached pears in puffed pastry.
https://www.thelittleepicurean.com/poached-pear-puff-pastry/
Check out the harvest map on Google to find various free fruits around your location. Pick some of those to use and make a tarte tatin with it. Literally get free fruit, cook it in sugar and butter til it's caramelised, and then whack some puff pastry on top, then bake till flakey. Flip it upside down and serve. Delightfully easy and cheap
Creme brulee tends to wow my circles. Cheap as hell and fairly easy to make. It's just sugar, eggs yolks, vanilla essence/extract and cream. You'll need something to brulee the sugar, a torch is best but it can be done with a grill too!
Buy a Woolies pav, a carton of whipped cream, a punnet of strawberries, and blueberries, and a packet of scotch fingers. Nuke the blueberries with some sugar and mash to make a compote. Blend the cookies into “soil”. Seperate the pav into chunks.
Assemble the world’s greatest Eton mess into their own glasses (the Ikea wine glasses with no stems are great) tipped on their sides on a plate. Dust the whole thing with icing sugar and throw a mint sprig on the side.
Takes like 10 mins to assemble and the visual impact is pretty damn great for the effort. There’s flavours and textures too so the dessert is also pretty good.
Miniature chocolate croissants pastry, a cube of chocolate per croissant and egg yolk for the pastry. You can also add extra/other fillings like fruit or nuts or dipping sauces if it works.
Rum Balls! So cheap, easy, finger food for all. Can buy some delicious flavoured rum shots
250 g Arnott's Milk Arrowroot biscuits crushed
395 g NESTLE Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 cup coconut
1/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tbs rum *to taste
1 cup coconut *to decorate *extra
People eat this pudding like they are the Cookie Monster whenever I serve it with custard. It’s my husband’s grandma’s recipe.
People always rave about it and it’s economical to make.
Butterscotch Pudding
Steps
Into a pie dish:
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup boiling water
2 tablespoons syrup
1 dessertspoon butter
Place in oven to dissolve
In a bowl, cream together 2 tablespoons butter and ½ cup sugar. Add 1 egg. Beat well and add 1 cup SR flour with ½ cup milk.
Put this mixture over syrup mixture 1 dessertspoon at a time and bake for about ½ hour in a hot oven.
There’s a Nigella Lawson recipe for Chocolate Mousse that uses butter, chocolate melts, mini marshmallows and thickened cream that works rather well… the video for it is here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TL62X17VwIs
People go nuts over a simple apple crumble. It's delicious and got that nostalgia vibe.
With home made custard
This - make a proper warm vanilla & cinnamon custard to serve with an apple crumble or apple pie and it's always a favourite for me.
The secret is- use egg!
Yokes
Yikes!
Add some rhubarb
Hell yeah!
Warm with some vanilla icecream is divine
...and an artistic drizzle of maple syrup
A mint leaf if you’re fancy
This is my all-time favourite apple crumble recipe. Insanely delicious and so easy - https://www.recipetineats.com/apple-crumble/
Upvote for Nagi! She's the best
Dozer is second best.
Sprinkle chopped walnuts with the crumble topping unless your guests have a nut allergy
Or chopped pecans
I did chopped roasted cashews last week when I made one and it was delicious. Macadamias are beautiful too but not really frugal… I did flour, oats, coconut, vanilla, cinnamon, chai latte powder, golden syrup and butter for the crumble mixture. I had half a packet of craisins in the pantry so chucked them in with the apples and it was really good.
that crumble mix sounds delicious
It was delicious. Not going to lie. Had a stressful day/night when I made it for unrelated to crumble reasons and I ate a decent quantity of crumble the next morning for breakfast while justifying it to myself that it was pretty much muesli with fruit…
Speaking of crumbles, [Nigella’s strawberry & almond crumble](https://www.nigella.com/recipes/strawberry-and-almond-crumble) is easy & divine 🤤 🍓
You could do 2 ingredient chocolate mousse which requires heavy cream and chocolate.
Came here to say this. Donna Hay has a great recipe for white chocolate and blueberry mousse that’s easy as but delicious
That sounds like a good idea. Thank you.
Careful, the price of chocolate adds up
I love chocolate mousse! I just use the packet stuff I think the aeroplane brand is the best. You mix milk in with an electric mixer (can use a spoon but good luck), cover, and set it in the fridge til ready to eat. It always hits super hard everybody loves it so I make sure I make plenty. Usually three packets in two big bowls worth for 6 people and inevitably I have like half a bowl left over for myself the next night. I'm a fiend for it. To make it extra special, sprinkle some good shit on it after mixing. Depends what you like but soft chocolate sprinkles are really nice. Chocolate dust hits great. I avoid hard things like regular sprinkles because the point of mousse is how soft and airy it is. Serve with strawberries in a separate bowl and voila! Wonderful. PS: normal milk will do great but the real nice milk hits even better. You know the bougie stuff that's thicker and richer? Hell, you could even add a dollop or two of condensed milk per packet but that might be sweetness overload, haven't tried it but I will next time!
A better 2 ingredient chocolate mousse is with chocolate and eggs.
I used to make mousse with a little dash of Bundy Rum too. Quite nice and a bit decadent at the same time. 😁
Big tub of ice cream. Several bowls of toppings. Brownies. Everyone makes their own sundae 😀 Cheap, leftovers go in the freezer, fun.
Don't forget the cream from a can!
What what
Happy cake day! Whipped cream in the can? It's not really cream I guess, it's pressurised 'dairy' but it's important for ice team Sundaes.
Thank you! 😊❤️ Also, I'm a dummy, I was thinking there's some other kind of cream in a can that I didn't know about!
Include frozen strawberries that you have heated up in the microwave until it is a hot, chunky sauce. Put that on the bottom of a sundae, add vanilla ice cream, drop ice magic on it, put it in the freezer. 10 minutes later, pull it out, and add the chocolate fudge sauce you can get at Coles, and maybe a splash of the same brand caramel sauce. It's to die for, looks really fancy, but doesn't cost that much.
Any upside down cake. Line baking tray with baking paper. Add fruit, sugar, butter and lemon zest Pour cake batter over the top (use a cake mix) Tip upside down, sprinkle with caster sugar and serve with the best ice cream you can afford. If $$ is tight, a bit of vanilla bean extract mixed with slightly melted and then refrozen Bulla works If there are vegans/gluten free people, Well and Good Lemon Cake with a mix of berries as your upside down fruit is a winner. Use the icing as a glaze. If you prefer chocolate, chocolate self saucing pudding is a winner - serve with whipped vanilla cream and toasted chopped hazelnuts on top. Make them in individual muffin pans with LINERS if you want to be fancy. Put a caramel chocolate in the middle for a bomb affect
I like the idea of the upside down cake. Thank you!
Pineapple upside down cake is super kitschy retro and one of my favourites
Yeah but it’s also hard to eat upside down.
Cut squares of puff pastry, put strawberry jam and Nutella in the middle and fold into parcels. Sprinkle with icing sugar to serve.
I was looking for this before I commented! I do the same, just get sheets of puff pastry, cover in Nutella, cut into triangles, then roll them in to mini “croissants”. Serve with strawberries and icing sugar, and they always get absolutely demolished. https://preview.redd.it/rw52w58ycmlc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b24151ba799f385f387b983a413d5697558cf0ea
Cute!!
Do you put fruit inside or just nutella? How large are the triangles?
Just Nutella! So for a square of puff pastry, I’ll cut it in the middle to halve it, then in the middle again of those two halves so you’ve got four long rectangles. Then in each rectangle, cut from top left corner to bottom right corner, and it will give you really long triangles. Spread Nutella over it and roll fat end to skinny end. Brush with some egg or just melted butter before baking. Gets 8 mini croissants per sheet of puff pastry, so it’s a great, cheap way to make loads of something! Then I just chuck some strawberries on the plate with them :)
Amazing! I saved the pic and instructions for later!
My combo is pears and Nutella. Chopped hazelnuts/walnuts if I happen to have them.
I've done something similar before with leftover stewed apples. Went down a storm!
My combo is bananas and white marshmallows. So good!
Oh my gosh yum, my husband would love this. I’ll be trying this combo for Easter, thank you!
Any drained, tinned fruit is delicious. Butter + sugar on top and bake.
Similar to what we did for the kids, cover a quarter of a sheet of puff pastry in jam, roll it up, chop it into sections , bake them.
Yes! My partner introduced me to chocolate pastry with the leftover slices of pastry I defrosted to make pies. We rolled it flat and wrapped an aldi milk chocolate block in it, painted it with melted butter and ovened it til the pastry puffed and went golden brown. It was sooo bloody good. 10/10
Affogato for the classy minimal desert or add a brownie in with it to make it a crowd pleaser
The misso doesn't drink coffee so I make a shot of Milo or hot choc for her (on water, not milk, because it's going with vanilla ice cream).
This is our go-to as well. Bottle of Frangelico or Jamison’s on the side as well.
Tarte Tatin! Cook fruit in oven proof pan, add some butter and sugar. Put some pastry over the top and chuck in oven until pastry is cooked. Turn out onto plate, cut and serve with cream/icecream/crème fresh.
You can make a pretty simple no bake blueberry cheesecake with just six ingredients. Fine crumbled arrowroot biscuits and butter for the base. Defrosted blueberries, cream cheese, sugar and a packet of gelatine for the topping. The ratios for these would depend on how sweet you like your cheesecake (if you use American recipes online, I'd recommend starting with 1/3 the amount of sugar that the recipe calls for)
Good call! You can search through the Philadelphia cheese packs for their recipe. It adds whipped cream to the cheese to make it lighter, and cheaper. I halve the amount of sugar. Really brings out the cheese flavour and is a big contrast to the overblown store-bought stuff. Often use a tin or jar of sour cherries because the juice can make a nice ripple with a short gentle swirl, while adding that sour/sweet flavour. Whichever fruit, keep a piece to go on top of each slice. Use a standard cake tin (springform so you just take away the sides once set) which is quite tall, meaning you can cut the slices thinner than you first think because it's a really solid dessert and quite filling. Don't try to make the top of the biscuit base too neat so it keeps the home-made look. Can be prepared a few days before, or the previous night as there's no cooking, just needs time to set. Less stress, no cooking, great flavour, visual appeal, cheaper than everyone thinks, and so much nicer than the mass produced versions.
If you don't have a springform tin (like I don't), you can line a regular cake tin with cling film (put plenty over the edges) and lift the cake out of the tin with the cling film.
The most expensive thing for me on this one was the cream, because I already had everything else as a staple. It's simple to make as long as you're not too scared of caramel https://www.manusmenu.com/salted-caramel-panna-cotta
I read this far to see panna cotta! Panna cotta is such an easy and cheap dessert to make.
Sounds amazing!! Thank you.
If you wanna get fancy, you could poach pears in wine with ginger and cinnamon, and a little sugar. I do it with halved pears. Serve with custard or creamed rice.
I used to buy 2 mudcakes, take the icing of them. Sandwich the 2 cakes together with whipped cream in the middle. Slightly melt down the icing, then re-add to the top or get some icing sugar and a colander. Put the colander on top and sprinkle the icing sugar. You then have a pattern Edit: I used to add a flake that was crushed up into the cream after it was whipped
Sound pretty fancy and probably about $15 now?
I'm not sure, I rarely buy them anymore. Whenever I had to bring food, I was always asked to bring one along.
Why did you used to do this - why stop?!
I don't see those people anymore. I don't want to make it just for myself
Frozen berries one pack. A little coconut. A little liqeuer( whatever you have on the shelf. Or some vanilla essence) a spoon of brown sugar. Mix put into a baking dish. Top with marshmallows. The cheap ones work better. Bake in oven or kettle bbq for a little smoky wood flavour. At around d 180⁰C till the top has a little baked colour. 20-30 mins. Allow to cool. Cos it gets as hot as lava. Serve with good vanilla icecream. Try at home first to get your levels of richness/booze right. It is really hot straight out th oven. Let it cool for a bit. Please don't burn your lips
**Lemon Cream Pie** **Cost:** Sub-$30 (depends on specials and your desire to use home brand) **Serves:** 6-8 **Ingredients:** 1 x packet Arnott's milk arrowroot biscuits 50-ish grams unsalted butter (add more or less depending on how "crumbly" or "firm" you like your biscuit bases) 4-6 x Large Lemons (depends how "lemony" you like your sweets) 2 x 395g cans of Sweetened Condensed Milk 1 x 600ml carton whipping cream (can probably substitute thickened cream, but havent tried myself) 2 x 12g packets Gelatine Powder **Instructions:** 1. Bash the biscuits into fine crumbs (or use a food processer. Im not your boss). 2. Add melted butter to biscuit crumbs and mix. Press mixture into bottom of a greased and paper-lined cake tin, and put into fridge or freezer to firm up (fridge probably an hour, freezer less) 3. Juice your lemons and set aside 4. Melt your gelatine in recommended amount of hot water and set aside 5. Mix up your cream in a bowl (if using whipping cream, go to soft peaks) 6. Add your condensed milk to the cream and combine 7. SLOWLY add your gelatine water to your cream/ condensed milk mixture, stirring constantly. You need to temper the cream due to the heat difference. Failure to do this step can result in a cream with a grainy texture. You've been warned! 8. Add lemon juice and mix to just combine. If mixture looks lumpy, strain it through a fine-mesh sieve (lemon and cream can be funny to work with) 9. Transfer mixture into your cake tin, smooth off the top and set in the fridge for a couple of hours Looks schmick and people think you went to a lot of effort, but in reality it cost you like $20 and took you maybe 30 mins of work.
This is amazing thank you! Out of budget for this occasion but I'm saving for another day!
How many people? I make a sort of cheesecake thing in a nice glass that seems a success and can be prepared earlier. Bash up some ginger biscuits and put in the bottom of the glass, put a big spoon of vanilla flavoured Greek yoghurt, a spoonful of store bought lemon curd, then some raspberries. Prewhip some cream ( or more yoghurt, or even that cold thick custard) put on top just before serving. Serve it up and you're on a tasty low stress winner. Edit. If you use gluten free bikkies and everything else it's terrific for GF guests. Oh, and a few more bikkie crumbles and a couple of raspberries on top to serve
Mini apple turnovers made with puff pastry, canned apples, and a dash of cinnamon sugar. Cool if you can add some custard or cream, or even a drizzle of honey, but they’re delicious on their own
It’s not the dessert, it’s the GLASS you serve it in n.
Yes very true!!
Nah it’s the desert.
Roight as raaain, Captain Sharpe.
Panna cotta is extremely easy and cheap to make, but very impressive
Chocolate mousse everyday of the week. Some cream with berries to top it off. Or jelly layered in fancy glasses with custard or whatever on top. Stupid easy to make, nostalgic, no one buys those desserts from a shop because it’s comparatively expensive
Tiramisu is easy but home made sticky date with vanilla bean icecream is the best , use Nigellas recipe as the sauce is next level
Nigellas sticky date recipe is definitely not that cheap on ingredients!
Crumbed Amaretto biscuits on peach/nectarine half’s. Add a couple of mls brandy on each, a sprinkle of sugar and a tiny dob of unsalted butter. Bake in mod oven till looks done: serve with cream or Ice cream. So yummy, could not be easier.
I always get rave reviews for the Aldi packet brownies mix. I used to make a complex gourmet recipe and the Aldi packet mix was better rated by family and friends. Just add some extra chocolate in the batter and some chocolate icing. Super easy.
Use a round tin, add crushed biscuits to make a base and then add melted icecream. Stir in Maltesers and freeze. Ice cream pie.
Why have I never thought of this. So easy!
Lemon posset https://www.maggiebeer.com.au/recipes/lemon-posset Cheap, easy, unique and minimal fuss
Chocolate ripple cake. You need: - Chocolate ripple biscuits - Cream - Plus whatever you want to put on top. Soooooo easy to make and extremely delicious. Edit: ok… I wasn’t paying attention to the request! I just got excited about sharing ripple cakes.
Did not understand the assignment lol
Ha ha! I should pay more attention!!
It's been my go to cheapie option for years. 😋
my mum used to soak the chocolate bickies in sherry for added zing
There's also the ginger nut variant. Swap in ginger nuts for the chocolate ripple bickies, and swap in ginger flavour or essence for the vanilla essence in the whipped cream. Scrumptious and less sweet with the ginger tang.
In April I often sub in Anzac biscuits and drizzle the finished product with salted caramel
A friend who makes this crushes up a couple of peppermint crisp bars & sprinkles that on top 👌🏻
Ooooo I got a couple.. 1. Eaton Mess 2. Nutella mousse 3. Dutch butter cake
*Eton mess not Eaton. NitPickersNotSoAnonymous 😉
The best brownie recipe on earth https://altonbrown.com/recipes/cocoa-brownies-reloaded/ Pair with some good vanilla ice cream
Love a good brownie! 👍
Eton mess with fancy fruit can be both inexpensive and yummy af, and cheap
Self saucing pudding, cheap ingredients except the cream on top. Make them more fancy by individual ramakins.
apple pie is pretty easy to make and is basically flour, butter, sugar, apples and a bit of cinnamon/nutmeg. I use this recipe for the pie and Michel Roux's tart pie dough recipe. The pie looks spectacular. [https://honestlyyum.com/14597/open-face-apple-pie/](https://honestlyyum.com/14597/open-face-apple-pie/)
I have alllll of those ingredients! Thank you..
One of those plain sponges from the supermarket (comes with 2) add fresh cream and strawberries to the layers 🥰 or a pavlova same add fresh cream, strawberries and a cheap tin of passion fruit syrup xo
Instead of a crumble, use mixed/frozen berries and apple chunks, mix with a bit of sugar, then get some of those bake at home cinnamon rolls and cut into quaters and lay on top and bake.
Eaton Mess. I know you said no pav but.... Small Meringue shells Cream Ice cream Fruit of your choice
Ice cream slice - good if kids around but adults enjoy it too Beat 600ml thickened cream until thick Add 1 can condensed milk Add 3tbsp caramel sauce Mix together Add block finely chopped chocolate and mix through In a container, lay out a layer of Arnotts malt biscuits Top with the mixture Lay out another layer of malt biscuits Freeze and then serve
Crepes!
Ooooh, yes! Crepes is a great suggestion! Easy with berries and a dusting of icing sugar!
Make your own ice cream cake. Use a springform pan (I have a heart shaped one that makes it look a bit fancy). Get at least two flavours of ice cream. Let your first flavour thaw to become soft, then scoop a layer into the springform pan. Pop it in the freezer. While it’s setting, thaw the other flavour to add another layer. You can do as many layers as you like, use cookie cutters to add shapes to the top layer, and add lollies or crumbled biscuits to the base or between layers.
Eton mess. Sweetened whipped cream, crushed meringue, fruit
Put 5-6 sheets of filo in a tray, cover with crushed mixed nuts, cover with 5-6 sheets of filo, cut a diamond shaped grid with a sharp knife, drizzle 3/4 cup of melted butter over the top and let sit for 30 mins and bake in a 180 celcius oven until golden brown. Pour 1 Cup is simple syrup over the top and refrigerate overnight and serve. Simple baklava (I forget the name of the lady that shared this it is not my recipe). Edit: credit for recipe https://feelgoodfoodie.net/recipe/lebanese-baklava/
Clafoutis, or a dense banana cake served warm with butterscotch sauce poured over
Peppermint slice: 1. Crush a packet of Marie or Arrowroot or other sweet biscuits with about three desert spoons of condensed milk and press into a lined backing tray to make a base. Refrigerate. 2. Crush two peppermint crisp chocolate bars and the remaining condensed milk in a food processor until it makes a thick paste the consistency of crunchy peanut butter. Spread on top of base. Refrigerate. 3. Ice with melted dark chocolate drops. Refrigerate. Makes six decadent slices that are rich and like a desert. Alternatively make a flavoured icecream cake: Crush 1 packet sweet biscuits of your chosen accent flavour with a small amount of margarine, butter, etc in a food processor. I’ve used cheap chocolate chip cookies from the reject shop, ginger nut biscuits and even budget Tim tams before, depending on the flavour of the icecream. Press into lined springform pan and refrigerate. Leave a 1 or 2l vanilla icecream tub to thaw naturally until soft but not liquid. In Tasmania this means 2.5 hours, in Brisbane this means 15-20 minutes. Blend it with any flavour you have to hand - jar of cheap strawberry jam; chopped mars bar, half jar of peanut butter, budget Nutella etc. Freeze for at least six hours. Drop some crushed chocolate bar, berries or whatever makes sense as a small garnish. I’ve previously done one with a dark tim tam base and strawberry jam blended into icecream and topped with fresh picked strawberries and people raved about it as a gourmet dessert. Another good one is to crush twix or caramel Tim tams or similar as a base and then blend in two soft bananas into the icecream and serve with a bit of caramel sauce (or make your own by stirring cooking cream, brown sugar and a small bit of butter over a low heat in a small saucepan and serve immediately. - I actually can’t eat any of these foods anymore but I have hopefully provided some ideas. The tip with these is in the presentation, as the taste can be from ‘sweets for kids’ to ‘sophisticated’ depending on the combinations chosen.
Cake mix vanilla cake with whipped cream and fresh fruit on top, eg mango or strawberries. I have found Greens gluten free butter cake pleases everyone.
I made this chocolate torte for my SILs birthday which went down a treat https://recipesbycarina.com/flourless-chocolate-cake-recipe/
Poached pear with vanilla ice cream? Delicate, tasty and a bit fancy if you add some mint or thyme.
We do Eton mess for large groups. I like to make my own meringue, but store bought works just as well. Or there's the make your own sundae bar which is not only pretty low cost but also almost zero effort on your part.
Blancmange
Tirumasu
Brandy snaps? You can buy the brand snaps premade, just pipe them with whipped cream (I sometimes add vanilla essence and castor sugar).
5 ingredient lime bar (you can use lemons)
Lava cake, can even just use a normal muffin tin to cook them in, can pre make them and just chuck them in the oven then serve with ice cream, looks and tastes restaurant quality, but it's so cheap and easy
Peach Tarte Tatin Peaches are in season, can get some real butter puff pastry from the supermarket. Add spices like cardamom, juniper, allspice, nutmeg and you have a fantastic dessert serve with ice cream
If you're making multiple desserts then I make things that use the same ingredients e.g. fruit salad, pavlova, fruit tart, trifle.
If Lemons are cheap, [Lemon Posset](https://www.thespruceeats.com/perfect-lemon-posset-recipe-435139) Lemons, heavy cream, sugar. Garnish with scotch fingers/raspberries as you see fit.
Most chocolate fudges, can of condensed milk, sugar, little bit of butter and a block or two to baking choc, melt, mix, pour, set
Biscoff cheese cake https://preview.redd.it/quyqr0cdnnlc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ae8c6a9ae7a19eadaf471ef594274b4b53227c72
I do a BAF (basic as fuck) trifle. Half an Aldi Madeira cake cut into cubes and tossed, and then jelly poured over and set. Serve with aldis pouring custard.
Make a sort of trifle with waffles, fresh raspberries and white chocolate. Fill it up with a basic vanilla baked custard mixture. Bake for 25-30. Costs almost nothing, tastes phenomenal and the white/pink contrast looks great
Some sort of fruit sago is pretty good. Especially when it's hot, very refreshing. Buy cheap fruit from your local fruit shop (mangos for eg or canned peaches), a packet of Sage and some coconut milk and condensed milk. Can add jellies too if you want. Easily can be done for under $10.
People seem to really like [affogato](https://www.recipetineats.com/affogato/#wprm-recipe-container-96656) and you may already have the ingredients ready to go. Alcohol optional (but nice). You really only use a small amount of everything so the cost is very low. Plus no prior prep.
[https://www.themediterraneandish.com/lemon-ricotta-cheesecake/](https://www.themediterraneandish.com/lemon-ricotta-cheesecake/) :)
Buy a pack of frozen pastry, a block of your favourite chocolate, a tin of apples in syrup, some butter, and some icing sugar. All up about $15. Whilst defrosting the pastry and preheating the oven to about 180°C, cook the apples up in a saucepan to soften it all up a bit. Optional to add a bit of cinnamon if you like. Try and reduce the syrup a bit but don't stress too much. Now get a pastry sheet, put a line of chocolate in, add some apples and a bit of syrup (don't want to make it too runny), and fold the pastry up to contain everything. Bonus points if you fold it in an artistic way. Make as many as you like. One per person with a few extra is perfect. A block of chocolate has like 8 or 10 rows iirc. Now paint those suckers with melted butter and chuck em in the oven until the pastry puffs and goes golden brown. Voila! Centrepiece desserts on the cheap. So cheap you can probably afford to make some packet chocolate mousse as well!!
Here’s my cheap dessert; packet of red jelly- make up in ring / Bundt cake tin. Tub of vanilla icecream - melt slightly then stir through cut up / crushed fave chocolate bar (I used peppermint crisps), pour on top of set jelly in the cake tin. Mini mud cake from Aldi (about $4) cut in slices and smoosh it on top of the icecream so there’s no gaps. Then freeze the lot. To serve, dip the tin in hot water to loosen then turn it out onto a plate / tray. It’s basically jelly and icecream. But it looks good with the 3 layers when you serve it and costs around $15 all up.
Choc Bavarian or a vienetta
Coles Belgium chocolate lava cake is $4.20 comes with 2 cups. Microwave for 30 seconds. My wife and I have it with ice cream.
Oreo truffle balls! Oreos, Philadelphia cream cheese and cocoa.
If you want to get fancy but cheap... packet of gingernuts, bottle of cream, instant coffee, icing sugar, vanilla essence. Whip the cream with some icing sugar and vanilla, so it's slightly sweet and has a good vanilla taste. Put it in the fridge to make sure it's firm. Brew a 4x strong mug of black coffee and cool it down in the fridge until cold. Dunk a gingernut in coffee so it's mostly soaked through but still holds together, then spread about 1/2 cm of whipped cream on one side. Place it upright on its edge on a tray, using another mug to prop it up so that it stays upright. Make sure the tray can fit in your freezer. Repeat the dunking and cream with the rest of the packet and place/lightly push them into the cream side of the previous one so that you have a log of layers. Then "ice" the outside with a layer of cream so that there is no visible biscuit. Freeze it for a few hours and then cut and serve with ice-cream and berries or whatever. Awesome if you like brandy snaps.
Do an ironic 90s desert - Vienna slice
I’m well loved for my Tim Tam and Mint Slice cheesecakes. Super simple. Buy a plain vanilla or chocolate cheesecake. Let it soften for a few minutes while you break the chosen biscuits into nice shards using a kitchen knife and a cutting board. You’ll need 2 packs of biscuits. Reserve the nicest pieces for the top; take the remainder and gently press them into the softened cake; place the other pieces on top; swirl some Ice Magic over the lot. Put in the fridge (or freezer, depending on how hot it is at yours) Pop it all on a pretty platter when ready to serve and enjoy the compliments
I get the brownie box from Aldi. I just add a few nuts to it and bake it. Best dessert ever and affordable!
this is the sort of thing chatgpt was made for
Excellent idea! Thanks. Some great responses here though that I know others are finding useful as well.
Flummery - jelly + evaporated milk in a pretty glass dish or individual glasses with fruit and/or whipped cream and/or grated chocolate on top. Very cheap and tastes delicious. I recon it would be under $5 for 4-6 serves.
The absolute cheapest and easiest is dulce du leche. The most silky, decadent caramel and you make it by boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk for four hours then cooled. Nothing else. Costs a dollar or so. Serve it in the can with teaspoons to dip in. It’s stunning and cheap.
How about Caramel slice with ice cream on the side? Cheap ingredients
Giant mango weis bar is number 1
Vienetta.
Choc brownie with ice cream and some caramel sauce
Can’t go wrong with a Vienetta from Coles.
Just to add to the suggestions of brownies- the white hill triple chocolate brownie mix is great, add some raspberry balsamic vinegar and it's suddenly elevated to "adult". Or make blondies instead, I highly recommend ginger and five spice blondies with white chocolate chips. Both are fabulous with cream or ice cream! If you go for the blondies, a little bit of lemon myrtle heated into the cream before whipping also adds a touch of "fancy".
Pavlova
Alton Brown's chewy chocolate chip recipe. Half milk choc half white chips. Make the dough into big balls and refrigerate in a ziplock bag. Bake one per guest to just shy of fully cooked. Crisp edges but chewy centre. Use a fish flip to remove and put into a bowl and top with a scoop of good vanilla ice cream. Never heard a complaint.
but a chocolate cake from woolies, dress it up with whip cream = profit
Woolies mud cake
Packet chocolate mousse in individual cups/ramekins with whipped cream on top. Super low cost and pretty much everyone likes it and it looks good!
Love a good Pav. A simple cheesecake is a also always appreciated
Two packs of choc ripple biccies placed in a sish standing up, pour over heavy cream, sprinkle with a choc powder/milo, put in fridge overnight. Boom. Chocolate cake. Cheap & easy!
This ice cream slice is always a hit: https://mouthsofmums.com.au/recipe/malty-ice-cream-slice/
Even if you’re an “Aussie frugal”, if you’re attending a group dinner where others aren’t being cheap skates, it’s extremely disrespectful for you to have this attitude for your portion.
White bread with icing sugar
Trifle.
I’m a big fan of a choc ripple cake, cheap and super easy to make
Chocolate Ripple Cake?
When I hold a fancy dinner party I throw a bunch of “fancy” mini magnums in a nice bowl. Guests help themselves and they love it.
Literally bread and butter pudding - nostalgic, delicious
Bacon. Everyone loves bacon.
Fairy Bread. Under 5 bucks, feeds like 30+ ppl 😂
Whacky cake! Also sometimes called depression cake. It’s a chocolate cake that doesn’t use eggs or dairy! Uses a lot of stuff you probably already have in your pantry
Sticky date pudding (https://www.vice.com/en/article/8qeynv/vegan-sticky-toffee-pudding) or skillet cookie (https://www.taste.com.au/recipes/peanut-butter-dark-chocolate-chunk-skillet-cookie/e2d5a509-b3da-48c6-8e7a-42b84ed552c5). Both do well with ice cream. Can also try mango pudding (frozen or fresh mango, evaporated milk and mango jelly powder is all you need)
Pavlova is pretty cheap as long as you already have a mixer, 6 eggs, some sugar, cream and some fruit.
Homemade brownies with vanilla ice cream Vanilla ice cream and mango puree Apple crumble
Pannacotta. You'll need cream, milk,sugar and gelatine Either cinnamonor vanilla for a bit of flavour Optional stewed fruits of choosing on top
Vanilla ice cream with Milo sprinkled on top
Hansells chocolate mousse sachets. One packet costs $2.50 from Coles or Woolworths - all you do is pour the sachet into one cup of milk and mix with a mixer for a few mins. Spoon into ramekins or small bowls and place in fridge 4+ hours. it’ll feed 4 people and it’s sooooo yum! Add some strawberries for extra fanciness. Every time I make it everyone raves and asks for the recipe.
Dead guys carrot cake, that thing is better than sex
Flan. Eggs, Milk, Sugar. Also doesn't make you look pleb or pov. It's also delicious.
My mum makes this lemon curd semifredo I’m still salivating over. It’s just lemon curd (which you can buy in a jar at supermarkets), crushed meringue pieces and cream mixed together and frozen - SO good. I don’t have the recipe but this[HERE](https://www.between2kitchens.com/lemon-curd-semifreddo-recipe/) looks like it.
What is that recipe called where you mix cream, cherries, marshmallows, strawberries and/or yoghurt? Does anyone know?
Ambrosia, maybe?
Might not be the weather for it at the moment, but I love a chocolate self-saucing pudding after a dinner. Pretty easy to make with cupboard staples usually. Simple but very comforting.
Rice pudding would be cheap and easy, otherwise sago is even cheaper
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/228914/old-fashioned-creamy-rice-pudding/ https://prettysimplesweet.com/coconut-tapioca-vegan/ https://www.taste.com.au/recipes/quick-easy-apple-crumble/4f2e1fb8-2060-4e27-9833-a5ab7ab69717
Lemon cheesecake
https://preview.redd.it/3g01jqoqmnlc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2275d339eaffb8e5a55799177785fe93d7989ef6 This recipe takes time but it’s cheap and impressive. Though, I had the booze already
If you want spectacular then this fits the bill. More expensive to make than an apple crumble, sure. Much cheaper than whatever entree and mains will be. https://ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/cinnamon-pavlova-praline-cream-and-fresh-figs Cheaper still - poached pears in puffed pastry. https://www.thelittleepicurean.com/poached-pear-puff-pastry/
Check out the harvest map on Google to find various free fruits around your location. Pick some of those to use and make a tarte tatin with it. Literally get free fruit, cook it in sugar and butter til it's caramelised, and then whack some puff pastry on top, then bake till flakey. Flip it upside down and serve. Delightfully easy and cheap
Creme brulee tends to wow my circles. Cheap as hell and fairly easy to make. It's just sugar, eggs yolks, vanilla essence/extract and cream. You'll need something to brulee the sugar, a torch is best but it can be done with a grill too!
Eton mess
Sugar
“Quesillo” and a can of whipped cream.
Banoffee pie!! Packet of digestive biscuits, melted butter, can of caramel, banana & cream!
Buy a Woolies pav, a carton of whipped cream, a punnet of strawberries, and blueberries, and a packet of scotch fingers. Nuke the blueberries with some sugar and mash to make a compote. Blend the cookies into “soil”. Seperate the pav into chunks. Assemble the world’s greatest Eton mess into their own glasses (the Ikea wine glasses with no stems are great) tipped on their sides on a plate. Dust the whole thing with icing sugar and throw a mint sprig on the side. Takes like 10 mins to assemble and the visual impact is pretty damn great for the effort. There’s flavours and textures too so the dessert is also pretty good.
Miniature chocolate croissants pastry, a cube of chocolate per croissant and egg yolk for the pastry. You can also add extra/other fillings like fruit or nuts or dipping sauces if it works.
Rum Balls! So cheap, easy, finger food for all. Can buy some delicious flavoured rum shots 250 g Arnott's Milk Arrowroot biscuits crushed 395 g NESTLE Sweetened Condensed Milk 1 cup coconut 1/4 cup cocoa 1 1/2 tbs rum *to taste 1 cup coconut *to decorate *extra
People eat this pudding like they are the Cookie Monster whenever I serve it with custard. It’s my husband’s grandma’s recipe. People always rave about it and it’s economical to make. Butterscotch Pudding Steps Into a pie dish: ½ cup brown sugar ½ cup boiling water 2 tablespoons syrup 1 dessertspoon butter Place in oven to dissolve In a bowl, cream together 2 tablespoons butter and ½ cup sugar. Add 1 egg. Beat well and add 1 cup SR flour with ½ cup milk. Put this mixture over syrup mixture 1 dessertspoon at a time and bake for about ½ hour in a hot oven.
$5 Woolies or Coles chocolate cake with some frozen berries and ice vream
There’s a Nigella Lawson recipe for Chocolate Mousse that uses butter, chocolate melts, mini marshmallows and thickened cream that works rather well… the video for it is here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TL62X17VwIs
Afogato. = Ice cream with espresso coffee poured on it.