12 frozen desserts that don’t require an ice cream maker

Frozen bombes are one of the easiest fancy desserts you can possibly make: they don’t require baking (and barely require cooking), they taste spectacular, and even if you make mistakes, it will still look like a million bucks. While this recipe makes use of delicious Golden Kiwis, you can use regular green kiwi and the recipe won’t change a bit—you’ll just have a lovely green centerpiece for your next gathering instead of a yellow one. Get the recipe for Golden Kiwi Bavarian Bombe here.

Pudding is a sacred dessert medium. And when you put this perfect substance in the freezer, things only get better from there. This recipe for Banana Pudding Pops is versatile, creamy, satiating, and flat-out dynamite. Coated in Nilla Wafer cookie crumbs, this dessert will remind you of all the best ice cream truck memories from your childhood. Serve it on plates like slices of frozen custard cake or add popsicle sticks to make an all-around crowdpleaser more portable. Get the recipe for Banana Pudding Pops here.

If you’ve never heard of a Baltimore Snowball before, it’s sort of like a snow cone, except the ice isn’t crushed, it’s shaved. And while the classic snowball makes liberal use of flavored syrups, this recipe for homemade Strawberry Buttermilk Snowballs relies on a genuine custard base and lots of fresh strawberries to create a light and refreshing dessert. You can use just about any summer fruit if you’re not a strawberry fan; the other five ingredients you’re almost guaranteed to have in your kitchen already. So, fancy a snowball? Get the recipe for Strawberry Buttermilk Snowballs here.

Let’s start with the basics, literally: this ice cream base can be tinkered with endlessly to create the frozen dessert of your dreams. By creating what is essentially a simple mousse and using sweetened condensed milk to both sweeten the mix and help with texture, you are more or less making a cheater semifreddo-style ice cream. The base recipe is vanilla, so you can stop there, but you can also add flavorings or mix-ins or both to make the ice cream you want most. Since it only needs between four and six hours to freeze, you can make it in the morning and have it ready in time for midday. Get the recipe for No-Churn Vanilla Ice Cream here.

Sherbet is the halfway point between ice cream and sorbet, and it can be made with a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer. Most of the sherbet we know and love is made mostly from juice with a small amount of dairy, but this Guava Cream Cheese Sherbet treats juice and dairy as near equals. Cream cheese gives the sherbet rich, luscious body by adding both butterfat and stabilizers; all you need to do is blend, beat, fold, and freeze. Get the recipe for Guava Cream Cheese Sherbet here.

This recipe for a vegan ice cream you can make in the blender comes courtesy of Andrea Hannemann, author of the Plant Over Processed cookbook. It has the recipe for both the cookie dough and the ice cream base—but it yields twice as much cookie dough as you need, meaning you can freeze the rest and have it on hand for a future batch. Get the recipe for Plant-Based Cookies ’n Cream Vanilla Ice Cream here.

Okay, so a pineapple Dole Whip is technically not ice cream, but it’ll surely satisfy all the same cravings. Who doesn’t want to bring the classic flavors of Disneyland into their own kitchen? With only three ingredients, this silky concoction can be served up in those pretty soft-serve ribbons if you have a decorator tip and a piping bag on hand. Otherwise, just pop it in a deli container, grab a spoon, and have fun with it. Get the recipe for Homemade Dole Whip here.

Technically, spumoni is a molded gelato with candied fruit and nuts, but the key to really great spumoni isn’t the flavor—it’s the texture, which is a bit like an icy sherbet with a smattering of chopped pistachios. You get that texture by creating large ice crystals. And you do that by letting the ice cream melt and refreeze again. Technically, that’s a mistake, but for the best spumoni, it’s perfect. Get the recipe for Spumoni here.

You might think that lacking an ice cream maker is an insurmountable barrier to enjoying ice cream at home. Not so, my friend! Let us introduce you to this recipe for No-Churn Tahini Ice Cream. It’s essentially a frozen mousse—no cooking or pre-chilling or endless egg-separating needed. You make your flavor base, gently fold in whipped cream, pop it in a freezer-safe container, and freeze. And voila! Ice cream! This one has a pleasing tahini flavor that will appeal both to sophisticated palates and those that still crave peanut butter. Get the recipe for No-Churn Tahini Ice Cream here.

Some days, you start craving an ice cream sandwich, the kind with the soggy wafer cookie that comes off on your hand. But then you think, is there something better than this soggy wafer cookie? And there is: a biscuit ice cream sandwich. Specifically, a yeasty angel biscuit that won’t fall apart on you, combined with honey and a brown butter semifreddo you can make without an ice cream maker. It’s the best version of biscuits and honey, and better yet, an excuse to eat ice cream for breakfast. Get the recipe for Angel Biscuit Sandwiches With Honey And Brown Butter Semifreddo here.

Do you remember the Jello pudding pops of yesteryear? This recipe for Flan Pudding Pops is our own personal spin on the classic frozen treat. A tiny bit of gelatin is used to stabilize the custard, making the texture springy and fun to eat. Everyone should make something this delicious during the summer months, because how could you argue that caramel isn’t better than plain old vanilla pudding? Get the recipe for Flan Pudding Pops here.

Dogs love ice cream! Dogs also love eating garbage and their own poop, but canine ice cream is way better for them. It’s also very easy for you, a human, to make. Just put some yogurt into a blender with anything your dog likes to eat (provided it’s safe for dogs to eat), scoop it into a freezer-safe container, chill for a while, and you’ve got a surefire pet bribe. As one dog baker told us, “Once you start making dog treats, you become the most popular dog person in the universe.” Get the recipe for dog-friendly ice cream here.