Toasty Treats: 19 Warm Dessert Recipes

These rich chocolate cakes have a soft center that partners well with the caramel topping.

Recipe: Warm Chocolate Pudding Cakes with Caramel Sauce

Sweetened whipped cream is the perfect accompaniment to this slightly spicy dessert. The topping is made by simply baking cranberries placed in a layer over sugar and spices at the bottom of the pan. As the cake bakes, the sugar caramelizes, forming a rich syrup.

Recipe: Cranberry Upside-Down Cake

With whipped cream and Honeyed Walnuts, this drink is like a dessert. And when made without the bourbon, it's perfect for children.

Recipe: Warm Vanilla Cider

Don't turn on the oven for this all-American dessert (traditionally called a grunt). The berries and biscuit like dumplings cook right on the stove.

Recipe: Warm Berries 'n' Dumplings

A clafouti is a classic French dessert with a texture somewhere between that of a baked pudding and a pancake. In this clafouti, creamy, custard-like batter is baked over a layer of fanned pear slices; dried cherries stand in for the traditional fresh ones. The mixture puffs up as it bakes and deflates as it cools. Serve leftovers for breakfast the next morning, hot or cold.

Recipe: Pear and Dried Cherry Clafouti

Fresh cranberries are available from October through December. Ripe berries are deep red and very firm. Before using them, rinse in a bowl of cold water; discard any unripe ones that float to the top.

Recipe: Cranberry-Pear Crisp

Starring chocolate and made with just six ingredients, this flourless cake has a pudding-like center. A water bath helps it cook gently and stay moist.

Recipe: Chocolate Pudding Cake

These light, tart little cakes are cooked in a water bath like soufflés, so their centers stay smooth, creamy and custardy.

Recipe: Lemon Custard Cakes

Let apples fill your kitchen with the sweet smell of the fall harvest.

Recipe: Apple Brown Betty

Warm up the final weeks of winter with this sweet treat that tastes of the tropics.

Recipe: Mango Brown Betty

Rome Beauties are bright red and medium-large, with a tender, slightly sweet flesh. They are a good choice for baking because they hold their shape well. Sweet and crisp Galas have a yellow-orange skin with distinctive red striping and are also good cooked.

Recipe: Baked Apples with Dried Cherries and Maple Syrup

Vegetable oil subs in for butter in this fruit-topped, vanilla-scented cake, reducing the saturated fat; whole-wheat flour boosts the fiber and lends a nutty flavor.

Recipe: Light Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Frozen cherries become juicy and intense when baked into this tender cake. Frozen berries are a great way to savor summer fruit in the fall. Try this cake with blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, or a combination thereof.

Recipe: Warm Almond-Cherry Cake

A serrated knife makes fast work of finely chopping chocolate before melting.

Recipe: Warm Chocolate Puddings

This cinnamon-scented crisp is best served still warm from the oven, topped with a scoop of vanilla, cinnamon, or caramel ice cream. The secret to a crunchy, chunky topping is working the oat mixture into large clumps with your hands - this helps the topping hold together atop the apples while toasting to a golden brown.

Recipe: Apple Crisp

We love egg-based challah (or brioche) for its golden color and rich texture, but you can use Italian or white sandwich bread instead. Bakery bread that's a day or two old (or sandwich bread that's gone slightly stale) also works well for bread-pudding - it may need to soak a little longer to absorb the liquid.

Recipe: Banana-Raisin Bread Pudding

A quick chocolate custard mixture transforms cinnamon-raisin bread into this rich, puffed treat. The pudding can be served warm, room temperature, or cold.

Recipe: Chocolate Bread Pudding

Mashed sweet potatoes aren't just a tasty side dish - they also make a maple-sweet showstopper dessert with only 15 minutes of prep.

Recipe: Sweet Potato Souffle

Bake this warm caramel souffle for a memorable dessert. The recipe comes from chef Pierre Schaedelin of Benoit in New York City.

Recipe: Caramel Souffle

For more comfort food recipes, check out MarthaStewart.com:

Bubbly Baked Pasta Recipes

Grown-Up Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Classic Cakes and Pies