Whether you’re new to a gluten free lifestyle or you’ve been baking gluten-free for years, there are gluten free desserts here perfect for every occasion—plus expert tips on selecting the right recipe every time.
We’ll begin with naturally gluten free recipes you can make right now with basic pantry ingredients, then move on to expert tips on selecting the right gluten free flours to bring back all of your old favorites.
From our archive of 100s of dessert recipes, learn the secrets behind making some of our most popular recipes, like the very best, most tender gluten free vanilla cake, thick and chewy gluten free chocolate chip cookies, crumble-topped gluten free apple pie, crispy gluten free peanut butter cookies, and rich, chewy gluten free brownies.
Never again sacrifice flavor or texture to get gluten free desserts that look right. With the right recipes and ingredients, plus expert tips, your desserts will have the ideal taste and appearance from the first try.
The different types of gluten free desserts
Gluten free desserts fall into two main categories. Some are naturally gluten free, which have no flour at all. You’ve probably already had some of them without realizing it, like when you ordered the flourless chocolate cake at a restaurant.
Others are adapted classic recipes made with the right gluten free flour blend as a base. These recipes aren’t converted from regular recipes. They’re built from the bottom-up using the right gluten free flours and proportions of other baking ingredients to provide the extra moisture and structure needed.
Naturally gluten free desserts
You may find it easier to begin with naturally gluten free desserts, which don’t call for any unfamiliar ingredients. They usually highlight pure ingredient flavors, like rich chocolate, smooth peanut butter, bright fruit flavors, and cream.
Some standout naturally gluten free dessert options:
Gluten-free alternatives to classic desserts
Literally any classic dessert can now be made gluten free as long as you have the right recipe and ingredients. You need the right balance of classic baking ingredients, plus the right flour blend.
Popular desserts made with all purpose gluten free flour blend include:
Plus, baking with naturally gluten-free flours like almond flour or oat flour, like an almond flour chocolate cake or oat flour brownies, can add a subtle nutty undertone that complements cocoa powder beautifully.
20 Must-try gluten-free dessert recipes
Here are 20 reader-favorite gluten free dessert recipes here on the blog. I’ve included some tips for success with each one, and started with the easiest bakes so you feel confident and inspired. Keep scrolling for more complicated desserts with all the details you need for success.
Readers love these peanut butter bars for their simplicity, taste and texture. Simply melt butter with brown sugar and peanut butter, then add confectioners’ sugar to make a paste. Press the mixture into a pan, top with a simple chocolate ganache, and let it set. They freeze so well, for a dessert fix any time!
These rich, chewy peanut butter monster cookies are made with a combination of old fashioned oats and oat flour, plus plenty of chocolate pieces. There’s no combination of flours needed, and you can make your own oat flour by grinding oats in a blender or food processor. They spread just enough, but not too much, so you don’t have to chill the dough or roll it out to make these simple, satisfying drop cookies.
These thick and chewy cookies are best made with a bowl and spoon, no mixer. For the ideal results, chill the raw cookie dough overnight for thick cookies with crisp edges and chewy centers. Freeze the dough in portions for just a couple cookies any time. These work really well with vegan butter, just be sure you’re using the block style, not the kind in a tub.
These gluten free rice krispie treats are made with the perfect ratio of marshmallows to cereal for treats that stay fresh for days, and even freeze for months. Let them defrost at room temperature. Kellogg’s Rice Krispies have barley malt so they aren’t gluten free, but brands like Nature’s Path and Whole Food’s 365 make gluten free crisp rice cereal.
Make this single-serving vanilla cake in the microwave in less than 2 minutes with a blend of butter, sugar, applesauce, sugar, the simplest gluten free flour, and baking powder. Avoid using any eggs, since they tend to turn rubbery in the microwave. Set your microwave to lower power to avoid overcooking and you’ll get a tender cake with an open crumb every time.
Cook down your favorite combination of berries or stone fruits like peaches, nectarines or plums topped with a simple gluten free crumble that gets crispy and tender in the oven while the fruit cooks. Make the raw crumble ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for up to a week, break up on top of your favorite fruit any time.
These thick and chewy oatmeal cookies are crisp on the edges and chewy to the center. They can be made with chocolate chips or raisins, and work best when made with a combination of an all purpose gluten free flour and plenty of old fashioned rolled oats. Place the shaped cookie dough in the freezer for 15 minutes before baking to keep them from spreading too much in the oven.
Dense, fudgy and made in one bowl with a spoon and no mixer, this rich chocolate cake is super adaptable. Made with oil, not butter, it’s easily made dairy-free by replacing the sour cream with a dairy alternative. If you don’t have sour cream handy, try using plain Greek yogurt instead. You can’t go wrong with this cake, as a single or double layer, with or without frosting.
This impossibly tender apple cake is packed with so many apples that you might suspect it won’t work. But trust that it works! This comment tells the story: “I’ve been trying every recipe I could find online, but this one definitely owned my heart ❤️. I genuinely can’t believe the texture and taste of this apple cake, I’m in love! Thank you Nicole!”
This naturally gluten free chocolate cake is made with cooked quinoa as a base, and no gluten free flours at all. It’s so rich and tender. Cook or soak the quinoa in plain water ahead of time, then blend all of the ingredients, and bake in less than 30 minutes. The recipe works equally as well with cooked whole grain teff for a slightly nutty flavor.
This gluten free vanilla cake has a softest, most tender crumb and is packed with so much flavor. The flour blend you select is super important, and you’ll need to sift it to make it airy and light. Then, use a mixer to beat the wet ingredients and then alternate adding dry ingredients. The extra work is worth it, though, because this cake has been served as a wedding 💍 cake to many thousands of guests to rave reviews!
These are relatively simple drop cookies made with only 7 naturally gluten-free ingredients, but they’re a bit further down the list because you have to separate eggs and whip egg whites to make a meringue first. The secret is to avoid even a tiny speck of egg yolk in your whites, and to whip steadily until they reach soft peaks. Then, just fold them into the mixture and bake.
This cake is moist and tender, dense and richly buttery, and makes a perfect canvas for berries and cream toppings. You can also use it as a base for a trifle or baked Alaska, and grill thick slices and serve with fresh grilled peaches in the summertime. It freezes incredibly well, and if you freeze it in slices, you can warm them up one at a time in the toaster.
A combination of cream cheese and sour cream gives this no bake cheesecake the flavor of a baked cheesecake, but without the fuss of having to bake it and worry about cracks. We add just enough gelatin to help it set up perfectly and slice cleanly, and make it stable at room temperature (unlike most no bake cheesecakes). You can even make just the filling if you don’t have any gluten free graham crackers for a crust.
These graham crackers are made with a combination of honey, sugar, and molasses for exactly the same taste and texture as Nabisco brand crackers. They keep their crisp texture for weeks in a glass container at room temperature, and are ideal for making graham cracker crusts, and as a base for tons of no-bake treats. To roll out the dough in an even layer, run your hands over the surface to detect any thicker spots and roll them thinner.
These simple, tender sugar cookies are made with all purpose gluten free flour, baking powder, granulated and confectioners’ sugar, butter and egg. The dough is easy to roll out and cut into any shape you like, and it won’t spread during baking. Celebrate the holidays with Santa cookies, birthdays with balloons, Easter with bunny shapes, Valentine’s Day with hearts. No chilling the dough either, so the recipe is quick!
This gluten free apple pie has a classic flaky gluten free pie crust as a base, and a sweet crumble topping for a Dutch-style pie. The filling is packed with tons of thinly sliced apples. You can make and shape the pie crust days or even weeks ahead of time and store it in the freezer. Then, partially bake the crust without defrosting it, fill it, add the crumble topping and bake. Serve warm.
This is a super simple recipe for edible cookie dough without any eggs, so you don’t have to worry about trying to find pasteurized eggs that you can eat raw. To make the simple flour blend safe to eat, heat-treat it in the microwave or the toaster oven. The classic chocolate chip variety has brown and white sugars. With all white sugar, it’s edible sugar cookie dough.
With plenty of pumpkin spice and canned puree, this pumpkin roll is moist, tender and packed with pumpkin flavor. The sweet cream filling is a mixture of cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar. Any rolled cake can seem a bit intimidating, since you bake it in a sheet pan and roll it when it’s hot right out of the oven, but it’s easy to get the hang of it. Study the step-by-step photos and read through the instructions before you begin, and you’ll be successful from the first try!
The ultimate proof that we can make anything gluten free is this recipe for light, tender, and impossibly flaky gluten free puff pastry. It isn’t exactly hard to make puff pastry, but there are a lot of steps, plus you have to chill the dough at regular intervals so the butter stays cold and solid. The secret is to make sure you use real butter, not a butter substitute that comes in a tub, and keep it super cold. Use it to make apple turnovers, or anywhere you would use a pie crust of any kind for the magic of hundreds of flaky layers of pastry!
Choosing the right gluten-free flours for your desserts
Part of what makes dessert so enjoyable is how varied the textures and tastes are: crispy or chewy cookies, delicate or dense cakes, flaky pastry, creamy pudding. Without the structure of gluten in baked goods, we have to work harder to mimic all of these different textures. Understanding which gluten free flours to use in which recipes is a key to success.
No single gluten free flour will act like wheat flour, so I use a blend of gluten free flours based on superfinely ground rice flour. If you’d like to buy a ready-made blend, I recommend Better Batter brand classic gluten free flour blend, Cup4Cup multipurpose gluten free flour, or my own proprietary blend, Nicole’s Best multipurpose gf flour.
All the details about the best blends are on our all purpose gluten free flour blends page. If you can’t buy one of my recommended blends, I teach you how to build your own blend with component ingredients on that page.
In some more delicate recipes where we want less or no xanthan gum at all, so I recommend my basic gum-free gluten free flour blend. My own flour blend, Nicole’s Best Multipurpose Gluten Free Flour, is the best option if you don’t want to make their own blend and want to use one blend for all of your gluten free baking. It allows you to customize the perfect amount for each recipe.
Must-know tips for baking gluten-free desserts
If you’re ready to level-up your gluten free baking, here are some tips and tricks to apply as you assess recipes and begin baking:
- For longer shelf life of your baked goods, use xanthan gum. It increases water retention in baked goods, so they stay fresher, longer.
- Gluten free flours tend to absorb more moisture than wheat flour, so expect your cake batters to be thinner and looser than in conventional baking.
- In more advanced yeast-bread baking of shaped baked goods like gluten free donuts, sprinkle the outside of wet dough with extra flour and handle the dough lightly so you don’t incorporate the extra flour into the dough itself.
- If your flour blend has any grittiness in it, let your raw baked goods rest to soften before putting them in the oven.
- Flour blends like Nicole’s Best that contain milk powder contain proteins that help your baked goods to brown in the oven. Adding baking soda to baked goods also helps aid browning.
- Starches can be really useful in gluten free baking. Extra tapioca starch in particular adds stretch to baked goods; cornstarch adds a lightness and helps create crispy edges.
- More complex pastries like puff pastry and layered gluten free biscuits are made best with a gluten free pastry flour with extra starch and powdered milk. Plus, keep your ingredients very cold to prevent the butter from melting during shaping.
- Never store gluten free baked goods in the refrigerator unless the recipe specifically recommends it. The lack of humidity tends to dry out baked goods.
- Store crispy baked goods like gluten free gingersnaps or gluten free graham crackers in glass containers, not plastic, at room temperature to maintain their texture for up to a full week.
- Gluten free baked goods often contain cream of tartar, apple cider vinegar, or lemon juice to help provide some of the structure that’s missing from gluten free products. They help stabilize the bubbles that form during preparation and baking, so don’t skip them!
Bake gluten-free desserts that everyone will love
I have an intense sweet tooth, so there are hundreds of gluten free dessert recipes on Gluten Free on a Shoestring. When my son went gluten free in 2009, he had to have a perfect gluten free cupcake at a birthday party.
Soon after, I decided to make baked goods gluten-eaters would eat and love. All of my recipes are extensively tested, these dessert recipes are the ones I make for my own family most often, long after they’re published.
And I love to hear from you, so please leave a comment sharing your favorite desserts. If I don’t have them available yet, I’ll just have to get started right away!
I hope you’ll have a look at all the full gluten free desserts archives and trust that you’ll find something for every skill level, flavor preference, texture and occasion.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi, I’m Nicole. I create gluten free recipes that really work and taste as good as you remember. No more making separate meals when someone is GF, or buying packaged foods that aren’t good enough to justify the price. At Gluten Free on a Shoestring, “good, for gluten free” just isn’t good enough! Come visit my bio!
