Nobody needs a stand mixer and a pastry diploma to put something sweet on the table. Every dessert here is the easy version — dump cakes, no-bake bars, cobbler made with canned peaches — the recipes that get photocopied at church potlucks and scribbled on the back of receipts.
Easy doesn't mean careless. The difference between a good cobbler and a great one is small stuff: room-temperature butter when a recipe asks for it, a pinch of salt in anything sweet, and pulling baked goods out when the center still looks a touch underdone.
If you're baking with kids, start with the no-bake cheesecake or the peanut butter bars — zero oven, maximum licking-the-bowl. The chewy chocolate chip cookies are the recipe our readers share the most.
