Picture this:

You are asked to bring dessert to a party last minute. It’s with people you want to be with, and you want them to have a great dessert that looks pretty and tastes great. You need something fast, you need something nice, you need something tasty.

This scenario is not uncommon in the cooking world, it actually happens quite often enough. So, why not have a recipe that’s on hand and easy to make when that moment happens? In fact, why not have a whole repertoire?

So, along with a recipe at the bottom of the article, I’ll share an idea.

First though, let’s talk about the recipe since we are still on that subject. This one is wonderful because you can store the ingredients for when you need that last minute dessert. It uses a brownie mix (Hallelujah!) and it takes hardly anytime to prepare. People will enjoy them, too. Isn’t that what we always want our end goal to be? People smiling over the food we gave them. It’s a pretty picture.

So here’s the idea. Make a file in your recipe cards, a section in your binder, or a chapter in your Cookn titled: Last Minute Desserts (and no, it doesn’t have to just be limited to desserts). Do a Last Minute Main or a Last Minute Salad section, too. If you’re ever asked to bring something to a party last minute, you will be prepared. (Or, if you were informed of the party long ago but only remembered until last minute, you’re covered. I’ve done that before).

Tips and Suggestions for your LAST MINUTE sections/chapters:

•   Choose something easy. I know this sounds basic, but sometimes we’re tempted to bring the extravagant to impress. People are just happy there is food there. They won’t care if you didn’t spend hours on it or garnish it just right. They would much rather you have no stress than finding out you panicked over the dish you brought.
•   Choose recipes whose ingredients you can always keep on hand. For example, with the recipe below, most of the ingredients you probably usually have, and then just make sure you have a brownie mix and a package of Nutter Butters (they’ll keep a while) for that time you might just need them.
•   Choose recipes that use cheap ingredients. I’ve made recipes for family gatherings before that have cost $15.00 for a 9X 13 pan. WOAH! That was a lot of money for a dish gone in minutes. It’s fun and yummy to do that every once in a while. But there are a lot of other fun and yummy things to do that are way less expensive!
•   Choose quick recipes. Especially choose ones that are quick to prepare. For example, the recipe below probably takes 5 to 10 minutes to prepare, and then you just have to bake it. But you can even try to find some that take 15 minutes start to finish, depending on how last minute you really need to be.

Hopefully you can try out some of these ideas and save you some stress. And then, hopefully try the bars as well to give you’re taste buds a reward, too.