If you’re in need of some ridiculously easy baking recipes at the moment, we get it. With the country’s future hanging in the balance, it’s a pretty appropriate time for some serious stress-baking. And given how freaking exhausting this election and 2020 in general have been, extremely simple, low-effort recipes are about all we can handle right now. We are weary and wound up, simultaneously in need of hands-on distractions and having trouble focusing. The mere thought of a lengthy ingredients list is, honestly, a bit stress-inducing in and of itself.
These yummy baking recipes keep things refreshingly uncomplicated: They all call for no more than five ingredients. (Full disclosure: A few provide optional add-ins or variations that would take the count over five.) And most of the ingredients called for are staples that you’re likely to have on-hand already: flour, eggs, sugar, butter, peanut butter, chocolate chips—like, a lot of PB and chocolate chips—oatmeal, and bananas. (A handful of the recipes call for less ubiquitous but still relatively common ingredients, like almond flour, shredded coconut, and dates.)
Importantly, these 37 easy baking recipes are also hard to mess up, since there aren’t finicky techniques or tedious steps involved. Oh, and there are a number of vegan and gluten-free options. So whatever oven-fresh deliciousness you’re in the mood to make—cookies, cakes, muffins, macaroons, brownies, breads—you can find a simplified recipe for it here.
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Dana and John Shultz via Minimalist Baker1 Vegan Coconut “Snowball” Cookies from Minimalist Baker
These coconutty little mounds are made with aquafaba, the liquid in a can of chickpeas. It usually gets drained down the sink but actually makes a fantastic vegan egg substitute. (This recipe actually has six ingredients, but one of them is a pinch of salt!)
Get the recipe here.
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Jennifer Lee via Kirbie’s Cravings2 4-Ingredient Chewy Nutella Cookies from Kirbie’s Cravings
It’s hard to mess it up when Nutella is in the mix, like with these brownie-like cookies. They’re chewy, crispy, and chocolatey.
Get the recipe here.
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Dana and John Shultz via Minimalist Baker3 5-Ingredient Vegan Gluten-Free Cookies from Minimalist Baker
In this recipe, you make the cookie dough by blitzing together a few nutrient-packed ingredients, including dates and bananas, in a food processor.
Get the recipe here.
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Carrian and Cade Cheney via Oh, Sweet Basil4 Rice Krispie Treats from Oh, Sweet Basil
These are just like the classic recipe you find on the back of the box, but with a higher marshmallow-to-cereal ratio and the flavor-boosting additions of vanilla and sea salt.
Get the recipe here.
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Jennifer Lee via Kirbie’s Cravings5 4-Ingredient Apple Cake from Kirbie’s Cravings
Apples, brown sugar, flour, and eggs are all you need to put together a beautiful apple cake. It certainly looks like it’s made with more than four ingredients!
Get the recipe here.
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Monique Volz via Ambitious Kitchen6 5-Ingredient Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie from Ambitious Kitchen
Why waste any time scooping dough into a bunch of little balls when you can just press it all into a skillet?
Get the recipe here.
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Sue Moran via The View From Great Island7 3 Ingredient Biscuits from The View From Great Island
This is one of the more involved recipes here, since it requires rolling out the dough and cutting out the biscuits. But they’re still the simplest flaky biscuits you’re ever going to make, only requiring flour, buttermilk, and butter.
Get the recipe here.
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Gina Homolka via SkinnyTaste8 Five-Ingredient Chocolate Cheesecakes Cups from SkinnyTaste
Turns out chocolatey cheesecake perfection is totally achievable at home—with a significantly shorter ingredients list (baking chocolate, cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, and an egg) and bake time (50 minutes) than is typical.
Get the recipe here.
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Lindsay and Bjork Ostrom via Pinch of Yum9 Amazingly Wholesome 5-Ingredient Banana Bread Muffins from Pinch of Yum
We had to get some kind of banana-bread-related recipe in here. The “amazingly wholesome” part refers to the fact that these muffins are full of oats and sweetened with dates. Cinnamon and/or chocolate chips optional.
Get the recipe here.
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Yossy Arefi via Apt. 2B Baking Co.10 Easy Coconut Macaroons from Apt. 2B Baking Co.
If you’ve got a bag of shredded coconut on hand, do yourself a favor and make these surprisingly easy macaroons—crispy and golden brown on the outside, sweet and chewy on the inside.
Get the recipe here.
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Brittany Mullins via Eating Bird Food11 4-Ingredient Samoas from Eating Bird Food
A Girl Scout cookie–inspired bake, full of chocolate and coconut. You can use chocolate chips or chopped baking chocolate and sub in a different oil for coconut since you only use half a teaspoon.
Get the recipe here.
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Jaclyn Bell via Cooking Classy12 5-Ingredient Funfetti Shortbread Bites from Cooking Classy
You can use any random sprinkles you have sitting in the back of the cupboard—rainbow, chocolate, nonpareils, coarse sugar—to make these dainty little cookies.
Get the recipe here.
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Shawn Syphus via I Wash You Dry13 5-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies from I Wash You Dry
These classic PB cookies are chewy, sweet, salty, and perfect. Scoring the cookies by pressing down on them with a fork helps them spread out while baking.
Get the recipe here.
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Gina Homolka via Skinnytaste14 5-Ingredient Almond Cake With Fresh Berries from SkinnyTaste
This tender cake is made with almond flour, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Top with fresh or thawed frozen berries, or really whatever fruit you have around.
Get the recipe here.
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Jennifer Lee via Kirbie’s Cravings15 2-Ingredient Cake Mix Cake from Kirbie’s Cravings
Got a box of cake mix on hand but none of the wet ingredients? This genius recipe provides four substitutions for four different cakes: applesauce (for white/yellow mix), coke (for chocolate mix), and club soda/seltzer or Greek yogurt (for any flavor).
Get the recipe here.
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Nicole Hunn via Gluten Free on a Shoestring16 4-Ingredient Peanut Butter Brownies from Gluten Free on a Shoestring
As simple as it gets. Plenty of substitute options too—swapping oat flour for almond flour, almond or cashew butter for PB, and nuts for the chocolate chips.
Get the recipe here.
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Gina Homolka via SkinnyTaste17 Easy Bagels from SkinnyTaste
These aren’t true bagels in that they’re not boiled, but they will absolutely do the trick in pinch. Top with everything bagel seasoning, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried garlic flakes, or dried onion flakes if you have one of those in your pantry.
Get the recipe here.
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Alyssa Rimmer via Simply Quinoa18 3-Ingredient Gluten-Free Rice Crispy Treats from Simply Quinoa
No marshmallows? No problem. A mixture of honey and almond butter makes for a yummy alternative. You can use regular or brown crispy rice cereal and swap in a different nut butter.
Get the recipe here.
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Maryea via Happy Healthy Mama19 5-Ingredient Blender Muffins from Happy Healthy Mama
There are a staggering 15 different ways to spruce up this muffins (if you please), including cinnamon, blueberry, raisin, vegan, chocolate chip, and lime versions.
Get the recipe here.
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Ali Ebright via Gimme Some Oven20 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies from Gimme Some Oven
If that five-ingredient peanut butter cookie recipe felt a like a bit much for ya, make this even more pared-down recipe instead.
Get the recipe here.
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Sommer Collier via A Spicy Perspective21 Magic 4-Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies from A Spicy Perspective
These unconventional chocolate chip cookies are made with a whole jar of nut butter (whatever kind you like), meaning they’re positively packed with filling fat and fiber—plus tons of chocolate chips, of course.
Get the recipe here.
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Natasha Kravchuk via Natasha’s Kitchen22 4-Ingredient Sponge Cake from Natasha’s Kitchen
If you feel like getting your Great British Baking Show on, make this easy and versatile sponge. (You have to beat eggs and sugar together for 8 to 10 minutes until fluffy, so you’ll need a standing or handheld mixer.)
Get the recipe here.
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Katie Higgins via Chocolate Covered Katie23 Almond Butter Brownies from Chocolate Covered Katie
Rich and fudgy brownies that you’ll want to eat warm straight out of the pan. The best part? They only take 15 minutes to bake.
Get the recipe here.
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Ali Ebright via Gimme Some Oven24 5-Ingredient Lemon Bars from Gimme Some Oven
This fancy-looking recipe is shockingly easy: Blitz your crust ingredients in the food processor and bake for 20 minutes, then pour your filling mixture on top and bake for 20 minutes more.
Get the recipe here.
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Jennifer Lee via Kirbie’s Cravings25 2-Ingredient Banana Oatmeal Cookies from Kirbie’s Cravings
Oats and overripe bananas are a match made in flourless cookie heaven. These actually have three ingredients if you add the optional chocolate chips (which you most definitely should).
Get the recipe here.
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Shawn Syphus via I Wash You Dry26 4-Ingredient Pecan Balls from I Wash You Dry
These rich and buttery little cookie balls are reminiscent of pecan sandies. They can be made with or without a chocolate drizzle on top.
Get the recipe here.
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Julie West via The Simple Veganista27 Almond Butter Cookies from The Simple Veganista
You just need four ingredients and a few minutes to get these cookies into the oven. They can be made with smooth or chunky almond butter.
Get the recipe here.
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Becky Hardin via The Cookie Rookie28 Easy Beer Bread from The Cookie Rookie
Get a little creative with the six-pack in your fridge and make this yeasty, slightly sweet beer bread. Stick to the five-ingredient original or try one of the variations, like honey, cheese, herb, or cinnamon-swirl. (While this recipe calls for self-rising flour, it also provides a simple formula for making your own if you only have A.P.)
Get the recipe here.
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Ali Ebright via Gimme Some Oven29 4-Ingredient Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies from Gimme Some Oven
The PB-and-chocolate duo in its simplest baked form. These soft cookies take just six to eight minutes to bake and will satisfy a sweet-and-salty craving.
Get the recipe here.
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Jennifer Lee via Kirbie’s Cravings30 3-Ingredient Nutella Brownies from Kirbie’s Cravings
Another gloriously simple and decadent Nutella recipe (although it does require a little bit more effort than eating it straight from the jar).
Get the recipe here.
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Gemma Stafford via Bigger Bolder Baking31 3-Ingredient Shortbread Cookies from Bigger Bolder Baking
Sugar, flour, butter, done. Why make ingredients lists any longer than they need to be? Fair warning, though: You do have to chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Get the recipe here.
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Julie West via The Simple Veganista32 Chocolate Chip Banana Oatmeal Bites from The Simple Veganista
These cute little four-ingredient cookies can handle a variety of optional add-ins, if you happen to have any in your pantry: vanilla extract, shredded coconut, chopped nuts, dried fruit, or nut butter.
Get the recipe here.
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Dana and John Shultz via Minimalist Baker33 3-Ingredient Chocolate Fudge from Minimalist Baker
This dairy-free freezer fudge is made with dark or semisweet chocolate, honey, and cashew butter, although you can sub in any nut or seed butter. Honestly, this is barely a baking recipe—the only heat involved is melting the chocolate with a double boiler or in the microwave.
Get the recipe here.
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Jessica Hylton via Jessica In The Kitchen34 Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies from Jessica In The Kitchen
This one is perfect for people who are avoiding animal products—or, ya know, just happen to not have any eggs or butter in their fridge at the moment.
Get the recipe here.
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Dana and John Shultz via Minimalist Baker35 5-Ingredient Dark Chocolate Macaroons from Minimalist Baker
You make the simple dough for these macaroons in a food processor or blender. Dipping them in dark chocolate after baking adds a fancy, decadent touch without too much extra work—just melt the chocolate in the microwave and dip away.
Get the recipe here.
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Averie Sunshine via Averie Cooks36 4-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies from Averie Cooks
These are a departure from the other PB cookies on this list, given they call for Bisquick pancake mix of all things. If you’ve got a box just sitting in your pantry, you have to give these a shot.
Get the recipe here.
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Brittany Mullins via Eating Bird Food37 4-Ingredient Almond Coconut Cookies From Eating Bird Food
Almond, coconut, and chocolate is such a fantastic combination of flavors and textures. The recipe calls for sweetened condensed coconut milk, a staple for vegan bakers, but you could sub in the regular kind.
Get the recipe here.
