Homemade Star Crunch

With gooey homemade caramel, creamy milk chocolate, and crunchy rice, these no-bake cookies are as satisfying as a candy bar, but way easier to make. Just boil up sugar water until it turns thick and golden, then add some chilled cream and simmer a few minutes more. Once it's cool, stir in chopped milk chocolate and some Rice Krispies, and you're done! The hardest part is simply waiting for the molten "batter" to set.

DIY Fudgsicles

Made with Dutched cocoa powder, these homemade Fudgsicles have an even deeper chocolate flavor than the original. Balanced by the butterscotch-y sweetness of brown sugar, they're especially refreshing and intense on a hot summer's day.

Boozy Caramel Bonbons

These bonbons are made with 58% couverture chocolate and filled with a boozy, vanilla caramel that runs when you bite into it. A tiny pinch of sea salt makes all of the flavors sing.

Homemade Butterfingers

Making Butterfingers for yourself takes a fair amount of time, but the work itself isn't actually hard if you're patient.

DIY Pudding Pops

Few desserts are both rich and refreshing at the same time, but that's what pudding pops do best. They're as creamy as top-notch soft-serve, but light enough to feel just a little bracing on a hot summer's day. In fact, they turn out particularly nice with skim milk, which gives the pops an icy quality that I absolutely adore. If you like, dip 'em in melted chocolate cut with coconut oil to make a quick Klondike Bar–like treat.

Maple Syrup Caramels

Flavored with plenty of pure maple syrup and just a hint of sea salt, these sensational (and seasonal!) caramels are simple to prepare and totally crave-worthy.

Milk Creams (Indian Cashew Sweets)

Milk creams are a classic sweet served as little bites during the Christmas holidays in India. A mixture of sweetened cashews and milk are transformed into a soft dough that can be placed into decorative molds or shaped into discs.

Malted Milk Chocolate Ice Cream

Seek out high quality milk chocolate for this recipe; Valrhona and Callebaut have very good versions. Freezing the malted milk balls before adding them to the ice cream will keep the temperature down and prevent melting during the final minute of churning.

Homemade Caramel Apples

Homemade caramel apples are best with a caramel that's thick enough to generously coat, but soft enough to bite through.

Chocolate Milk from Scratch

This isn't so much a recipe as a guideline; start here and adjust to your personal taste. You can use whatever kind of milk is your favorite; I prefer 2%. Any sweetener is acceptable: honey, sugar, agave syrup, even maple syrup can work. Just remember that each has a different sweetness level.