Sweet Dessert Nacho Recipe

Typical desserts for a crowd range from cookies and cupcakes to pie and ice cream sundae bars. There's another dessert that's perfect for a crowd, however, and it's dessert nachos. You probably already know what nachos usually look like, but these nachos are an upgrade in ways you never dreamed of. It starts with a layer of sugar and spice pita chips, then adds fudge sauce, raspberry sauce, two kinds of ice cream, crushed candy, and freshly whipped cream. They're a fun, festive, and delicious way to satisfy even the most demanding sweet tooth.

This recipe is about half homemade and half store bough — and you can make the whole thing from store-bought items, if you prefer. To do it my way, you'll need big loaves of pita, sugar and spices, raspberries, cocoa powder, milk, heavy whipping cream, real-deal vanilla extract, candies and ice cream flavors of your choice (I opted for Kit Kat bars, Heath bars, and both chocolate and vanilla). After you pull together all of your ingredients, it's time to get to work.

Need more details? Get a full list of ingredients and step-by-step instructions at the end of this article. 

Grab a small saucepan and set it on your stove. Add cocoa powder, whole milk, sugar, and salt, and whisk, whisk, whisk until it's all combined. Cook it over medium heat. Bring it to the slightest boil and then remove it from the heat and set it aside until you're ready for it.

Wash the berries well and grab another small saucepan and place it on the stove. Put the berries, sugar, and a generous squeeze of lemon juice into the pan. Cook your sauce over medium heat until the berries break down, the sugar dissolves, and the whole mixture gets saucy. Again, remove it from the heat — but this time strain it to remove the seeds — and set it aside until you're ready for it.

Grab your bread knife and slice your pita into wedges. Using a pastry brush, brush some vegetable oil or avocado oil onto both the front and back sides of each pita wedge. Vegetable or avocado oil is important here because of their smoke points. Don't use coconut, olive, or butter because the oils will break down and smoke. Sprinkle some of the sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom mixture on both sides and place them on a sheet pan or two (or even three). Bake them until they're golden and crispy.

Add the cream, sugar, and vanilla extract to the bowl of your stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, beat on high until it's fluffy. You can absolutely do this by hand, as well, however, it will take quite a bit longer.

The best size scoops for this particular dessert are small scoops, like those that come from a smaller cookie scoop or even a melon baller. Of course, a regular-sized ice cream scoop will work just fine as well, but it'll be a little bit more difficult to distribute the ice cream across the nachos — and a little harder to eat too. If you're using candy that's bigger than bite-sized, it'll need to be crushed or chopped. Put it in a resealable baggie and crush it with a heavy rolling pin or the flat side of a meat tenderizer. Easy does it!

Lay the chips down on a large platter in as close to a flat and uniform single layer as you can so that all of your ice cream, sauces, and other toppings are evenly distributed among the chips and you don't have too many chips that are hiding underneath and miss out on the toppings. Add scoops of ice cream — multiple flavors is more fun. Then, drizzle fudge sauce all over the top.

Follow up with the raspberry sauce, making sure to drizzle it evenly over the entire plate of nachos. Generously sprinkle candy on top of everything. Pipe (or just dollop, it doesn't have to be fancy) whipped cream sporadically all over the nachos. Finally, you're ready to Instagram and eat.