Splurge: coffee crème brûlée: 95 cents each

You may have noticed there are only three desserts on this entire site, and two of them are crème brûlées. There’s no particular reason for this other than the fact I don’t really like making dessert, and not only can crème brûlée be made in advance, it offers the most bang for the dessert-making buck. Smooth, cold, creamy custard topped with a shatteringly crisp crust: What’s not to like? I made these coffee ones for a dinner we were having with my father-in-law, to complement the beef-heavy main dish. If you’re sensitive to sugar, you might want to reduce the amount to 1/3 cup or so. Otherwise, everything about this—from the amount of coffee flavor to the custard texture—is spot-on.

Splurge: pumpkin crème brûlée: $1.38 each

It probably goes without saying that we rarely—if ever—eat dessert. It’s not in the budget, and thankfully we’re not big dessert people to begin with. I do, however, make dessert when we host Thanksgiving each year (which, unfortunately, does not make for a $35 week), and because I like to make something different each time, it usually requires a bit of practice.