Everyday Systems

Any dessert ideas for an S day that we could make at home, and would let a family of four (two kids 8 and 4) indulge in one reasonable / non-regrettable serving, (no leftovers)?

Thinking small batch cookies.. maybe.

Apple crumble

Jx

premium vanilla ice cream from Costco. Love that stuff. We all have a bowl every Sat and Sun night.

Homemade pudding. You can make just 4 servings of chocolate pudding.

The recipe for Tapioca (on the Minute Tapioca biz) makes 6 half- cup servings. But you can have slightly larger servings to use it up in one go, or let the kids (or adults) have an extra at another meal.

These are great ideas, thanks for sharing!

I really like everything that's been suggested so far, apple crumble, vanilla ice-cream, chocolate pudding, yum!
We often make crêpes or waffles, just because it's really easy and kids-friendly and I rarely plan ahead for desserts. When my son was little, crêpes and apples cut in pieces on the side was the go-to for him and his friends every day, it was our signature merenda. I particularly like my crêpes done the traditional way, with lemon juice and sugar. And I like some easy english stuff, like warm custard, scones and shortbread (which is scottish actually), all really easy and fast to do. Ah and the very french institution called tarte tatin, it takes some experimenting before you find the right way to do it but it's worth it and relatively fast, I am in love with the tarte tatin when it's all caramellized, and it's a lot of apples (or other fruit, I love it with apricots) so quite healthy. On a similar line of thinking is german strudel. Served with warm custard like they do in Germany it is sublime, imo. And Kaiserschmarrn is another super simple thing to do, the dough is the same as the crêpes but all mixed up with raisins and sugar. Also italian Panna Cotta, super-simple. In Denmark they do the so-called "ris à l'amande", which has nothing french but the name, and it's fun with kids because they have to find the almond. It's basically rice porridge with whipped cream added, and warm berries or cherries jam on top. Oh my god, the bestest silliest dessert, and very healthy, is the one I learned from my MIL, who's norwegian, she makes a soup of plums and berries (from her garden, she freezes them all), served with cream for those who want it, you would think a fruit soup isn't anything amazing but think twice. She also adds one plum stone for the kids to find. We keep frozen berries all year around too in the freezer, for the fruit soup or just to blend them still frozen with sugar and milk or water, for a sorbet or a smoothie. There isn't one weekend where I don't take that smoothie (maybe I should say, unfortunately...).
Last thing and at the end of the day my favorite of all wintery treats is very thick hot chocolate. To make it thick what they do in Italy is they add starch, but I prefer it thickened by an exagerate amount of cacao. I like it very dark and almost bitter, but you can add whipped cream and soften it all up. My husband likes to add some pieces of dark chocolate. He's also very fond of italian zabaione, he makes it for himself very often because he has a sweet tooth and a fantastic metabolism, so he can.

Love the idea of hot chocolates! They can be dressed up to make it feel like a nice decadent dessert, and the instant ones are portioned out reasonably already.