Good 'Recent posts' plugins for sidebar?

Sup peeps? So, I have a WP site using the Astra theme, which is very lightweight.

I want to show recent posts, unique to categories on the sidebar.
For example: On all posts within Windows 10 category, sidebar will show 5 random posts from that category.

My current sidebar looks like this:

Ignore the whiteout, trying to protect the site identity somewhat
You get the point, it looks boring.

I'm using the Recent Posts Widget Extended for the above result. (https://wordpress.org/plugins/recent-posts-widget-extended/)

Would someone have a recommendation on a plugin for a sexier recent posts widget? I know Elementor can be used to make good looking sidebars, but I assume it would slow down the site more than the sidebar element would be worth.

I would love any suggestions or tips, thanks.

First and last bump. If no one has any ideas, no worries. Will just have to go research some more ideas.
Sadly most if not all the plugins for this purpose are pretty bad when it comes to customizing the layout.