Last Hurrah: Baking with Summer Fruit

Before autumn’s official start, we’re giving a sweet farewell to summer fruit. These recipes provide an encore for this season’s berries, stone fruit, and more. Featuring a nutty blueberry buckle, peach-filled and streusel-topped pie, jammy blackberry bars, and a strawberry tart with a pistachio crust, we’re giving the cherished bounty of summer a proper send-off. So give a round of applause—and baking—for this season’s produce!

1. Mixed Berries & Cream Bars

An elegant spin on a familiar formula, the coolest dessert of summer has arrived. We paired a slightly salty pretzel cake base with a cream filling and topped it off with a scattering of fresh berries.

2. Blueberry Browned Butter Buckle

Browned butter gives this berry-studded buckle a deeper, richer flavor that is balanced by the Brown Rice Crumb Topping, essential for the dessert’s “buckled” appearance. Substitute blueberries for raspberries, or try a 50/50 mix for a colorful twist.

Recipe by Zoë François Photo by Eliesa Johnson

3. Almond Plum Tart

Perfect for summer, this simple tart features a creamy almond filling studded with fresh plums and topped with an almond cream topping that bakes to golden perfection.

4. Strawberry Orange Pistachio Tart

Sweet strawberries and a hint of cardamom balance the classic bright and nutty combination of orange and pistachio in this Orange and Pistachio Strawberry Tart.

5. Peach and Blueberry Buckwheat Sonker

Recipes for this Peach and Blueberry Buckwheat Sonker call for varying crusts, ranging from lattice pastry to a bread crumb topping. Stickier than pie dough, our crust is more like a hybrid between a biscuit and a crust. Buckwheat flour gives it a savory twist.

6. Peaches & Cream Cake

This three-tiered cake pairs one of summer’s beloved stone fruits with vanilla cake layers made fluffy by whipped cream folded into the batter. A Final veil of Vanilla Buttercream covers the peach-packed layers within.

7. Blackberry Jam Bars

Grating then freezing this dough before baking creates little air pockets that give the bars a crumbly texture, which contrasts nicely with the smooth jam center. Give these a generous dusting of confectioners’ sugar, and serve right out of your 9×13. 

8. Sour Cherry Shortbread Linzer Cookies

These are the best sandwich cookies you’ll make this summer. A tiny bit of citric acid in the cookie dough creates a zesty sour cherry flavor, which balances out the buttery shortbread cookies.

9. Gin-Lemon Tart

A decent dose of crisp, dry Irish gin helps balance out the sweetness and heighten the zest of this lemon tart with a crumbly gingersnap crust.

Peach Almond Cake

10. Peach Almond Cake 

Fresh, juicy peach halves give this vanilla and buttermilk Peach Almond Cake bursts of color and concentrated sweet-tart flavor, while the addition of brandy to the homemade marzipan lends just the right amount of kick.

11. Strawberries & Cream Pie

Double-crusted and jam-packed with strawberries, this pie is delicious with a generous scoop of freshly whipped cream.

Photography by Matt Armendariz Recipe Development and Food Styling by Marian Cooper Cairns

12. Almond-Blueberry Butter Plum Pie 

If you are a crust addict, this Almond-Browned Butter Plum Pie is your dream come true. We added super-fine almond flour to the dough for subtle crunch—the perfect contrast to the juicy, sugared plum slices inside.

13. Raspberry-Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

With raspberries mixed into the batter, this upside-down cake is the perfect fruity finale to any summertime meal.

14. Strawberry Raspberry Cobbler 

Traditional only in method, this Strawberry Raspberry Cobbler has a Middle Eastern flare with cardamom and rosewater. This cobbler made with cake batter soaks up the fruit’s flavorful juices as it bakes and develops a light, spongy crumb. Pistachios create a slightly crunchy texture that pairs well with the tender baked fruit. 

 

Georgia Peach Pie

15. Georgia Peach Pie 

Fresh peaches, buttery pie crust, and a straight-up bonkers streusel make this Georgia Peach Pie an absolute favorite. Don’t be surprised if serving a single slice elicits wild proclamations of undying love. 

16. Pineapple Brown Betty 

We took the classic Brown Betty on a tropical vacation, and packed it with pineapple, passion fruit, and lime. Shredded coconut, sourdough bread crumbs, and almond meal create textural contrast between the bread and the soft fruit. 

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