Summertime is a carefree time for fun in the sun and delicious summer desserts. If you think about it, for kids, the summer season is really their “dessert season” as they take a break from school.
One thing about summer is that it’s hot outside. Anything we can do to avoid heating up our kitchen (and therefore, the rest of our house!) is something we can get behind. Summertime is a great time to enjoy desserts, but you can have delicious desserts without all the work.
And what better way to celebrate the dessert season than with sweet, delicious summer dessert recipes?
As the warm sun shines brightly and the days grow longer, there’s something truly delightful about indulging in refreshing summer desserts. In this article, you’ll find a collection of luscious treats that perfectly capture the essence of summer, helping you cool off, satisfy your sweet tooth, and impress your friends and family at picnics and barbecues alike.
From fruit-packed creations to chilly ice cream confections, these summer desserts showcase a vibrant array of seasonal ingredients, tantalizing textural combinations, and effortlessly cool presentations. Regardless of your dietary preferences, you’re bound to discover a new favorite in this mouthwatering list of delectable bites.
So, get ready to explore the world of summer desserts, as these enticing recipes beckon you to step into your kitchen, unleash your creativity, and savor the very best that the season has to offer.
Are you having a party? Why not make some easy summer desserts for a crowd? It’s super-easy, and the smiles you receive are worth far more than the small effort to make them.
And we’ve found summertime desserts that offer a variety of flavors, from chocolate to fruity to just plain sweet and yummy!
Below check out 31 of the best summer desserts guaranteed to make your summertime fun a little sweeter!
This peach cobbler has to be one of our all-time favorite summer baking recipes. The delicious taste of warm and sweet peaches mixed in with a cinnamon-y cake-like crust is simply magical.
Plus, when you add ice cream to the mix, oh boy. Look out!
The ingredients for this recipe include peeled peaches (thaw and drain juice if frozen), butter, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, milk, egg, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, vanilla ice cream (optional for serving).
Like grilled watermelon, grilled peaches are an absolute delight, and the flavor is like no peach you’ve ever tasted.
The ingredients for this recipe include fresh peaches, unsalted butter (melted), cinnamon, brown sugar, fine sea salt, and canola oil. For garnish, you’ll need fresh raspberries, mint leaves, and ice cream.
This smooth, creamy, chocolaty mousse blends the flavors of chocolate with avocado in ways you’ve never imagined! Be careful, you might find yourself licking your bowl clean!
The ingredients for this recipe include dark chocolate chips, avocados, unsweetened cocoa powder, honey, maple syrup, maraschino cherry liqueur (or another liqueur), sea salt, milk, and candied cherries for serving.
Peanut butter cookies are another one of the great easy summer dessert recipes. They are so soft, chewy, crunchy, and sweet – the perfect treat for peanut butter lovers out there!
The ingredients you’ll need for this recipe include all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, unsalted butter (softened), granulated sugar, light brown sugar, extra-crunchy peanut butter, large eggs, vanilla extract (you can also use vanilla bean paste), and dry roasted peanuts (crushed).
For those who’ve never had rhubarb, this unusual veggie has a very tart taste that perfectly compliments strawberries in baked goods. And this recipe brings together this classic Texas treat in delicious bars perfect for sharing.
The ingredients for this recipe include rhubarb (diced), strawberries (diced with stems removed), lemon juice, vanilla extract, brown sugar, corn or tapioca starch, cinnamon, salt, unsalted butter (softened), packed brown sugar, white sugar, gluten-free 1-1 baking flour, and organic old fashioned rolled oats.
What’s that? You say it’s hot enough outside, and you don’t feel like standing in front of a hot oven? Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered because this recipe for no-bake cookies delivers sweet, crunchy, creamy chocolate cookies without the oven heat!
The ingredients for this recipe include granulated sugar, unsalted butter, unsweetened cocoa powder, whole milk, kosher salt, vanilla extract, creamy almond butter (or creamy peanut butter), and uncooked quick-cooking oats.
These simple, rich, lemony, creamy lemon bars are gluten and dairy-free, using natural sweeteners to deliver an incredible tart and sweet lemon experience.
They are the perfect dessert to go along with a glass of ice-cold lemonade!
The ingredients for this recipe include raw cashews, coconut cream, cornstarch (or arrowroot), lemon juice, lemon zest, sea salt, maple syrup, organic powdered sugar, gluten-free oats, raw almonds, coconut sugar, maple syrup, and coconut oil.
If there’s one homemade treat you can adapt to any season, it’s homemade brownies. These gooey, chewy bars of chocolate goodness are fantastic for large crowds and are heavenly with vanilla ice cream.
The ingredients for this recipe include bittersweet chocolate (chopped), salted butter, unsweetened cocoa powder, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, large eggs (at room temperature), vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, salt, and chocolate chips.
This super-simple, no-bake vegan raspberry cheesecake recipe has all the creamiest of traditional cheesecake with a sweet and tart raspberry topping that’s out of this world!
The ingredients for this recipe include pecans, walnuts, Medjool dates, unsweetened coconut flakes, sea salt, raw cashews, pure maple syrup, canned coconut milk (full fat), sea salt, coconut oil (room temperature), lemon juice, raspberries, and honey (for topping).
Summertime is the perfect time for sweet, cool treats like this recipe for raspberry sorbet that you can make in your blender in about five minutes. This cool, creamy, delicious blend features tart raspberries and cherries mixed with banana for a frozen fruit dessert that has a perfect balance between tart and sweet.
When it comes to refreshing summer desserts, this one can’t be beaten!
The ingredients for this recipe include frozen bananas, frozen raspberries, frozen cherries, and almond milk.
For a summertime dessert that’s way outside conventional sweet treats, check out this recipe for lemon pistachio olive oil cake. The unusual combination of lemons and pistachio makes for a wonderfully nutty and zesty combination.
The ingredients for this recipe include all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder, salt, oil, almond milk, cane sugar, eggs, lemon zest, fresh lemon juice, chopped pistachios (topping), powdered sugar, and fresh lemon juice.
These moist, soft, chocolatey peanut butter cookie bars are beyond amazing!
Loaded with chocolate chips and creamy peanut butter, these cookies will have you forgetting your table manners as you blissfully like every last crumb of your fingers!
The ingredients for this recipe include egg, blanched almond flour, coconut flour, your choice of granulated sweetener, peanut butter (or any seed butter), coconut milk, vanilla extract, and chocolate chips.
This recipe for homemade vanilla pound cake made with Greek yogurt delivers one of the moistest, sweetest pound cakes you’ve ever tasted.
This cake is incredible on its own when topped with your favorite frostings like strawberry cream cheese or chocolate. It’s also fantastic with a bowl of vanilla ice cream and fresh berries.
The ingredients for this recipe include all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, butter (softened), granulated sugar, eggs (room temperature), vanilla extract, and Greek yogurt.
One of the guilty pleasures many of us enjoyed as kids (and maybe still enjoy) was eating cookie dough just before it went in the oven.
Of course, this isn’t the healthiest practice, which is why we love this recipe for edible cookie dough. It delivers all the things you love about cookie dough minus the danger.
The ingredients for this recipe include all-purpose flour, unsalted butter (softened), tightly packed brown sugar, sugar, vanilla extract, salt, milk (optional), and semisweet chocolate chips.
Optional mix-ins include sprinkles, creamy peanut butter, and broken Oreo pieces.
Bread is a fantastic medium for desserts as it combines a chewier texture than cake and makes less of a mess when you carry it around. Plus, you can create some incredible flavors, like this recipe for yummy zucchini bread.
This craveable veggie dessert is the perfect way to get your dose of veggies while satisfying your sweet tooth!
The ingredients for this recipe include white sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vegetable oil (or apple sauce), vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, nutmeg, ground cinnamon, baking powder, salt, baking soda, zucchini, and chopped walnuts.
If you want to kick your zucchini bread up a few notches, try this recipe for chocolate zucchini bread. Even if the kiddos couldn’t be coaxed into trying a bite of zucchini bread, this recipe is guaranteed to get them hooked!
The ingredients for this recipe include unsalted butter, oil (vegetable, canola, or coconut), brown sugar, sugar, eggs, vanilla, grated zucchini, flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and chocolate chips.
They say you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Well, this recipe for zucchini cake manages to smash that saying to pieces with warm, deliciously sweet bread filled with yummy zucchini.
Yet another example of how eating your veggies can be a whole lot of fun!
Ingredients for this recipe include medium zucchini (shredded), unsweetened cocoa powder, butter (softened), eggs, granulated sugar, applesauce, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon (optional), semi-sweet mini chocolate chips, and light corn syrup.
Our sweet veggie summer treats train continues rolling on with this recipe for carrot cake cookies. These cookies have all the carrot cake flavor we love in a form that’s a lot easier to share. Plus, they have delicious sour cream frosting that brings a little tangy sweetness to the party.
The ingredients for this recipe include butter, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, ground cinnamon, baking soda, salt, ground nutmeg, ground ginger, old-fashioned oats, finely grated carrot, confectioners’ sugar, and sour cream.
Growing up, if there was one summertime dessert I could eat all day, it had to be Jello pudding pops every day. While you can’t find this dessert in stores anymore, you can still make your own pudding pops right at home.
This recipe delivers a taste of pure childhood!
The ingredients for this recipe include sugar, cornflour (or corn starch), cocoa, salt, vanilla, and skimmed milk. You’ll also need silicone molds and popsicle sticks.
There seems to be a lot of misplaced sympathy for those who live the vegan lifestyle, as folks think there are so many foods vegans can’t eat. In truth, they would be shocked to learn just how many goodies vegans have, like these chocolate chip vegan cookies!
Ingredients for this recipe include organic granulated cane sugar, organic brown sugar, vegan butter (softened), coconut milk (room temperature), vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, chocolate chunks (or chips), and fancy sea salt.
You don’t have to wait for girl scout season to enjoy the taste of delicious lemon shortbread cookies. And this recipe goes far beyond anything you’ll buy in a box with its sweet and tangy lemon glaze that makes these treats taste like pure heaven!
Plus, this recipe offers an ingenious cookie hack along with a secret ingredient that makes these cookies a must for your next summer get-together.
Ingredients for this recipe include unsalted butter, granulated sugar, lemon paste, all-purpose flour, kosher salt, confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
I can almost guarantee you will not find this ice cream flavor at any grocery store, which might be just as well, because this blueberry, mango, mint ice cream is beyond addictive!
The sweet, herbal flavor of mango blends perfectly with the berry-awesomeness of blueberries while packing a fresh minty finish that makes this one of our new favorite refreshing summer treats.
Ingredients include full-fat coconut milk, blueberries, mango, fresh mint leaves, cornstarch, cane sugar, and sea salt.
No summertime treats list is complete without a recipe for a strawberry shortcake. This light, cool, creamy, treat features juicy strawberries, whipped creamy, and yummy angel cake.
Ingredients include shortening, granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, salt, all-purpose flour, baking powder, milk, whipped cream topping, and frozen or fresh strawberries.
If you’re looking to really knock the socks off your guests, try this recipe for a strawberry tart. It features a sweet, creamy tart filling with fresh, ripe, delicious strawberries.
Another one of our new favorite refreshing summer desserts is this recipe for vegan ice cream. This cold, delicious summer treat features no dairy products but all the creaminess and vanilla flavor we love.
Ingredients include full-fat coconut milk, coconut cream, raw cashew butter, pure maple syrup, pure vanilla extract, pure almond extract, and a vanilla bean pod.
This peach crisp features a soft yet crunchy cinnamon oat crust with sweet fresh peaches in a simple syrup, completing this summer dessert masterpiece.
Ingredients include all-purpose flour, old-fashioned rolled oats, light brown sugar, baking powder, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, salt, unsalted butter, fresh peaches, granulated sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.
Cherry lovers, don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about you! This recipe for cherry clafoutis or “Clafoutis aux Cerises” is the ideal baked summer dessert for cherry fans.
Ingredients include eggs, sugar, salt, milk, vanilla extract, kirsch liquor (optional), lemon zest, butter, all-purpose flour, black cherries, and powdered sugar (for dusting).
Lemon-blueberry scones are another fabulous summertime treat that doubles as a great dessert breakfast. They are super easy to make and are loaded with sweet fresh blueberries and tangy lemon flavor.
Cassie brings decades of experience to the Kitchen Community. She is a noted chef and avid gardener. Her new book "Healthy Eating Through the Garden" will be released shortly. When not writing or speaking about food and gardens Cassie can be found puttering around farmer's markets and greenhouses looking for the next great idea.
