11 Quick Summer Treats

Summer time.  Let’s party!
No, seriously. Let’s have some fun!

In today’s post you’ll find 11 super easy summer desserts, ranging from 3 to 15 minutes of preps (that’s right!), so you will be spending the better part of your afternoon enjoying these treats, rather than sweating in the kitchen.

No cooking skills required. It’s really that simple.

So without further ado, let’s get to work!

1. Fruit Jello

Top left: Tutti Frutti jello | Top right: Oranjello | Bottom left: Peach jello | Bottom right: Very Berry jello

Below are the recipes for the Tutti Frutti jello (‘all fruits’ in Italian), and the Very Berry jello.

For any other type of fruit jello, just swap the fruit in the recipe with the fruit of your choice.
Feel free to experiment.

Just before we start, a few tips:

1. Very ripe fruits, such as plums, nectarines, mangos and peaches, will naturally sweeten the otherwise quite plain gelatin.
2. A clear glass bowl will do great service to this delightfully colorful dessert.
3. Once firm (after a couple of hours in the fridge), you can cut the jello with a sharp knife to shape it like a slice of cake. A cake server might also come in handy to help the jello out of the bowl without falling apart.

Tutti Frutti Jello

Level: easy
Preps: 15 minutes (chill time: 3 hours)
Serves:  5-6

You will need:

• A bunch of grapes, halved
• 1 ripe mango, diced
• 1 very ripe peach, diced
• 2 very ripe plums, diced
• 3 sachets unflavored gelatin powder (3 tbsp.)
• 3 sachets stevia powder
• ¾ cup room temperature water
• ¾ cup warm water
• A few drops freshly squeezed lemon juice

How to make it:

1. Pour room temperature water into a clear serving bowl, then sprinkle gelatin powder and stir well. Gelatin will start to dissolve and thicken.
2. Add warm water and stir.
3. Add stevia powder and stir until all gelatin and stevia have dissolved.
4. Squeeze some drops of lemon over the mixture. Stir.
5. Add the fruit. Stir well.
   Fruit should be mostly submerged under the liquid. But don’t worry if some sticks up a little.
6. Cover and put in the fridge for 3 hours.

Very Berry Jello

Level: easy
Preps: 15 minutes (chill time: 3 hours)
Serves:  5-6

You will need:

• 340 gr. fresh raspberries
• 340 gr. fresh blueberries
• 4 sachets unflavored gelatin powder (4 tbsp.)
• 3 sachets stevia powder
• 1 cup room temperature water
• 1 cup warm water
• A few drops freshly squeezed lemon juice

How to make it:

1. Pour room temperature water into a clear serving bowl, then sprinkle gelatin powder and stir well. Gelatin will start to dissolve and thicken.
2. Add warm water and stir.
3. Add stevia powder and stir until all gelatin and stevia have dissolved.
4. Squeeze some drops of lemon over the mixture. Stir.
5. Add the fruit. Stir well.
   Fruit should be mostly submerged under the liquid. But don’t worry if some sticks up a little.
6. Cover and put in the fridge for 3 hours.

2. Strawberry Nectar

Don’t be fooled by the posh look, this is one of the simplest recipes you can find. 
Although served in a glass, this is more of a dessert than a drink. It’s thick, and entirely made of fruit. Not one drop of liquid added here. 

In Greek and Roman mythology the word ‘nectar’ means ‘drink of the gods’. Once you’ve tasted it, you’ll see why...

Level: super easy
Preps: 5 minutes
Serves:  1-2

You will need:

• One strawberry with green crown, slit at the bottom
• A handful of fresh strawberries, hulled

How to make it:

1. Blend strawberries and pour into glass.
2. Place slit strawberry on top of glass. Serve cold.

3. The Ultimate Fruit Salad

An absolute favorite, this is one of the most versatile treats out there. 
Limited by your imagination only, almost any fruit is welcome in this feast of flavor and freshness. 

Did you notice we didn’t even need a serving bowl? Isn’t that cool?

A little tip:
For a whole family make one big watermelon. For individual servings go for smaller melons.

Level: super easy
Preps: 10-15 minutes
Serves:  10-13

You will need:

• 1 watermelon, halved
• 1 melon/cantaloupe, halved
• A handful of seedless green grapes
• A handful of seedless red grapes or cherries

How to make it:

1. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out (and keep!) flesh of both melon and watermelon.
2. Combine melon pieces, watermelon pieces, grapes, and cherries, and put back into half watermelon and melon.

4. Banana Ice Cream

This goes well with either whipping cream or coconut milk. 
(If you go for the coconut milk, choose one that has no water added. Organic if possible). 

It’s perfectly normal for the top layer to go slightly gray-ish.

Level: easy
Preps: 10 minutes (freeze time: 4 hours)
Serves:  6-7

You will need:

• 5-6 very ripe bananas
• 1 ½ cups whipping cream or coconut milk (350 ml)

How to make it:

1. Blend bananas and whipping cream (or coconut milk).
2. Freeze for about 4 hours.
3. Take out of freezer ahead of time, and let defrost a little at room temperature.

5. Apple Sauce

A homemade version of a kids’ favorite.
T his is less sweet than the commercial version.
Super refreshing.

Level: easy
Preps: 15 minutes (cooking time: 20-25 minutes, chill: 2-2.5 hours, fridge: 1.5 hour)
Serves:  5

You will need:

• 5-6 ripe apples, sliced and cored
• 3 small pieces of lemon peel
• ¹⁄₈ tsp. of ground cinnamon, or 1-2 cinnamon sticks 
• Water

How to make it:

1. Put apples, cinnamon, and lemon peel in a pot and add water so that apples are about three quarters covered. (No need to completely submerge them. It’s fine if they stick up)
2. Simmer, covered, for 20-25 minutes or until apples are soft. Stir from time to time.
3. Let chill at room temperature for a couple of hours.
4. Blend and put in the fridge.

6. Carrot Salad

I like the nice twist of introducing a veggie in a dessert. 
The carrot -with its natural fresh sweetness- could easily pass for a fruit.

Level: super easy
Preps: 10 minutes
Serves: 3

You will need:

• 2 big carrots, peeled
• ³⁄₄ cup raisins, soaked
• 1 orange

How to make it:

1. Grate carrots into a bowl. Add the raisins.
2. Squeeze orange and add the juice and the flesh into the bowl.
3. Mix and serve cold.

7. Strawberry Banana Sherbet  

The very ripe bananas will serve to sweeten the sherbet. 

To tempt the eyes as well as the taste buds, serve this joyful treat in clear glass bowls.

Level: easy
Preps: 10 minutes (freeze time: 4 hours)
Serves: 6-7

You will need:

• 22-25 strawberries, hulled
• 2 very ripe bananas
• ²⁄₃ – ³⁄₄ cup whipping cream

How to make it:

1. Blend bananas, 15 strawberries, and whipping cream.
2. Freeze for about 4 hours.
3. Take out of freezer ahead of time, and let defrost a little at room temperature.
4. Garnish with fresh strawberries.

8. Frozen Berries with Milk

Exquisitely refreshing on a hot summer day, this is one of the simplest recipes. 

Let the frozen berries sit in the milk for a minute, and get ready for two pleasant surprises:

1. The milk will start freezing, a bit like frozen yogurt.
2. Depending on the type of berries, the milk will turn purple-pink.

Level: super easy
Preps: 3 minutes
Serves: 1

You will need:

• Frozen berries of your choice
• Milk

How to make it:

1. Put berries and milk in a clear bowl or glass.

That’s it. Done. I promised it wouldn’t take longer than 3 minutes, right?

9. Fresh Fruit with Kefir

If you happen to have homemade kefir on hand, now is the time to bring it on. 
If you don’t, a store-bought one will do just fine. 
Feel free to add just about any fruit that tickles your fancy.

Level: super easy
Preps: 3 minutes
Serves: 1

You will need:

• Unsweetened kefir
• A few seedless red grapes
• A few seedless green grapes
• A few cherries
• Some blueberries 

How to make it:

Put fruit and kefir in a clear bowl and enjoy!

10. Super Simple Chocolate Mousse

The ultimate indulgence! 

Depending on how chocolatey and sweet you like it, feel free to alter the measurements of stevia and cocoa powder. The following recipe is for quite a sweet and chocolatey mousse.

If you’re looking for a dairy-free variation, or simply feel like experimenting with deliciousness, try the following:
Swap the cream with some high quality coconut cream (or a thick coconut milk with no water added), add banana chunks, cocoa powder, and some ghee.
Blend. Yummm!

Level: easy
Preps: 3 minutes
Serves: 1

You will need:

• ¹⁄₃ cup whipping cream 
• ³⁄₄ tbsp. cocoa powder
• 2 sachets of stevia powder
• Optional: ¼ tsp. pure vanilla extract or ¾ tsp. rum
• Banana, sliced

How to make it:

1. Whip cream, cocoa powder, and stevia, until texture thickens.
2. Serve topped with a few banana slices.

11. Apple and Banana Puree

When I was a child, whenever I showed the slightest sign of running a fever my mom would make me the following treat.

It was so good, that I would practically hope I would indeed come down with a cold…

Level: super easy
Preps: 3 minutes
Serves: 1-2

You will need:

• 1 apple, unpeeled
• 1 banana
• ¹⁄₃ cup plain yogurt/kefir/cream
• Optional: a tiny pinch ground cinnamon

How to make it:

1. In a bowl grate apple, and mash banana with a fork.
2. Add yogurt/kefir/cream and mix with a spoon.
3. Sprinkle cinnamon, mix.
4. Serve cold.

I hope you’ll enjoy making (and tasting!) these easy recipes as much as I did writing them.

Enough talking. Time to dig in!

DO YOU LIKE FRESH FRUIT?
I have written over 30 easy fruit recipes to make from scratch at home!
All the recipes are in my book Fresh Fruit Anyone? Easy Homemade Fruit Treats from Scratch, where you will find fruit-based snacks and desserts, mango porcupines, unique lemonades and smoothies, berry slushies, banana ice creams, orange-strawberry popsicles, peach jelloes, apple compotes, pear and berry jams, awesome no-bowl fruit salads, and much more!
I invite you to explore, enjoy, dig in, and be inspired by this fruitilicious feast!
Didi