There are some things we always want to bake in summer: Cobblers. Shortcakes. Anything that doesn’t require turning on the oven.
Our new Bake it Easy: Summer recipes deliver the best of summer baking in fuss-free form. They’re fast, they’re easy, they use a handful of ingredients, and many of them take advantage of the season’s vibrant produce. It’s a capsule collection of recipes for every summer occasion, from beach hangs to cookouts, Fourth of July parties to days too hot to even think about using the oven. In other words, it’s everything you want to bake this summer.
Your Summer Baking Lineup
Giant Strawberry Shortcake
Photography by Patrick Marinello; food styling by Yekaterina Boytsova
This easy strawberry shortcake takes a major shortcut: Rather than cutting out biscuits and plating each individual shortcake, you press the stir-together dough into a square pan and bake it as one big slab. Spoon juicy macerated berries over the top so the juices soak in, then finish with a sour cream whip and more juicy fruit. It’s everything a summer party dessert should be: casual, colorful, and very fun.
Creamy Key Lime Pie Bars
Photography by Patrick Marinello; food styling by Yekaterina Boytsova
These no-bake Key lime pie bars take a delightful detour from tradition (and the oven): Instead of a baked custard made from sweetened condensed milk and eggs, this ultra-silky filling is prepared on the stovetop like posset, the classic British dessert. The result? Bars with a lusciously smooth, tangy filling — made with just a few ingredients (and no eggs!).
Easy Frosted Brownies
Photography by Patrick Marinello; food styling by Yekaterina Boytsova
Nostalgic for the afterschool snacks of your youth? With one bowl and about an hour, you can have ultra-fudgy brownies slicked with a luscious layer of silky ganache and showered with vibrant sprinkles, just like the classic store-bought dessert that inspired them. Bring them to every cookout, picnic, and pool party from now until Labor Day.
Raspberry Frangipane Bars
Photography by Patrick Marinello; food styling by Yekaterina Boytsova
These gooey, chewy bars are like a buttery almond croissant combined with a raspberry jam bar, but are far more portable than either. Store-bought jam makes the whole process easy (and means you can save the fresh berries for snacking!), while the frangipane filling and brown sugar cookie base are both simple stir-together mixtures. Don’t skip the shower of sliced almonds on top, which add welcome crunch.
S’mores Rice Krispies Treats
Photography by Patrick Marinello; food styling by Yekaterina Boytsova
How to make Rice Krispies Treats even better? S’morify them. These irresistible, kid-approved bars have a crisp graham cracker base covered in a layer of melted chocolate, then topped with marshmallow-coated cereal. (We use Rice Krispies and Golden Grahams to strike the perfect balance of sweetness and crunch while also adding more graham flavor.) They’ll keep for up to a week (I mean, if they last that long), so they’re the perfect make-ahead or on-the-go dessert, no campfire required.
Iced Coffee Icebox Cake
Photography by Patrick Marinello; food styling by Yekaterina Boytsova
Icebox cake is our summer secret weapon — it’s simple to make, uses few ingredients, and relies mostly on the power of time and the fridge to transform cookies and espresso-spiked whipped cream into a soft, luscious, cake-like dessert, no baking required. Use store-bought chocolate wafers and this is just a five-ingredient dessert (plus a pinch of salt). That’s how you take it easy this summer.
Buttermilk Biscuit Cherry Cobbler
Photography by Patrick Marinello; food styling by Yekaterina Boytsova
For a less-sweet dessert and streamlined process, use a biscuit topping for your summer cobblers. This version takes a smart approach to ensure the best topping and filling: It gives the fruit a head start in the oven before the biscuit dough goes on top. This step avoids the common pitfalls of cobblers (runny filling and gummy biscuits) and ensures perfectly juicy, syrupy fruit and light, tender biscuits. You can make the biscuits with all-purpose flour, but our Buttermilk Biscuit Flour Blend makes it even easier.
Easy Blueberry Muffin Cake
Photography by Patrick Marinello; food styling by Yekaterina Boytsova
Depending on how you look at it, this simple cake is either a muffin you can eat for dessert or a cake you can eat for breakfast. Either way, it’s also a celebration of summer’s bounty of blueberries. Because the batter is made with melted butter and comes together in one bowl in about 10 minutes, you really can have it on the breakfast table early in the morning. Don’t just relegate it to the AM, though: It also makes a fun, casual dessert; just add a dollop of whipped cream.
Mexican Street Corn Cornbread
Photography by Patrick Marinello; food styling by Yekaterina Boytsova
Inspired by tangy, creamy Mexican elotes, this vibrant cornbread is flecked with fresh corn, cheese, and herbs and slathered in a sour cream-and-lime topping. The dump-and-stir cornbread batter is easy to make, and it gets a crispy, buttery crust from one smart trick: baking in a preheated, buttered baking dish.
