Cooking & Baking with Summer Fruits {Naptime Simple Tips}

I love to incorporate fresh seasonal fruit into just about everything I serve in the summer. In the Northeast our season for cherries, berries, peaches, apricots and plums is quite short it is necessary to get while the gettin’ is good. Our weekly farmer’s market opens in June and on every single visit I come home with a basket or quart of this or that. We even go strawberry and blueberry picking in the summer when the harvest at our local farm is ripe. There is nothing like eating a fresh picked strawberry right in the field.

Today I thought I would share some of my favorite ways to bake with summer fruits. Of course, they can always be thoroughly rinsed and eaten as is, but it fun to bake and cook with them too. Here are my tips on how to make the most of summer fruits, especially in the northern climates where the season is so short!

Blueberry-Thyme Bundt Cake

Cakes & Breads: Baking with berries, chopped peaches, plums and apricots is quite simple. The key to making a successful baked good is to stir the fruit very gently when incorporating it into a batter. Heavy stirring can cause delicate berries to burst and release there juices, taking the baked good from polka-dotted goodness to oddly streaked in mere seconds. Fruity baked goods are always excellent served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, sorbet or a dollop whipped cream to mellow out the bright sweetness of the fruit.

Here are Some Delicious Fruit Cakes & Breads:

– Apricot Blueberry Cake

– Blueberry-Thyme Bundt Cake

– Zucchini-Blueberry Bread

– Lemon & Lime Berry Tarts

– Strawberry-Blackberry Shortcakes

– Summer Fruit Crumble

Breakfast Goodies:

– Berrylicious Coconut Crumb Cake

– Blueberry Muffins

– Overnight French Toast with Blueberries & Pecans

Strawberry Mint Ice-Cream

Frozen Treats:

– Strawberry-Mint Ice Cream

– Peach Ice Cream

– Raspberry Ice-Cream

Eternal Summer Apricot Jam

Jams & Other Tasties:

– Eternal Summer Apricot Jam

– Blueberry Pie in a Jar