Summer Desserts

Please, sir, I want some more.

I decided to do a deep dive into summer desserts this month. (Mom would have approved.)

I had some nervous energy one afternoon so I donned the apron and made a pan of brownies. OK, so Mom wouldn’t have chosen chocolate first. But I had a fresh bag of cherries and a pint of Cherry Garcia ice cream in the freezer. It just made sense.

I have this thing for tarts.

As you can see, I am always at the ready for tart magic.

But you know what I usually make instead? A rustic tart, crostata in Italian, galette in French. In our house, we say crostata.

Crostatas are super easy to make. One autumn, I made an apple one for my mom. Her response: “Where has this been all my life?”

If I’m top of my game, I’ll have my own crusts ready in the freezer. (I love this version of dough from Dorie Greenspan.) It’s always good to be prepared. But when I need a crostata and I need one stat, I keep some store bought pie crusts in the freezer. I thaw the crust, heat the oven, and toss some sliced fruit with sugar, maybe a little cornstarch, and lemon juice and then pour the mixture into the center of the rolled out crust. I fold over the edges and usually egg wash and sugar the crust so it browns. I get extra oohs and ahhs for that move.

Once I discovered these easy rustic tarts, I made them all the time. At the holidays, maybe I’d use apples or pears with cranberries. I’d use plums, mixed berries, figs.

Last weekend, I used summer strawberries!

I wrote about those Sara Lee pound cakes that Mom kept stashed in the freezer last week. I thought I’d try to bake a pound cake myself. I was happy with the result.

A few days later I spent the afternoon in the kitchen where I patiently made lemon curd.

Heavy cream was in the fridge. Berries were at the ready. I realized I was slow walking my way into making a summer trifle.

If you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to the kitchen to fill up this lonely trifle bowl.

Thanks again for reading. I care about you. Please don’t forget to eat your greens.

***Written to Lavender Days by Caamp.