From layer cakes to unexpected savory pairings, here are 12 ways to use up your fresh summer strawberries before the season slips away.
There’s no shortage of fresh strawberries throughout the year, but for strawberries that actually taste like strawberries, the window is short and sweet.
So naturally, you come home with a massive haul from the farmer’s market. Your fridge full of fresh berries, your fingers stained with a red tint. It’s summer! And it goes by fast!
And those three pints of gorgeous summer strawberries you brought home with the best of intentions have about 48 hours left to live before they start to turn to mush. Instead of letting them go to waste, it’s time to move past the smoothies.
It’s time to turn them into a bubbling crumble, a lunch salad, or a scrumptious layer cake. Here are 12 strawberry recipes that will help you make the most of prime berry season.
Fried Halloumi and Strawberry Salad
Starting with a light, easy salad you can make for lunch, this fried halloumi and strawberry salad is one of my favorites.
Sweet, salty, squeaky, peppery, and crunchy, it has watercress, pistachios, hot honey, and mint. It comes together in under 30 minutes, and it’s perfect on its own, as a starter, or a side. Serve it alongside grilled fish, shrimp, or chicken for a gorgeous summer dinner.
Strawberry Summer Cake
Light, fluffy, and bursting with fresh berries, this strawberry summer cake is everything you want a simple afternoon cake to be. Super easy to make and ready to serve in under an hour, it’s perfect for warm days, picnics, or just because.
All it needs is a dusting of powdered sugar and a dollop of freshly whipped cream.
Strawberry Orange Layer Cake
This strawberry orange layer cake has this strange ability to disappear quickly! I think it might have something to do with its citrusy layers glued together by mounds of whipped cream, layered with a pile of macerated strawberries.
It’s an indulgent afternoon treat: the kind that’s best served slightly chilled, with a cup of coffee and the kitchen crowded with your favorite people.
Strawberry Brita Cake
This classic Nordic dessert gets its own twist in this Strawberry Brita Cake, where a soft sponge cake base is baked with a crisp meringue, then topped with macerated strawberries.
Do you feel like cake? Or maybe a little pavlova? Why not both and why not all at once? A gorgeous, effortless summer treat!
Strawberry Shortcake Pudding Cups
Combining roasted strawberries, vanilla pudding, whipped cream, and vanilla wafers, these Strawberry Shortcake Pudding Cups might be summer’s easiest, most delightful, make-ahead dessert.
A summer, berry take on the classic Magnolia’s famous banana pudding, these would be perfect for a baby shower, picnic, or any summer party for that matter!
Strawberry Mascarpone Tart
A no-bake dessert, this tart starts with a crisp peanut butter crust, a rich mascarpone filling, and a glossy crown of fresh strawberries, making it as beautiful as it is delicious.
Whether you’re hosting a brunch, celebrating a birthday, or simply craving a sweet treat, this showstopper is far easier to make than it looks, and it’s a great way to celebrate summer strawberries.
Strawberry Peach Cobbler
Combining summer’s juicy peaches and strawberries under a layer of golden drop biscuits, this Strawberry Peach Cobbler is a classic dessert that comes together in about an hour, with only a bowl and fork.
It calls for ingredients you probably have sitting in your fridge, and it’s a great excuse to use up all those peaches ripening on your counter, and the strawberries you brought home from the market.
Plum Strawberry Cobbler
Another classic summer cobbler, this plum and strawberry one features a jammy, naturally sweet filling, topped with a buttery, nutty biscuit crust that perfectly balances the tart stone fruit underneath.
It’s rustic and rich, even better served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Dare I say… the perfect summer dessert?
Strawberry Peach Basil Crisp with Brown Butter & Sesame
This is a dish full of textures and flavors, where sweet, juicy, and buttery collide, bubbling beneath an oat crumble that will slowly but surely crisp up in the oven.
Highlighting some of summer’s best produce: strawberries! Peaches! Fresh basil! With its warm brown butter and sesame crisp, it’s a little fall on top, a little summer on the bottom.
Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream, and it will taste like late summer or early fall – depending on the mood, depending on the day.
Strawberry Shortcake with Basil Whipped Cream
Another basil and strawberry pairing, in these shortcakes the heavy cream is infused with fresh basil for an herby hint that beautifully complements the strawberries.
Shortcakes are perfect for summer because they are a low-effort, high-reward treat: just cold butter and cream mixed with flour and you end up with tender, flaky layers of deliciousness.
Strawberry Black Pepper Jam
Have you ever looked at your rapidly dying berries and wondered what to do with them? Worried that their next stop is inevitably the trash can? The answer is simple: turn them into jam!
In this small-batch jam, the black pepper doesn’t make it spicy, but instead, it enhances the berry flavor. And because it doesn’t follow traditional jam ratios, this recipe calls for a lot less sugar, making it less shelf-stable, but also a lot less sweet than store-bought jam.
So easy and fragrant, and entirely customizable!
Cornbread Loaf with Macerated Strawberries
This cornbread loaf with macerated strawberries is a rustic twist on the classic shortcake. It’s a little toasty, a little nutty, and entirely delicious.
The simplicity of cornbread. A handful of staple ingredients. A little mixing. And suddenly you have a dessert/treat to serve on a hot summer day.
