Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream is an old-fashioned favorite when made simply with strawberries, sugar, and cream (or milk). Just a few ingredients adds up to a summer ice cream treat that everyone loves.

Strawberry ice cream melts into deliciousness about as fast as you can eat it. This is light, creamy, smooth homemade ice cream with bits of strawberries mixed throughout.

Top a scoop of this Strawberry Ice Cream with Simple Berry Sauce or Homemade Chocolate Sauce and serve it over Double Chocolate Brownies for a dessert that any fan of chocolate-covered strawberries will love.

Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream

The MOST IMPORTANT thing to remember when making ice cream with fresh strawberries is to taste the berries.

It sounds overly simple, but the berries will contribute nearly all of the flavor to this recipe. If the berries are sweet and flavorful, the ice cream will be fantastic.

However, flavorless fruits will not be magically transformed into great ice cream. The resulting ice cream when working with subpar fruits is going to be very bland.

Often you can get away with subpar berries for cobbler, cake, or a crisp, because the cooking process enhances the flavors in a way that the simplest of ice creams will not be able to do.

I’ve been making this Strawberry Ice Cream for over ten years now and I’m happy to tell you that milk, half and half, or a combination of milk and cream may be used to make this ice cream. 

If you choose to make this

Pineapple, strawberries, and grapes are tossed together with a sweet and tangy dressing to make this Honey Lime Fruit Salad.

It’s finished with a pinch of salt and a sprinkling of poppy seeds to make a fabulously refreshing salad on a hot summer day.

Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing

Summer fruit salads are beautifully versatile. They are always a hit at barbecues and picnics and with the fruits in season right now; you can choose your favorites to combine.

The first time I made this salad, I simply worked with the fruit that was already in the house. We liked it so much, I’ve been making it the same way ever since.

Fruit Salad Dressing

This salad shares a similar honey-lime dressing to the Winter Fruit Salad I shared ages ago. If you enjoy these flavors, you’ll want to try that one next you have an abundance of clementine oranges in the house.

The simple honey-lime dressing takes an everyday bowl of fruit up a notch and makes it something special.

Just whisk together equal parts honey and lime juice and add a sprinkle of salt. The recipe can be doubled or tripled as much as you like!

Summer Fruit Salad Recipe

• Combine the pineapple, strawberries, and grapes in a medium-size bowl.
• Drizzle the lime juice and honey over the fruit.
• Sprinkle with salt and poppy seeds.
• Toss to coat and chill until ready to serve.

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Crunchy pretzels and a creamy filling are topped with piles of strawberries and blueberries making this Strawberry and Blueberry Pretzel Salad our favorite dessert for summer!

Several years ago, my aunt introduced me to the ever-popular Strawberry Pretzel Salad. I’d never even heard of it before and I fell in love with it from the very first bite.

I think I may have eaten 3 servings that day, including choosing it over pie for dessert!

Strawberry Pretzel “Salad” isn’t a salad at all. It’s a layered dessert that starts with a pretzel crust, then a sweet cream cheese and cool whip layer, and it’s topped with a strawberry jello layer.

Strawberry and Blueberry Pretzel Salad

Aunt Judy’s Strawberry Pretzel Salad is absolutely delicious and no one can ever resist a slice of it. This Berry Pretzel Dessert is my twist on that recipe.

Made without cool whip or jello, this dessert is a much less sweet, but still completely irresistible cousin to the original.

It starts with a pretzel crust that is layered with a lightly sweetened creamy filling. Topped with an abundance of fresh berries, I found myself going back for sliver after sliver all night long.

No Bake Strawberry Pretzel Dessert

Kitchen Tip: I use this spatula and this dish to make this recipe.

1. Finely crush the pretzels in a food processor, blender, or with a rolling pin in a heavy zip-close bag. Place the crumbs in a medium-size mixing bowl.
2. Add the melted butter and brown sugar and stir to combine. Press the crust mixture into the bottom of an 8×8 pan.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese and sugar. Beat until combined, about 2 minutes. Add the heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt.
4. Beat until smooth and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Pour over the crust and smooth with a spatula.
5. Top generously with berries. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. 

I loved the crumbling crust with bits of crunchy pretzels throughout, but if you prefer a more traditional crumb crust (that will also be more easily sliced) be sure to grind every bit of the pretzels into fine crumbs.

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Fresh apricots are tossed with cinnamon sugar and then layered between a brown sugar and oat crust to make these Apricot Crisp Bars.

Served on their own or topped with Vanilla Ice Cream this is a dessert that everyone loves.

Apricot Crisp

Almost firm enough to cut into bars and still fruity enough to resemble a crisp, this is simply a fruit crisp with both a top and bottom crust layer.

There’s no need to cut in cold butter or stress the streusel topping, just pour melted butter into the oat mixture and it will form the perfect crumb crust and topping. This might be one of the easiest fruit desserts you’ll ever make!

I can not sing the praises of parchment paper enough when it comes to recipes like this one. Let the bars cool completely and then simply lift them out of the pan to easily slice them.

Apricot Bars

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the fruit in a mixing bowl. Add the sugar, cinnamon, salt, cornstarch, and almond extract. Stir to combine and then let the fruit rest on the counter while preparing the crust.
2. In a separate mixing bowl, stir together the flour, oats, and brown sugar. Add the melted butter and stir to combine.
3. Press half of this mixture into a well-buttered or parchment-lined 9×13 pan. Pour the fruit over the bottom crust and then sprinkle the rest of the dry mixture on top.
4. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the crust turns golden brown. Serve warm from the oven or let cool completely and slice into servings. 

These Apricot Bars are dangerously tasty. They aren’t overly sweet and they are filled with juicy pieces of apricot and crunchy bites of streusel crust and topping.

They were so tempting that I actually had a friend come and take the rest of them off my hands because I feared how many I might eat before my husband could take them to the office the next day!

For more great fruit desserts, check out these Pineapple Coconut Bars and this Strawberry Rhubarb Crunch.

These Quinoa Fruit & Nut Bars and these Strawberry Oatmeal Bars are on my list now too. Don’t miss the rest of t