One of the best things about summer is the bounty of stone fruits including nectarines, cherries, peaches, and plums.
With these flooding the markets and supermarkets, it is time to get your dessert on. You do not necessarily need to turn the oven on, but even if you do decide to bake, you will still want to weigh lighter than usual.
From simple banana splits to sorbets, summer desserts are all about making the most of seasonal fruit. Here are three tips for making easy summer fruit desserts.
Pinot Noir Poached Stone Fruits with Wine Reduction Syrup and Mascarpone
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A post shared by Leno R. (@crazy_cucumber_blog) on Nov 22, 2019 at 11:29pm PST
Nothing says summer quite like the sweet, juicy flavors of stone fruits. Red wine and creamy mascarpone combine deliciously with summer fruits to create an amazing flavourful dessert.
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients
700g ripe but firm stone fruits (plums, and apricots)
300 ml Pinot Noir wine
3 tbsp coconut sugar
2 anise stars
1 cinnamon stick
4 cardamom pods, crushed
½ vanilla pod
To serve
Chilled Mascarpone cheese
Sliced almond
Fresh mint
Method
Cut the plums and apricots into quarters and remove the stones. Remove stones from cherries using a cherry pitter. Or just cut cherries into halves and remove the stones.
Combine all ingredients in a pan and mix so that the sugar is dissolving evenly. Halve the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the seeds, then add both pod and seeds to the dish.
Gently simmer the fruits for about 10 minutes. Remove the fruit from the poaching liquid and place in a shallow serving bowl. Remove the vanilla pod and spices.
Bring the poaching liquid back to a simmer and cook on low heat for 15-20 minutes or until it turns slightly thick and syrupy. Cool the syrup.
Pour the reduced syrup over the fruit. Serve chilled with a dollop of mascarpone cheese, sliced almonds, and fresh mint.
Recipe by Chef Leno.
Honey Plum
Sorbet
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A post shared by Kimmy (@skinnypear) on Oct 29, 2019 at 6:00pm PDT
This parfait has layers of frozen fruit sorbet with almond vanilla chia pudding. Super simple, super delicious, and super healthy.
Ingredients
The chia pudding
1 cup almond milk
¼ cup chia seeds
1tsp cinnamon
1tbsp honey (or to taste)
The honey plum sorbet
2.5 cups Honeydew, yellow variety, chopped)
1.5 cups red plums, chopped)
2tbsp honey
¼ cup + coconut water (from a can – more as needed)
¼ cup hemp seeds
Method
Make chia pudding in advance (at least 2 hours, or overnight) by mixing all pudding ingredients together and letting it chill.
Freeze sorbet fruit chunks on a baking sheet.
Blend all sorbet ingredients together, gradually adding additional coconut water as needed.
Assemble parfait by layering chia pudding and freshly blended sorbet.
Recipe by Skinny Pear.
Banana Split with Coconut
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A post shared by Gourmet Traveller (@gourmettraveller) on Oct 25, 2019 at 6:01pm PDT
A crowd-pleasing dessert that’s made in no time you say? This banana split delivers.
Serves: 4
Ingredients
4 bananas, skin on, halved lengthways
165g coconut sugar, plus extra for dusting
⅓ coconut cream
Coconut ice-cream, coconut flakes, chopped roasted macadamia nuts, mint leaves, finely grated lime rind and lime wedges, to serve.
Method
Heat a large frying pan over high heat. Dust cut sides of banana heavily with sugar and place cut-side down in pan. Cook until caramelised (2-3 minutes), then transfer to a plate.
Add the coconut sugar to pan with 80ml water, stir until dissolved, then cook without stirring until caramelised (2-3 minutes). Slowly add coconut cream (be careful, hot caramel will spit), bring to the boil, stirring to combine, then transfer to a bowl and place in the freezer briefly to cool.
Arrange bananas on serving plates, top with scoops of ice-cream, drizzle with caramel and scatter with coconut, macadamia, mint and lime rind and serve with lime wedges.
Recipe by Chef Emma Knowles.