Summer Desserts That Are Easier Than Pie

Back in Fannie Farmer's day, making a pie was as easy as walking across the street. Pie recipes always started with, "Make a paste," with no directions or amounts. It was assumed that you knew how to throw together pie pastry (the "paste").

Today, of course, Thanksgiving is about the only time most cooks make a pie and, even then, they use store-bought crusts. So, I thought that we would grab a bunch of summer fruit recipes that are not pie—freeform tarts, compotes, crumbles, and fools—none of which require fitting dough into a pie plate.

For those of you who like to improvise, my favorite summer "pie that is not a pie" is crostata (or galette). Throw together a single recipe for pie pastry (1 1/4 cups flour, 8 tablespoons butter, 1/2 teaspoon table salt and 1 tablespoon sugar), let it chill for an hour or more, roll it out, transfer to a baking sheet and top the center with 2 cups fruit and a few tablespoons sugar. Fold the edges up over the fruit (the center will not be completely covered) and bake at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes, then lower the oven to 375 degrees until the crust is well browned—this should take about 50 minutes total. It is best baked on parchment paper since juices will likely flow out onto the baking sheet. If you need a more formalized recipe, we have two: Mixed Berry and Fresh Peach and Raspberry.

A Mixed Berry Crumble is even easier, and requires no pastry work at all. Grab some oats, sugar and spices, and toss some of the mixture with a pound of fruit—you can even use frozen berries straight from the freezer—then use the rest to make the topping, mixing it with butter and almonds. Put the berries in a pie plate, and scatter the topping over the fruit. Bake until the edges are bubbling and the crumble is golden brown. And if you want to give the topping an extra dimension of nutty flavor, you can mix tahini into the crumble topping, like we do in our Blueberry Crumble with Oats and Tahini.

Other summer fruit desserts that are as easy as walking across the street:

• Strawberry and Amaretti Fool: This no-cook British dessert combines whipped cream, crisp Italian cookies and fruit. We first macerate strawberries with sugar to soften their texture and draw out some of their juices to form a ruby-colored syrup that’s drizzled over the finished fool.
• Eton Mess with Cherries and Chocolate: Another no-cook British dessert. For this one, we toast store-bought meringue cookies under the broiler and layer them with cherries, whipped cream and chopped chocolate. Frozen cherries make this dessert a breeze to put together; we chop then soften the fruit by microwaving the pieces with sugar and sherry vinegar, which balances the sweetness of the meringues.
• Cherry and Chocolate Crumble Semifreddo: The easiest “ice cream cake” you’ll ever make. A frozen whipped mixture of condensed milk and heavy cream stand in for true ice cream—all you have to do is layer it in a loaf pan with chopped cherries (flavored with nutty amaretto and almond extract) and store-bought chocolate wafer cookies. Freeze, unmold, slice and serve.
• Raspberry-Mascarpone Freeform Tart: Frozen puff pastry forms the crust of this tart, which is filled with sweetened mascarpone cheese and studded with fresh raspberries. It requires all of six ingredients and 25 minutes of active time.
• Raspberry-Pistachio Meringue with Spiced Whipped Cream: Another interpretation of Eton Mess, this one features fresh raspberries, store-bought meringue cookies, and pistachios, along with whipped cream that’s been spiked with sour cream for extra tang and stability.

If you’re out of fresh (or frozen) fruit but have some jam, you can still make a tart. Our Streusel-Topped Jam Tart can be made with any flavor of jam, or you can make torta antica roma—an ancient, rustic tart inspired by the traditional Roman combination of ricotta and cherries. (Read about its history and development in Milk Street Magazine.)

Finally, the easiest thing to do with summer fruit is make a compote. Mash and simmer fresh or frozen fruit until thick—almost jammy—and sweeten with sugar and season with whatever you like. A combination of chili and black pepper adds a balancing savory note to sweet strawberries; lavender and strips of lemon zest complement blueberries quite well. Serve over ice cream, cheesecake, or our Hot Milk Sponge Cake (which is like angel food cake, but way better).

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Christopher Kimball

Christopher Kimball is founder of Milk Street, which produces Milk Street Magazine, Milk Street Television on PBS, and the weekly public radio show Milk Street Radio. He founded Cook’s Magazine in 1980 and was host and executive producer of America’s Test Kitchen until 2016. Kimball is the author of several books, including "The Yellow Farmhouse" and "Fannie’s Last Supper."