A plum pie topped with crumble with one piece missing from the pie.
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Cherries

The first to arrive on the summer stone fruit scene, cherries are available throughout the summer in a variety of colors and flavors. Sweet cherries, such as Bing, Lapins, or Rainier, are perfect for enjoying raw, preserving, or baking into pies and tarts. Sour cherries, such as Montmorency, are best cooked and are popular in pies, cocktails, and crisps, where sugar can be added to tame their tartness.

A rectangular fresh cherry tart with cream cheese filling on a white surface with a knife and a small bowl of jam on the side.
Joanie Simon
1 of 15

Fresh Cherry Tart with Cream Cheese Filling

At first glance, the addition of citrus may seem unusual, but the added lemon or lime in the crust pairs beautifully with the almond and fresh cherry flavors.
A whole cherry pie with a lattice crust on a baking sheet on a wood table.
David Leite
2 of 15

Sweet Cherry Pie

For some people—er, me—apple pie is a favorite. For others, it’s unquestionably cherry that rocks their world. I get asked every weekend at the Pitchfork Pie Stand if I have cherry pie. My response is a quick one: “Who’s going to pit all those cherries?!” But cherry pie is bred deeply in the American DNA, and for that, and its bright and cheery appearance, there is a place for it when offering gifts of healing to others.

There is nothing better than a fresh cherry pie for launching the summer fruit pie season. This recipe was a fabulous kick-off! I brought home about two pounds of cherries and the filling set beautifully as the pie cooled. Oh and the crust—beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!

Chiyo
A mason jar mostly filled with pickled cherries, pickling liquid, star anise, and a cinnamon stick.
Tara Fisher
3 of 15

Pickled Cherries

Pickled cherries are a quick, easy, unexpected way to extend cherry season. Tartly sweet, subtly spiced, and surprisingly hard to stop eating, these little gems ably extend summer.

This is the 6th time I’ve made this pickled cherries recipe. It never disappoints!

Ilda C.

Apricots

Fresh apricots are in season in North America from May through July, although the dried variety is a popular snack year-round. While an excellent addition to pies, tarts, and crumbles, the sweet-tart flavor of these fruits also lends itself to cocktails, like this apricot daiquiri, and pairs well in savory dishes like roasted pork tenderloin with chanterelles.

Plate with an slice of apricot tart filled with frangipane and topped with chopped pistachios.
Claire Widenfield
4 of 15

Apricot Tart with Frangipane

This apricot tart is full of fresh apricots that are sitting on a buttery frangipane, or almond cream, all nestled in a crumbly sweet tart shell. On top are chopped pistachios, for the wow factor.
A jelly jar filled with apricot jam and a spoon resting on top.
Mike McColl
5 of 15

Apricot Jam

This no pectin apricot jam recipe, made with only three ingredients – fresh apricots, sugar, and lemon juice – is an easy way to make apricot season last all year long.

I LOVE it!!!! I made the apricot jam exactly by the recipe and it was incredible.

Mylene
A cooked apricot galette on a piece of parchment paper with a metal spatula beside it.
Leela Cyd
6 of 15

Apricot Galette

With an apricot galette, you have the best of summer—a ripe, sweet fruit that speaks for itself, needing very little added sugar and a light, buttery crust that's fuss-free.

This is a fantastic galette recipe that is equal parts wonderful California apricots and French pastry. A taste of summer and a taste of Paris all at once.

Mr. Mill Valley

Peaches

Whether you prefer to enjoy perfectly ripe peaches unadorned, juice dripping down your arms, transformed into sweet and spicy peach salsa, piled atop burrata and peach pizza, or baked into a fresh peach pie, these stone fruits are a much-beloved summer favorite.

Curious about whether you should choose clingstone or freestone? It’s up to you. Freestone peaches are easier to cut and pit, making them ideal for the grilled peach recipe below or for enjoying out of hand, while clingstone peaches are smaller and sweeter, making them perfect for canning and preserving.

Grilled peaches with honey and black pepper scattered on a piece of parchment paper.
Eva Kolenko
7 of 15

Grilled Peaches with Honey and Black Pepper

These grilled peaches with honey and black pepper are an easy summer dessert that caramelizes the natural sweetness of stone fruits and turns them tender and soft. A drizzle of honey and a slight bite from black pepper takes them over the top.

Grilled peaches are the perfect summer dessert! It was the perfect ending to a lovely dinner of grilled lamb chops, potato gratin, and fennel arugula salad. I served the peaches with vanilla ice cream and I had a very happy table!

Lisa
A blue background with a white bowl filled with sliced peaches, tomatoes, red onions, basil, and chunks of bread.
Elizabeth Cecil
8 of 15

Tomato and Peach Panzanella

Tomato and peach panzanella may sound unlikely but it’s gonna knock your socks off. Or, if you’re not wearing socks this time of year, then it’ll knock your flip-flops off. Guaranteed.

This tomato and peach panzanella is summer in your mouth! I can’t say enough about how good this was. It’s peak tomato and peach season here in Southern California which made for a delicious treat.

Nancy D.
A spoon resting in a dish of cornmeal drop-biscuit peach cobbler.
Jim Henkens
9 of 15

Old-Fashioned Peach Cobbler

This old-fashioned peach cobbler is made with peaches, flour, milk, sugar, and a surprise trick to make the surface irresistibly crackly and crisp. It's the best cobbler we've ever tried.

I wait longingly for peach season, just to make this cobbler. It’s truly wonderful, either fresh out of the oven or after a day or two in the fridge…that is, if you have any left!

Janet D.

Nectarines

Nectarines have the same sweet flavor as peaches but lack the fuzzy skin. Genetically, the fruits are the same and are often paired together in pie, crisp, cobbler, and stone fruit slump.

Baked nectarines with Port in a cast-iron casserole dish, three nectarines topped with whipped cream and grated nutmeg.
Aran Goyoaga
10 of 15

Baked Nectarines With Port

Baked nectarines with port make a lovely, summery dessert that's both easy and elegant. A little scoop of vanilla ice cream wouldn't go amiss here, either.
A round glass baking dish filled with peach nectarine cobbler and a spoon on the side.
Jody Horton
11 of 15

Peach Nectarine Cobbler

This peach nectarine cobbler combines lightly spiced stone fruit filling and cakey biscuit topping for a classic easy summer dessert.

This peach nectarine cobbler is fabulous. You can’t go wrong with perfectly ripe peaches and nectarines, but those biscuits on top stole the show! I was hopeful that there would be leftovers to eat for breakfast but my greedy family made sure there were none.

Angelene
A glass bowl filled with a poached nectarine half and raspberries with a spoon on the side.
Mitchell Beazley
12 of 15

Poached Nectarines

Poached nectarines in rosé syrup. Simple as can be in execution. Sophisticated in presentation. Lovely through and through.

Plums

Plums are the jewel-toned star of summer stone fruit recipes. Their sweet-tart flavor and soft, juicy flesh make them ideal for baking into cakes and plum torte. For the most flavorful fruit, look for plums with a deep, consistent color that is still firm. Avoid any fruit that feels soft or has blemishes or dark spots on the skin.

A cast-iron skillet plum cake with slices of fanned out plums baked in
Christina Holmes
13 of 15

Skillet Plum Cake

This skillet plum cake is an easy dessert to make with ripe plums (or your favorite summer fruit) that are baked into sweet buttermilk cake.
A frozen tub of plum sorbet, with a scoop of sorbet and some sugar cookies lying beside it.
Tara Fisher
14 of 15

Roasted Plum Sorbet

This recipe is inspired by a sorbet that I had on one such evening in late summer, the scoops piled high into a waffle cone and dripping sticky-sweet plum juices down my hands—the perfect end to an evening.

It felt a little sacrilegious initiating my ice cream maker with something other than a classic vanilla ice cream, but fresh fruit was calling. Roasting with cinnamon, sugar and vanilla beans was such a simple process, and produced an aromatic, rich plum sorbet with sunset colors.

At serving time, the sorbet had a richness that I would not have expected from a sorbet. It was smooth, just tart enough to be refreshing, and a great inaugural run for my ice cream maker. Thank you!

Judith P.
A baked plum crumble pie with a serving cut from it and a knife on the table beside it.
Staci Valentine
15 of 15

Plum Crumble Pie

This plum crumble pie is made a traditional pastry crust, a bubbling fruit filling, and an easy crumble topping. An easy summer dessert.

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About David Leite

I count myself lucky to have received three James Beard Awards for my writing as well as for Leite’s Culinaria. I’m the author of The New Portuguese Table and Notes on a Banana. For more than 25 years, I’ve been developing and testing recipes for my site, my books, and publications. My work has also appeared in the New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, Saveur, Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Yankee, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and more. I’m also a cooking teacher, memoirist, and inveterate cat lady.

Read More About Me

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