Berry

These pretty mixtures of bread and sweetened berries are inspired by the classic English dessert called summer pudding. Begin preparing them one day before serving so that the bread will absorb the delicious juices.

"Last summer we spent a week in Paso Robles, California, and had an excellent dinner at Bistro Laurent," say Rusty and Stacey Willi of Santa Rosa, California. "To our delight, dessert—a warm raspberry clafouti topped with vanilla ice cream—turned out to be one of our favorite vacation memories." This dessert has a more cake-like texture than a traditional clafouti. The version here is even better topped with ice cream.

Buttermilk makes the cake tender, and cream cheese adds great texture to the frosting.

Developed in 1923, the boysenberry is a hybrid of the blackberry, raspberry and loganberry.

For a quick and easy version, just stir one cup of praline into a one-quart tub of vanilla ice cream that has been softened slightly.

Frozen blueberries make these muffins a year-round treat. You can use blue cornmeal for this recipe, but of course, the yellow works just as well.

If you don't feel like making your own vanilla ice cream for these red, white and blue sundaes, simply pick up a premium brand at the supermarket.

Have fun with this variation on an old favorite.

Here's a colorful and creative pie: Apricots, which flourish in California, Hawaiian pineapple and Oregon cranberries come together in a filling that offers a terrific balance of the exotic and the traditional. It's good with vanilla ice cream.

Fools are traditionally prepared with pureed fruit mixed with whipped cream, or egg custard, or a combination of the two. (The term fool probably comes from the French fouler, meaning "to crush.") They seem to be especially successful when made with sharply flavored garden produce like rhubarb, gooseberries, and black currants, which still have enough bite to be interesting when blended with cream. But strawberries, which are much easier to find, also work quite nicely. Strawberry fool is best when the fruit is mashed rather than pureed, resulting in a more appealing texture. Serve it with cookies.

A winner in the Bon Appétit Recipes Sweepstakes, a reader poll conducted in honor of our 50th anniversary.

There's no easier dessert than fresh fruit. But for something a little more spirited, we topped it with some store-bought lemon curd lightened with yogurt and flavored with crème de cassis. This simple dessert is a snap to prepare.

This simple, delicious treat is excellent spread over scones or toast and comes together in practically no time at all.

Popsicle molds are sold at some drugstores and department stores.