Healthy Summer Berry Dessert Recipes

Coconut extract gives these homemade granola bars tropical-inspired flavor. Feel free to swap the blueberries, cashews and flaxseeds for any combination of your favorite dried fruit, nuts or seeds. We tested several sticky sweeteners, including maple syrup and honey, but found brown rice syrup held the bars together the best.

Try this Mini Berry Cream Pies recipe the next time you want to whip up a quick healthy dessert. For this red-white-and-blue dessert, frozen mini phyllo cups work the best. Keep them nestled in their tray for easy transport to a picnic or potluck.

A fruit crisp offers the luscious flavor of a fresh fruit pie without the fuss of making a crust. Celebrate the arrival of late-summer peaches with this rich-tasting crisp. The nut-studded topping works great with other fruit combinations too.

In this fruit crisp, the crunchy oatmeal topping and the peach-rhubarb filling get a lively kick from finely chopped crystallized ginger. (If you're not a ginger fan just leave it out.) The fruit filling is sweetened to match the peach-rhubarb combination--if you use other fruit that is very ripe and/or sweet, reduce the sugar in the filling to 3 tablespoons. The topping can be made ahead, so consider making a double batch and storing half in the freezer to have on hand for a quick dessert.

In this quick dessert recipe, fresh strawberries top nondairy chocolate “ice cream” for a cooling treat.

Blending vanilla yogurt and reduced-fat cream cheese creates a topping that's as virtuous as it is delicious. Any fresh berry can be used in this recipe.

We combine cran-raspberry juice with sparkling white grape juice to make a dazzling raspberry jello recipe. We like to add fresh raspberries to enhance the flavor but any small berry would work well too.

Instead of buying pricy energy bars, fuel your fitness routine with this great-tasting homemade energy bar recipe. Whether you use these energy bars as a pre-workout snack or to refuel and recover post-workout, they'll give your body what it needs. Best of all, you can make this energy bar recipe in minutes.

Sour cream gives this healthy baked custard recipe richness and tang. It's delicious with in-season strawberries, but feel free to substitute whatever berries you can get your hands on.

Sweet strawberries are nestled between layers of sponge cake and a cream filling in this easy cake. We add nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt to whipped cream to lighten up the filling and give it a little tang.

Using fat-free cheese and yogurt plus light dessert topping help keep this chilled fruit dessert recipe low in calories, carbs and fat.

This chocolate raspberry tofu pie gets an amazing smooth, rich, creamy texture from pureed tofu. But no need to reveal that tofu is the secret ingredient--we're sure no one will guess.

Pure maple syrup gives the fruit filling rich flavor in this healthy blueberry pie recipe. If you don't want to make a lattice top, simply lay the second crust on top and cut three slits into the dough to vent steam.

Rhubarb is a tangy counterpart for sweet raspberries in this fruit crumble recipe. For a nutty flavor and a boost of nutrition, this healthy dessert uses whole-grain rye flour and toasted pecans. Serve the crumble with your favorite vanilla frozen yogurt or a dollop of whipped cream.

These adorable strawberry shortcakes are made with mini angel food cakes. These single-serve desserts are perfect for a picnic or party on a warm summer day.

This healthy dessert recipe is a quick and healthy way to satisfy your chocolate craving.

Highway 61 is Minnesota's unofficial pie trail, and a stop for a slice is a must on a road trip. This summer pie recipe is adapted from Rustic Inn Café in Two Harbors.

With summery, bright fruit, this pie is a crowd- pleaser and pretty enough to be the centerpiece for a summer dinner party. The crust is tender, with a deeper flavor from the whole-wheat flour than you would get with a plain white-flour crust.

This pretty pumpkin-cranberry Bundt cake is a delicious alternative to holiday pumpkin pie.

What better way to take advantage of summer's bounty of berries than to enclose a mixture of berries in flaky pastry and bake up these delicious turnovers--the perfect handheld dessert for picnics and backyard parties. A dusting of sugar on top of the hand pies creates a crispy crust and eliminates the need for frying.

Astoundingly good for minimal effort, this makes an indulgent weekend breakfast or anyday dessert. A judicious smear of mascarpone (half the fat of butter) is part of the luxury, but even lighter low-fat cream cheese will work as well. The real secret is warming the berries just enough to make the flavor bloom and transform their juices into a rosy syrup.

Wedges of juicy watermelon topped with nondairy coconut yogurt and berries make for a crisp and refreshing dessert. To feed a crowd, leave the wedges blank and let guests add their own toppings to the yogurt.

An ice cream maker allows you to create your own frozen desserts with wholesome ingredients like fruit and yogurt. This one is a terrific alternative to commercial ice cream. It is fat-free and, even though it contains some sugar, it is very low in calories. When strawberries are not in season, frozen are a fine alternative.

This fun and fruity cake is easy to make, once you get the hang of the blending, freezing and layering. Be sure each layer is frozen completely before adding the next to get the maximum rainbow effect. (Some layers may take longer to freeze than others.) If you want more vibrant layers, a drop or two of natural food coloring can enhance the colors. You can sub in frozen fruit if you don't have fresh on hand (just thaw before pureeing), and you can swap frozen yogurt for the ice cream if you'd like.