I love baking so much, and though my norm is bread, I get especially excited about desserts in the summer. Last summer was amazing–I made a strawberry peach galette for vacation, strawberry lemonade that was just the bomb dot com (yes, I am old), and so many amazing pies. There’s something about summer that just makes me want to bake all the things–it’s probably the worst time for it, considering the heat, but all the fruits are in season, so I don’t have to use canned for anything, which makes me all kinds of happy. And I know this isn’t what we’re normally talking about on the blog, but I love food, and I am so hyped to try out these recipes this summer.

I have been dreaming about cherry crumble bars for literal months now. I made apple crumble bars back in the fall/winter, and while they were amazing, and I will 10/10 make them again, I’ve just been dreaming about doing a cherry version of it. I don’t love cherries unless they’re fresh, so just using canned ones was out of the question. Honestly, would have been out of the question regardless because I’m always going to use fresh fruit over canned, thus the entire reason for this post since all of these will be in season soon. Hell, I’m already hungry, this post is going to be dangerous.

Nectarines are my favorite fruit, and I’ve been known to legit eat three a day in the summer, but peaches are a close second, and I am so hyped to make my first peach cobbler. This may turn into a pie, or even a galette, though I’d really like to go for the cobbler. This has been a dream since I first had Plum Deluxe’s ginger peach cobbler tea, and it was out of this world good. It never occurred to me to make my own, but I am so ready to gobble this up one summer afternoon.

I put a lot of food in my books, and that’s really not doing it justice because it’s way more than should be reasonable, but I just love food so much, and I’m so aggravated by characters not eating in books–especially fantasy, how are all of you not dead???–but I’ve got this strict rule of either having eaten or made everything that’s in them. There are two (I think?) recipes that I haven’t done either with, so it’s time for malasadas. These Portuguese donuts look absolutely divine, and Hugo makes them in my researcher & librarian story. I’m nervous about frying things, thus why I’ve always made baked churros–oooooh, I should finally do actual churros!–but I want to try these, and the best way to do scary things is to just do it.

My favorite pie is lemon meringue, which is annoying as hell because it’s also the most difficult to make, and though I have a long standing battle with both lemon curd and meringue, I’ve been eyeballing a lemon curd & raspberry brioche, and I think I’ve finally gotten on good terms with lemon curd, so I’m excited to give this one a go. Plus, I’ve been wanting to make a brioche for ages now, so this is the perfect combo!

Okay, go with me on this one–lilac scones with raspberry lemon curd. I KNOW. You think it sounds gross, but you’re (hopefully) wrong. I love all things floral, and lilacs are my favorite flower, so I think this one is going to be amazing. That, and the lilacs will be locally sourced from none other than my backyard! We have a gorgeous lilac tree in our backyard that I’m always sticking my face in, and I’ve wanted to do something with the petals forever, so this feels like the perfect opportunity. And yeah, I don’t know why I thought it’d be fun to do lemon curd twice, but then I saw this raspberry lemon curd filling somewhere, and well. That just sounds amazing. (Yes, the recipe I linked is a rhubarb curd, but ya girl likes almost everything except for celery and rhubarb, so.)

Many of these recipes aren’t ones that a lot of people in my house will eat, and I’m not entirely sure anyone will vibe a lemon blueberry cake with me, though I think my dad may take a bite. The whole damn house is full of lemon haters, and I don’t understand it. If I could infuse my blood with lemon and smell it at all times, I would. My dad loves blueberries, though, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that he’ll give this one a go.

You know what every damn person will eat, though? Grilled peaches with honey & marscapone. I’ve had grilled peaches before, but never like this, and this is another story recipe. Theodore makes these in the first sister witches, and they had me drooling when I was writing about them, so I’m excited to finally go all out and make these as fancy as possible.

And because I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t do at least one bread, I’ve sighed over this rose & pistachio wreath bread for ages, and while it’s probably a better winter bread, I want to source the petals from my backyard where we have a rose bush, so it’s happening in the summer! The recipe I have calls for saffron, but I’m probably going to replace that with cinnamon, but we’ll see. I really want the rose flavor to come through, so I’m going to do a little finagling with this one.

Are you starving now, too?