Holy summer. Glorious, sunny summer. The weather this week has been gorgeous.

Last week, that sentence might have gone like this: Holy summer. Holy heat. Holy humidity. Holy…hell.

Yeah, I can complain about the weather a bit but summer here can be so fickle. It giveth and then it whippeth away. Plus I come from a temperate climate. Extremes ruffle my feathers.

There was one particular thing that made me most sad about the recent extreme heat and humidity in Minneapolis. It wasn’t the profuse sweating, nor the fact that I had to take two cold showers a night. Wading through humidity wasn’t it. It was that I wasn’t able to turn on my oven to bake or cook. Because really, why? Why would you do that?

Yet, I craved the ability to whip up something sweet. And so I turned (as I so often do) to Twitter and to Facebook and I asked folks, what are your favourite no-bake desserts?

The response was amazing and here’s the reality – there is a ton you can do sans-oven. I was focusing so much on what I couldn’t do that I somehow forgot about the opportunity for seasonal deliciousness all around me (blame it on the humidity).

Fresh summer dessert ideas are everywhere and it’s truly the best time of the year to make and enjoy them. Come December raspberries are not going to taste this sweet, trust me. And so I was inspired to pick up my whisk again and get creative.

This is a very simple dessert idea but quite lovely. The buttermilk/honey mixture is almost thirst quenching it’s so cold and liquid-y. It makes a great friend to the sweet berries and fresh mint. If you have any of the buttermilk mixture leftover it also makes a wonderful base for a berry smoothie.

Berries with Buttermilk and Honey
adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients