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Tasty Treats for Terribly Fun Days of Summer

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at MSU chapter.

Summer is the season of fun desserts! Family gatherings and getting together with friends since everyone is home from school really calls for some tasty treats. A few of my all-time favorite recipes are for fun frosted sugar cookies, fruit pizza and lemonade pie! Check out some tips below and assure your treats are snatched up before you can even set down the tray.

 

Sugar Cookies:

What could be more fun that bright, sugary and fun-shaped cookies!? Thanks to allrecipies.com for always providing me with this classic recipe.

Ingredients:

2 ¾ cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. baking powder

1 cup softened butter

1 ½ cups white sugar

1 egg

1 tsp, vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bow, combine flour, baking soda, and baking powder.

In a separate bowl, combine the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll dough into small balls and place on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8-10 minutes, or until golden. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for 1 minute before removing.

 

For the frosting, I usually buy the Pillsbury vanilla frosting. I separate it into a few bowls and add food coloring so I can frost them in fun and summery colors. 

If you don’t just want round cookies, instead of rolling the dough into balls, roll flat on the counter and use different shaped cookie cutters for a fun twist!

 

Fruit Pizza:

The fruit on this dessert makes it healthy…right!? This is my all time favorite dish to serve on a hot day.

Ingredients:

1 roll of Pillsbury Refrigerated Sugar Cookie Dough

Any fruit desired! I typically use:

Kiwi

Strawberry

Mandarin Oranges

Halved Grapes

Blueberries

Raspberries

1 package cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

½ tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 12-inch pizza pan with cooking spray. Press dough evenly throughout the pan mimicking how you would spread pizza dough. Bake 16-20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 30 minutes.

In a small bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until fluffy. Spread the frosting over the cooled sugar cookie dough. Now comes the fun part! Decorate your pizza with all different kinds of fruit, lots of color is more fun! Refrigerate until chilled.

 

Lemonade Pie:

This has got to be the EASIEST pie to make, no baking involved! Do you love lemonade? Do you love Cool Whip? Do you love piecrust? Then this is definitely your dessert! A fun variation of key lime pie is sure to have your guests running back for seconds.

Ingredients:

6 oz. frozen lemonade concentrate (softened)

14 oz. sweetened condensed milk

8 oz. cool whip

1 graham cracker crust

Directions:

Mix lemonade, condensed milk and cool whip. Pour into the ready-made graham cracker crust. Refrigerate until firm. You can also add lemons on top of the pie once it’s firm for an extra touch of fun and flavor. It truly is the easiest dessert. 

 

Enjoy!

 Marissa Russo is a senior at Michigan State University studying  journalism with a concentration in apparel and textile design. Her love for writing coincides with her love for design, and after graduation she hopes to work at a publication that allows her to do both. Marissa is a co-campus correspondent for Her Campus MSU. Follow her on Instagram: marissrusso and Twitter: @marissrusso