Sweet recipes to savour this summer

Sweet recipes to savour this summer

As textbooks are being cracked open for the very last time and the final hours of senior internships are being clocked in, summer is no longer a distant dream. The season of long days, hot sun, and no responsibilities is upon us, and with every new season comes another change besides the weather: the food. Here are are some sweet treats to keep you cool and quenched as you sit by the pool, the beach, or with friends on the upcoming hot summer days.

Frozen Yogurt Coconut Pops
Ingredients:
2 cups of fruit (ex. peaches, strawberries, and blueberries)
½ cup of sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cup of plain yogurt
1 ½ cups of powdered sugar
1 tablespoon of coconut extract
½ cup of coconut flakes for garnish
Directions:
For the fruit puree: blend together the fruit, sugar and lemon juice in a blender until it is smooth. For the yogurt: whisk together the sugar, yogurt and coconut extract. Combine the puree and yogurt into popsicle molds by pouring alternating layers. Then insert the sticks and freeze until the pops are frozen (about 8 hours). Remove the pops from the molds and enjoy this frozen treat!

Chocolate Peanut Butter and Banana Icebox Cake
Ingredients:
½ cup of smooth peanut butter
2 ½ cups cold heavy cream, divided
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
5 bananas, sliced (plus additional for garnish)
2 (9 ounce) packages of chocolate wafer cookies (or Oreos)
Directions:
In a large bowl, whisk together the peanut butter and heavy cream until fluffy. Whip the remaining 2 cups of cream with the sugar and vanilla. Slowly combine the peanut butter mixture with the whipped cream bit by bit, until it is light and fluffy then set aside. In a 9-inch springform pan, arrange a layer of cookies overlapping in a circle. Spread a layer of the whipped cream over the cookies, making sure all of them are covered, and then top this layer with banana slices. Repeat this step with the remaining cookies, whipped cream and banana slices and you should have a total of about 5 layers. Finish it off with a layer of whipped cream on top and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving this cool delicious dessert!

Milk Chocolate Banana Pudding Ingredients:
3 cups of whole milk
3 ounces of finely chopped milk chocolate
1 ounce of finely chopped unsweetened chocolate
6 large egg yolks
½ cup of sugar
3 tablespoons of cornstarch
½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
12 ounces of thin chocolate wafers
4 large bananas
2 cups of whipped cream
Milk chocolate shavings for garnish
Directions:
Place milk in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Whisk both chocolates into the milk and heat until melted and smooth.
Whisk together the yolks, sugar, and cornstarch. Slowly add in the chocolate-milk mixture and then return the entire mixture to the saucepan over medium-high heat and whisk until thick. Stir in vanilla and transfer to a clean bowl. Let this mixture cool to room temperature.
Once it is cool, put 1 cup of the mixture into a glass dish. Layer the cookies, bananas and mixture in the bowl, ending with the mixture on top. Cover and refrigerate the mixture until it is cool enough (4 hours), sprinkle with garnish and serve!