Blueberry

When blueberries are at their best (and most abundant), let their flavor shine in simple recipes. This cobbler can be assembled in minutes, and its ragged topping is both tender and crunchy. It's especially good with vanilla ice cream.

Grunts get their quirky name from the fact that the fruit, which is topped with dumplings and cooked on the stove in a covered skillet, can make a grunting sound as the dessert steams. Molasses adds sweetness and a lovely depth of flavor.

When it comes to ice cream cakes, there are no hard-and-fast rules as to what form they can take. Some consist solely of ice cream molded and then decorated to resemble a cake, while others intersperse layers of ice cream with thin layers of cake, crisp meringue, or even crumbled cookies. Our red, white, and blue July 4th extravaganza is a gorgeous amalgam of ice cream, cake, and blueberries and raspberries cooked separately into their own jammy fillings. Frosted simply in sweetened whipped cream and topped with more berries, this cake sparkles as much as the fireworks in the sky! Editor's Note: This recipe is part of Gourmet's Modern Menu for A Fourth of July Cookout. Menu also includes Grilled Corn with Honey-Ginger Barbecue Sauce and Grilled Shrimp with Honey-Ginger Barbecue Sauce.

Michael Laiskonis uses a little sugar and the gentle heat of a double boiler to draw out the berries' juices without cooking them, yielding a vibrant sweet soup.

"From the Lord Commander's own table," Bowen Marsh told them. There were salads of spinach and chickpeas and turnip greens, and afterwards bowls of iced blueberries and sweet cream. —A Game of Thrones Medieval Crème Bastard
This recipe produces an addictive cream sauce that is simple to make and not too sweet, complementing the natural sweetness of the berries. As a treat on the Wall, where Jon Snow makes his home, we thought it particularly fitting that the recipe is called Crème Bastard. Bastard is an early form of the word custard, and has no connection with one's parentage when used in a culinary context. Take þe whyte of Eyroun a grete hepe, & putte it on a panne ful of Mylke, & let yt boyle; þen sesyn it so with Salt an hony a lytel; þen lat hit kele, & draw it þorw a straynoure, an take fayre Cowe mylke an draw yt with-all, & seson it with Sugre... —Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery Books

The only trick to this fruit-flecked pie created by Sweet Rose Creamery in Santa Monica, CA, is making sure it gets 6 hours in the freezer to firm up.

You can use any ripe berries to make this seasonal pitcher cocktail.

If time is short, skip baking the homemade meringues and use store-bought.

Balsamic vinegar and brown sugar combine to make a tart, sweet dressing for all kinds of berries—a high variety ensures you’ll get a range of antioxidants. Serve the salad as is or topped with chopped toasted nuts.

Cherries help prevent inflammation, and blueberries offer antioxidants, including vitamins C and K. African rooibos is a tea that’s high in antioxidants and subtly sweet, but you can also use rose hips, ginger, or hibiscus.

Berries, blended with ice and almonds, make a simple, refreshing dessert that is also packed with fiber and antioxidants. Raspberry and strawberry crushes are shown here (left to right), but blackberries and blueberries would work well, as would cut-up peaches or bananas.

You can prepare the blueberry sauce and the lemony yogurt up to 2 days ahead, and refrigerate both in airtight containers. To serve, simply spoon the layers into juice glasses and garnish.

Serve with yogurt, berries, and a drizzle of honey.

We baked these treats in mini brioche pans; small fluted tartlet pans would work just as well.

These individual upside-down cakes are baked—and can be transported—in a muffin tin.