Summer Fruit Cups

Celebrate your summer fruit harvest by making Summer Fruit Cups. This delicious make-ahead dessert takes that fresh fruit and wraps them in peach flavored gelatin for a cool refreshing treat. Top off this easy recipe with a dollop of frozen whipped topping, then enjoy the sweet flavors of orange, blueberry, strawberry and crisp apple. 

Make-ahead desserts are perfect, especially during the dog days of summer.

Do what you’ve got to do in the kitchen while it’s still cool, then get out…enjoy your day.

After these Summer Fruit Cups set up in the refrigerator during the day, enjoy the fruits (pun intended) of your labor with this cool refreshing treat.

Making Summer Fruit Cups

This dessert is quick and easy to make. Start with your orange juice. Bring it to a boil either on the stove top or in the microwave. I measured out my cup of juice in a glass measuring cup and microwaved it for just over 2 minutes. 

Pour the hot juice into a medium bowl and whisk in the dry gelatin. Whisk for about 2 minutes until it completely dissolves. Stir in the cold water, then set aside. 

Let’s talk gelatin

The original recipe in my book uses 2 – 3 oz. boxes of gelatin. This was really good, and you can mix and match flavors, (like strawberry with lime), but I prefer using 1 box (6 oz.), for simplicity sake.

Having said that, mix and match at will. I don’t think there’s a gelatin that won’t go deliciously with fresh fruit, and some of the store brands have some fun funky flavors. 

Your favorite flavor is probably already in your pantry, that’s why you bought it in the first place.

What I’m trying to say is, you don’t have to follow the recipe exactly, you can change it up and, hopefully, have fun doing it.

Let’s talk fresh fruit

In this recipe I’m using strawberries, cherries, and a crisp apple. An apple chopped is about a cup and we need 3 cups total for the recipe. 

This doesn’t mean you have to use 3 different fruits, you can measure out, for instance, 3 cups of all strawberries if you want. 

I’ve also made this dessert with nectarines, which are hard to cut up. Mine was anyway. It stuck itself to the pit and it’s super slippery once you’ve peeled it. Ugh! 

Whatever fruit you decide to put in your Summer Fruit Cups, just keep in mind that when you eat it, it’s easier when the fruit is bite-sized.

When I finally peeled and sliced the nectarine, I should have cut each slice in half. It looks cool in the pictures, but it was hard to scoop out of the glass.

Once the fruit is in the cups, pour the gelatin over the fruit. 

You can get 8 servings out of this if you use smaller glasses, like a 6 – 8 oz. glass, plus you can add the frozen whipped topping to give it some height and fill up more of the glass. Looks like you’re getting more. (wink wink)

Because this dessert is so pretty, clear glasses are the best, but obviously, use whatever you have. It’s going to taste great no matter what you serve it in. 

If you want to use larger glasses, you might get 4 – 6 servings, depending on the size.

I wished I’d had a couple champagne glasses, tall and skinny for this. I think those would look so pretty, and they’d be fun to eat with a long teaspoon.

Refrigerate

Now it’s time to hurry up and wait…but only 4 hours.

Place the filled glasses into the refrigerator and let the magic of the frig set up the gelatin. Once set, it’s ready to be served. 

All that’s left to decide is whether or not you want whipped cream on top, frozen whipped topping, or enjoy the simplicity of the dessert flavors on their own.

More dessert recipes:

Even though I have other recipes, like casseroles and salads, I have to say that dessert is the most fun to both make and eat. Click on Desserts for the full dessert section in my blog. 

Decorating Summer Fruit Cups

Just a few ideas for these fun desserts. Use a red gelatin with blueberries and whipped cream for a patriotic look of red, white, and blue. Great for Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Veteran’s Day.

Go green for St. Patrick’s Day with lime gelatin, kiwi, and honeydew melon. Valentine’s Day…strawberries and cherries. Weekend pool parties, maybe lemon gelatin with pineapple.

Follow me on Pinterest and let me know what you think of these Summer Fruit Cups.

Post a picture if you want, and let us know what fruit was your favorite to put into your cups. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a beautiful day.

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