Summer Berry Basil Sauce is sweetened with a touch of honey and spiced with warm notes of cinnamon and the soothing summer aroma of fresh basil. This sweet treat takes only a few minutes to prepare and the result is simply fabulous.

Summer Berry Basil Sauce made with fresh blackberries over a ripe peach half topped with whipped cream and a sprig of basil in a glass dish placed on a rocky ledge — A Ripe Peach Half with Summer Berry Basil Sauce topped with Old-Timey Whipped Cream.

The Sweet Character of Summer Berries

In my corner of the world blueberries are fading from the scene as blackberries burst onto center stage. And what fabulously juicy show stoppers they are! While blueberries are tame and almost genteel, blackberries are wild and full of end-of-summer exuberance, not to mention generous, finger-staining, juicy sweet flavor.

In this area wild blackberries grow in abundance. They pop up everywhere, unbidden. When they sneak into my back yard I pull them out. In my small garden they are a stickery nuisance. If left to take hold a blackberry vine is hard to dig out so I pull them out gently when they are small. But around the lake, beside the road, near the woods, bordering sports fields – any place that is not meticulously kept and gets a glimmer of sunshine – blackberry bushes flourish. And when their plump dark berries hang heavy from the vines, aren’t we glad?

Those out for a walk or run stop to pull a few berries from the vines for a taste, mid-flight. Children linger on the edge of sports fields to gather a few sweet mouthfuls between games. Enterprising young bakers gather berries and make treats to sell to neighbors. There is nothing quite like the fine explosive tangy sweet flavor of a sun warmed berry fresh from a stickery blackberry bramble. Venturing into a bramble heedless of the danger of scratches and snags is like fighting for the last luscious wild taste of summer before giving in to the routines and domestication of fall.

Summer Berry Basil Sauce layered with Meringue Cookie to make a simple parfait served in a pretty wine glass. — Meringue Cookie Fruit Parfait

Blueberries or Blackberries?

As I was planning meals for the week I remembered a recipe I made during blackberry season last year, Blackberry Basil Sauce. It was adapted from a recipe in Martha Stewart Living, and made good use of this wild end-of–summer fruit. Last year I used the sauce to top Cheesecake Bars made from a recipe I found on Baking Bites. Together, they made a luscious and memorable dessert.

Eager to recreate that rich seasonal taste, I thought I would make it again. I knew just where a lovely blackberry bramble held several clusters of dark ripe fruit and I planned to use them fresh from the vine…..until time grew short and the afternoon heat topped 100 degrees!

By then, sitting in the shade sipping lavender lemonade, I had to admit I had enough blueberries on hand to make the sauce and that it was much more practical to use them and save the blackberries for another day. To save even more time and, more importantly, to avoid turning on the oven, I decided to forgo the cheesecake. Instead, I used the Berry Basil Sauce that evening to make a Berry Meringue Parfait with Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies I had left from earlier in the week.

Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies on a glass plate atop a lace table runner — Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies

A Simple Berry Basil Sauce

That decided, I tried to remember my approach to the berry sauce from last year. I read through the recipe and the notes and when I saw it called for cinnamon I remembered that great cinnamon spiced fruit salad from a few weeks ago. The flavor of honey with lemon and cinnamon has been on my mind ever since so I adapted the recipe for the berry sauce to include that combination.

I had actually forgotten how simple this sauce is to make. The complex taste makes it loom larger in memory but, in fact, it only requires a few simple ingredients and a few minutes to prepare. The result is simply fabulous.

Delicious Desserts

When the sauce was ready I whipped 1 cup of heavy cream with 2 Tablespoons of vanilla sugar until soft peaks formed. When the sauce had cooled slightly, I assembled the parfaits in wine glasses layering a few tablespoons of the Berry Basil Sauce topped by a Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookie and a dollop of sweetened whipped cream, and then repeating the layers.

The result – a light and easy summer dessert. The sauce was just as good with meringue cookies and whipped cream, as it had been on cheesecake. In fact I think it would also be delicious with shortbread or sablé cookies or ice cream. And wouldn’t it be interesting served with grilled chicken or over a fresh or grilled peach?

A few days later, when the temperatures cooled and I had a bit more time, I made the sauce again, this time with blackberries. I also had a perfect peach, ripe and soft and golden. I peeled the peach, split it in half and poured the warm Berry Basil Sauce over it. With a spoonful of whipped cream on top it was beautiful! The peach was tender, tangy sweet and juicy. The berry sauce was mildly sweet with the complexity of wildflower honey, the warmth of cinnamon and the soothing summer aroma of fresh basil. This sweet treat both looked and tasted like summer sunshine in a bowl! What a gorgeous finalé to our late summer heat wave.