You’ve started buying must-have pieces for your summer wardrobe, you plan on going to a few music festivals, and in the meantime, you’re planning a cute summer picnic with that someone special. But what baked goods do you bring along for your special day?
Sandwiches are not enough.
What baked goods can you make? You can make a complex flag cake, or you can opt to make something a little easier. I recommend the less complex route for a few reasons:
- Cakes tend to break apart in a picnic basket.
- Frosting can get messy fast unless placed in Tupperware.
- Opt for items that won’t go bad in the heat.
Not all baked goods go bad in the heat, and there are still a lot of options that you can pick from when baking for your picnic. A few of the baked goods I recommend for the perfect summer picnic are:
1. Baked Brownies
Brownies are an amazing treat, and everyone (or the people worth knowing) loves brownies. Sure, there are the select few people that don’t like brownies, and maybe they’re not all that bad.
The good thing about brownies is that they can be:
- Small and compact
- Easy to make
You can also add some whipped cream or a cherry on top if you want to make your brownies really stand out.
The bad news is that they can get quite sticky and messy when they’re out in the sun for too long.
So, it’s often best to pack these treats in a cooler or try and follow a no egg recipe and choose a less fudge-filled brownie.
2. Bread – A Lot of Options
You have a lot of bread options to pick from for summer, and this allows you to play off of everyone’s tastes. The good news is that you can use a bread maker for most recipes, but you can also use your oven.
There’s a lot different types of bread to pick from, including:
- Peach bread, which is extra-moist and filled with flavor. This soft, delicious bread is perfect on a warm summer’s day.
- Cranberry bread is equally as delicious and is a great dessert bread that can have white glaze drizzled over top to make it just a little sweeter.
- Lemon bread is the ideal choice for a hot day because of the refreshing taste of lemon and the delightful scent the bread will give off.
- Apple bread is a great option for the end of summer when apple season is in full swing.
- Banana bread is another great option, with the banana providing natural sugars that will tickle the taste buds and add additional potassium into your diet.
- Zucchini bread is a tad healthier and can have honey drizzled on top to make for the perfect picnic bread.
The great thing about bread is that you don’t have to worry about the bread melting like chocolate and it is equally as sweet if you add the right fruits into the bread.
You can even add in specialty flour to add additional flavor to your bread or change it up a bit.
3. Cookies for Everyone
There’s a reason that every time you attend an event, someone brings cookies along – they’re delightful. I love chocolate chip cookies, so I might chance bringing some with me on a picnic. But there are a lot of other options to pick from that won’t melt inside your basket.
A few cookie options that work perfectly for picnics are:
- Lemon cookies, which are so refreshing. These cookies stay together well in a basket and don’t have the whole issue of melting, like with other cookies.
- Ginger cookies are another great option, and they pair well with lemonade. These cookies are nice and light with a crisp crunch.
- Peanut butter cookies are a little iffy depending on how much peanut butter is added, but you can make a classic peanut butter crunch cookie that’s a great source of protein and filled with flavor.
- Sugar cookies are my downfall, especially when they’re just baked and they practically fall apart when you bite into them. These cookies may be packed with sugar, but they’re the perfect sinful treat for a hot summer day.
Instead of visiting one of the top bakeries to pick up the baked goods for your next picnic, think outside the box and give baking a try. It’s a fun way to pass the time, and nothing tastes better than homemade baked goods.
You can even do the baking together with your special someone or kids to have even more fun for your Summer Picnic.
Find more Summer Picnic ideas here!
By: Joe Hughes
Joe Hughes, known by most as the Village Baker, is an expert in homestyle cooking techniques, with a primary interest in baking. He runs the very
popular website, www.village-bakery.com, which provides the latest homestyle cooking news, techniques, tricks, and recipes. He can be reached at Joe@Village-Bakery.com.
