Recipes Everyday Cooking On The Go Picnic Summer's 15 Best Portable Picnic Desserts By Vanessa Greaves Vanessa Greaves Vanessa Greaves is a Senior Editor at Allrecipes with nearly two decades of experience helping home cooks gain confidence in the kitchen. A self-taught cook who grew up reading cookbooks for fun, Vanessa lives and breathes the challenges faced by busy everyday cooks to get dinner on the table. Allrecipes' editorial guidelines Updated on August 2, 2021 Close Photo: Kari Bailey Bringing just the right dessert to a picnic can be a little tricky. You want it to be easy enough to transport without spilling or getting smooshed, it should be simple to serve without a lot of fuss, and it should look good enough to make your picnic feel like a party. These top-rated desserts are all that and more. Take a look, and take them along on your next outing. 01 of 16 Apple Slab Pie View Recipe 10 Slab Pie Recipes Perfect for a Crowd Pies are always a picnic favorite, but they can be fussy to get from point A to point B, let alone slice and serve. Try a slab pie instead — it's classic picnic pie, but baked in a shallow pan instead of a pie dish. The result is everything you love about pie, but you can pre-slice it and easily dish it up to your picnic crowd. 02 of 16 Cheesecake in a Jar View Recipe Allrecipes Magazine Talk about cute and convenient. These fillable, chillable, stackable, portable dessert jars will be your go-to all summer long. Infinitely customizable, they can be filled with endless combinations of cheesecake and fresh fruit. Choose a jar shape that's easy to stack in your cooler so they can stay properly chilled until you're ready to pass them around. You might also like Key Lime and Raspberry Pies in Jars. 03 of 16 Creamy Chocolate Cupcakes View Recipe Linda Evon If you've ever tried to bring cupcakes to a picnic without using a special cupcake carrier, you know the heartbreak of smooshed frosting. But who wants to wrestle with another big thing to carry from the car? Try these no-frosting cupcakes instead. Their baked-in cheesecake centers are rich enough to satisfy the frosting factor, but they're easy to stack and pack. If your cupcake are very moist, put a sheet of waxed paper or parchment between layers of cupcakes. These easy tips help you bake cupcakes like a pro. 04 of 16 Brookies (Brownie Cookies) View Recipe Photo by SunnyDaysNora. There's a practical reason why brownies and cookies are classic choices for picnic desserts. Aside from their comfort-food-level deliciousness, you can bake them in big batches and they're easy to pack. For best results, choose recipes without gooey toppings and frostings so they don't get smooshy or sticky. Browse our entire collection of brownie recipes. 05 of 16 Watermelon Cookie View Recipe Nancy S English Why choose these particular cookies over the hundred upon hundreds you can find on Allrecipes? Because they look like adorable little slices of watermelon! Are they picnic-perfect or what? 06 of 16 Fruity Fun Skewers View Recipe Christina Raise fresh fruit to the level of dessert by threading it on long bamboo skewers. Use sturdy fruit that doesn't brown easily: Colorful grapes, melon, berries, and pineapple are excellent choices. Serve with fruit dip, and you've got a party on a stick. 07 of 16 Blueberry Crumb Bars View Recipe mommyluvs2cook Bars are easy to make in a big batch, and you can slice them up before you take them along. "These are delicious! They are best a little warm with vanilla ice cream melted on top. The crust and crumble topping are great and stay crunchy days later. I used fresh blueberries the first & third time I made these and black raspberries the second," Darcy says. 08 of 16 Easy Fruit Cobbler View Recipe abapplez If you're taking a cobbler to a picnic, why not make it a super easy one? Use your favorite summer fruit to make this no-fuss cobbler, whether that's peaches, berries, or cherries. It takes just 15 minutes to prep! 09 of 16 Fruit Salad in Seconds View Recipe We call it a salad, but let's be real. Fruit coated strawberry yogurt can totally double as (healthy) dessert. 10 of 16 Melt In Your Mouth Blueberry Cake View Recipe Caitlin Bensel "This is a nice tender cake — one of my Mom's specialties from years ago. It is a great cake to take along to a picnic," says IRENED. Mary Ann Liptak agrees, saying, "I never make a new recipe for a party, but I had so many fresh blueberries that I thought why not? Such a great recipe! It came out so good and NOT mushy or dry like most blueberry cakes I've tried. Follow the recipe exactly and you can't go wrong. Prep time is more like 45 minutes." 11 of 16 Peach Financiers View Recipe Cameron Rodriguez "There are many different techniques used for making financiers but, as usual, I've chosen the easiest one. This recipe works beautifully with pretty much any summer fruit like berries or other stone fruit. Remember, the fruit is really just a garnish so don't use too much. These little cakes are rich, buttery, and moist," Chef John says. 12 of 16 Apple Hand Pies View Recipe Kari Bailey Everyone will love the convenience of helping themselves to individual grab-and-go minis instead of having to deal with a whole pie. For one thing, you don't need plates and forks. To give these hand pies extra eye-appeal, use a cookie cutter to cut the pie dough into stars or circles, put a tablespoon of filling in the center of half the cut-outs, top with the other half, crimp with a fork to seal, cut steam vents, and bake until golden brown. You might also like Shelly Hospitality's Blueberry Turnover Hand Pies. 13 of 16 Guyanese Lime Cookies View Recipe DZ "Outstanding, refreshing, and uniquely-flavored cookie, unlike anything I've ever had before. You can taste both the lime and the nutmeg, a spice I generally don't care for, yet the two combine and blend to create a delicious flavor." — naples34102 14 of 16 Raspberry and Strawberry Buckle View Recipe 30 Fresh Fruit Dessert Recipes You'll Want to Make All Summer Long Pictured: Raspberry and Strawberry Buckle. Allrecipes A summer dessert should look and taste like summer. For this easy buckle (it's a kind of cobbler that leans more towards cake), you'll use summer's best strawberries and raspberries. "This was delicious. Most of the people I served it to had never heard of a buckle but I quickly converted them to buckle enthusiasts. This recipe is the perfect blend of tartness and sweetness." — JESSTAG 15 of 16 Mango Squares View Recipe lutzflcat Bar cookies are about the easiest make-ahead picnic dessert ever. "I had just enough left in a bag of dried mango and cherries to make this recipe so I left the cherries in. This baked up into a flavorful bar cookie." — lutzflcat 16 of 16 You might also like... abapplez 20 Favorite Summer Desserts to Take to the BBQ 20 Summer Potluck Desserts Sure to Disappear Quickly Browse Our Entire Collection of Summer Dessert Recipes Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit