few weeks ago, I went to Los Angeles to celebrate my brother's graduation from business school. My sister-in-law - a frustrated party planner - hosted a small but lavish affair in their home, with a bartender mixing signature drinks, a few trays of appetizers, and a long table overflowing with sweets.
Hidden among the two professionally baked cakes, a cascade of glossy chocolate with plump strawberries, and homemade cookies enrobed in chocolate was a forlorn-looking fruit crisp, with stray bits of burnt sugar clinging to the sides of a glass Pyrex dish.
My inner gourmet couldn't help but wince at the sight. As the evening progressed, however, I watched as guests picked over the fondue, ignored the cakes altogether, and went straight for the blackberry crisp, heaping spoonfuls of the sugary, oatmeal-topped fruit onto their tiny dessert plates.
I should have known. It's nearly impossible to pass up a dessert made with tart berries or ripe, juicy stone fruit.
This summer has been particularly flush with pristine fruit. Farmers' markets are flooded with cooks buying flats of peaches for pie or jam, and pints of plump blueberries that will become the base of a cobbler. These fruits are just as delightful on their own or simmered into simple sauces for ice cream (see "Simple summer sauces," below) as they are coaxed into compotes, tarts, clafoutis or crumbles.
I'm always looking for updated twists on traditional summer desserts, so when I returned to San Francisco, I decided to play with that fruit crisp that nearly stole the show. The recipe comes from my sister-in-law's friend Jodi.
"It literally takes 5 minutes to throw together," she says, adding that she uses frozen blackberries if fresh aren't in season.
When I couldn't find good blackberries at the market, I decided to switch fruits, and layered the bottom of the dish with blueberries and slices of sunset-hued nectarines. I scraped a vanilla bean into the lemon juice and sprinkled the juice over the filling to add another layer of flavor, but the dish is also just fine without it.
That's the beauty of summer desserts - the parts are often entirely interchangeable and flexible, and with my filling and Jodi's topping, the dish worked beautifully.
Substituting fruit is the theme in another of today's recipes. Strawberry shortcakes, a spring favorite, are updated for summer by utilizing sweet, succulent plums. A touch of cinnamon in both the biscuits and the topping heightens the flavor of the ruby- and black-skinned fruit, which is gently heated to release some of the juices.
New twists can be as simple as drizzling chocolate to create a marbled effect in a cherry clafouti, a traditional French dessert featuring a custard-like cake batter, or using crumbled oatmeal cookies as the base for a sliced peach and mascarpone tart.
In this recipe, a punch of almond extract permeates the creamy base. The tart works just as well baked with an egg in the cheese mixture, or simply assembled with fresh peaches and an eggless filling - when we tried both in The Chronicle test kitchen, the staff was equally divided in its preferences.
Layering the peaches makes for an impressive presentation, perfect for a summer dinner party. But even if the tart ends up looking homemade and rustic, it'll likely still be a hit - as are all of the sweets that stem from lusciously ripe summer fruits.I've seen it firsthand - the proof is in the crisp.

Simple summer sauces
Ripe summer fruit allows for simple preparations, often requiring little more than cutting and simmering the fruit to release the juices for a sauce. These are perfect to spoon over vanilla ice cream, yogurt, pound cake, pancakes or waffles.

Blackberry Ginger: Mix 2 1/2 cups blackberries with 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger in a saucepan. Warm over low heat, mashing some of the blackberries and leaving others whole. Add sugar to taste as the fruit begins to release its juices, and boil for a few minutes to thicken.
Cherry Basil: Mix 1 pound pitted cherries with a handful of basil stems, the juice of 1/2 lemon and 1/4-1/2 cup sugar. Cook over medium-low heat until the cherries soften and release some of their juices. Remove from heat, remove stems, and stir in 1 tablespoon minced basil.
Strawberry-Orange Lavender: Hull and slice 2 pints of strawberries. Place in a saucepan with 2 teaspoons unsprayed fresh lavender or 1 teaspoon dried culinary lavender, 1/4 cup sugar and the juice and zest of 1 orange. Cook over low heat until strawberry juices are released then boil for a few minutes to thicken slightly.
Raspberry-Lime Tarragon: Combine 4 cups of raspberries with the juice of 1 lime, 1 teaspoon of lime zest and 1/4 cup sugar. Cook over medium-low heat until mixture cooks down and thickens slightly, and remove from heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon of minced tarragon.
Vanilla Bean Peach: Pit, peel and cut four peaches into slices or small chunks. Scrape one vanilla bean into the pot, and add the pod as well. Squeeze in juice of half an orange, and simmer over low heat until juices are released and mixture thickens slightly, stirring occasionally. If the peaches are not sweet enough, add sugar to your liking and cook until it dissolves. Remove the pod before serving. If you plan on serving this with vanilla ice cream, leave out the vanilla bean.