This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, see our privacy policy.
Our favorite cookies and bars, perfect for summer picnics, parties and potlucks. These are easy, no-mixer-needed recipes that everyone loves!
Summer is a great reason to have a picnic or gather some friends for a party. And we've got you covered with ten great ideas for dessert! Cookies and bars are perfect for these kinds of occasions. They travel well, can be served anywhere (you don't need plates and forks) and can be made ahead of time.
These are some of our favorite tried and true recipes that are perfect for summer. A few of these recipes have free printable labels that we are happy to email to you. We just ask that you leave a comment on that individual post. Enjoy!
These delicious dessert bars are a delightful merging of two all-time favorite sweet treats; blondies and good old-fashioned s'mores!
Everyone who tries these Copycat Crumbl Chocolate Chip Cookies flips with the first bite! They're sweet and chewy inside with a crisp outer shell and lots of melt-in-your-mouth milk chocolate chips.
With a buttery shortbread base and a chewy caramel topping loaded with crisp almonds, these Honey Caramel Almond Shortbread Bars are always a HUGE hit!
These one-bowl, no-mixer, lemon sugar cookies have a melt-in-your-mouth texture, lots of crinkly cracks, super-crisp, sugar-coated exteriors and moist, chewy insides! There's also a burst of sunshiny lemon flavor with every bite!
These Peanut Butter and Jelly Blondies will be a hit with kids of all ages! And you can mix them up in less than 10 minutes, with just one bowl and no mixer!
These one-bowl, no-mixer, gluten-free French Almond Cookies (aka Almond Cloud Cookies) are light as a feather, with a crisp meringue exterior and chewy, moist almond-y interior!
These Candied Pecan Brown Butter Blondies are one-pot, no-mixer and my family thinks they're one of the best things they've ever eaten!!
If you enjoy shortbread and are a peanut butter fan you will LOVE these crisp, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth-delicious Peanut Butter Shortbread Cookies! No one has to know how easy (actually ridiculously easy) they are to make with just one bowl and no mixer!
These easy, delicious  S'Mores Blossom Cookies include all the favorite flavors of the American campfire favorite, S'mores!
If you think these festive Red, White, and Blue Shortbread Cookies look difficult, check out the video and you'll be a believer! They're one-bowl, no-mixer and super delish!
Thought for the  day:
I will exalt you, my God the King;
I will praise your name forever and ever.
Every day I will praise you and extol your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
His greatness no one can fathom.
Psalm 145:1
What we're listening to for inspiration:
If you enjoy any of these recipes, please come back and leave a star rating and review! It's so helpful to other readers to hear your results, adaptations and ideas for variations.
Shop Our Café Loves
We’ve gathered our favorite kitchen tools, tableware, and entertaining treasures in one place, the Café Loves store. It’s a wonderful spot to find something special for yourself or the cooks and hosts you love!
Hello here again. Even when I enter peanut butter and jelly bars into the search, it brings us back to this page where there is no link. It shouldn't be this difficult to find this recipe?
Hi Raine, if you scroll down to the sixth picture in the post, it's the peanut butter bars and the link for the recipe is underneath it.
Yes, I too am wondering where is the recipe for the strawberry peanut butter bars? I see NO listing.
where is the recipe for that beautiful square cake that seems to have strawberry jam swirls? I would love to make it.
absolutely love your recipes!
Thank you, Ida
Hi Ida,
It's the peanut butter and jelly bars listed above in the post. There's a link to the recipe under the post. Enjoy!
oh my, I want to leave work and start baking already!!!
Those caramel almond shortbreads are the first thing that I am tackling so I would love the labels so I can share them.
Peace be with you both!
Thanks, Cindy! Sending the labels your way.