Easy, Boozy, Beautiful: Alcohol-Soaked Fruit Recipes to Serve This Summer

Sipping on a cocktail is so last season. This summer, instead, serve alcohol in the form of macerated fruit or frozen desserts. Who says you can't have your cocktail and eat it, too?

Spiked Fruit Cup

This spiked fruit cup is like a sangria you can eat with a spoon.

Chew on this: a margarita that's also a finger food. Triple sec and tequila, summer's favorite cocktail duo, pair up again for a fruity encore that's part fruit, part cocktail, and 100 percent fun.

Ice cream grows up when you add vodka and tarragon simple syrup. Sweet, summery, and sophisticated: This is a sherbet you won't forget. 

Replace white wine with a dry red wine for an even more complex boozy dessert. Creme de cassis, cloves, and juniper berries give these red-wine-poached pears a few extra layers of sophistication.

This Asian-inspired granita combines lychee and ginger for a homemade snow cone that's not too sweet. Ginger liqueur is optional -- but fabulous. 

Finish the night with this loosened-tie version of your favorite dried fruit. Armagnac, a French brandy, gives this dish a cosmopolitan allure.

Fall in love with figs all over again when you soak them in a classic red wine. After a day of soaking, you'll have a delicious, healthful dessert. 

Summer's sweetest fruit is perfect when you simmer it in a heady bourbon syrup and pack it into jars. Pour it over ice cream, stir it into a cocktail, or -- our favorite -- eat it with a spoon.

We love Beaumes-de-Venise, a sweet wine from France. But we love it even more poured over chunks of fresh melon. 

Gelatin shots, the perennial college favorite, put on their Sunday clothes for these edible treats. Use segments from various citrus fruits to create a beautiful sunset fade in these dessert wine gelees. 

Seasonal blueberries, Tito's corn vodka, and fresh tarragon make this an edible treat worth remembering. Replace vodka with water for a nonalcoholic version.