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.

Deconstruct the classic Bloody Mary and let the ingredients shine. Ripe summer tomatoes don't need to be pureed into exhaustion -- serve them simply sliced and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Choose good-quality vodka and make sure it's chilled to complete the sophisticated summer treat.

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

It's time to pour the Champagne -- over the pears. Champagne can be replaced with a dry white wine in this recipe for basic white-wine poached pears.

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.

Cut watermelon into clean squares and dip them into Campari for an elegant presentation of truly boozy fruit. 

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

These wine-poached apricots can be served over a slice of cake or even your favorite triple-cream cheese.

Wine-sweetened compote goes well over ice cream and with other sweets, but it can also be used in savory recipes, like pork chops or spicy curries. 

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

Cover cut-up fruit in blood-orange liqueur and it'll absorb the liqueur, leaving you with extra-juicy fruit and a sweet, alcoholic kick. 

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.

The alcohol-soaked fruit you find in fruitcakes doesn't have to be limited to Christmas. Make macerated fruit year-round for a delicious, boozy treat that's actually quite versatile. 

Making pineapple-infused rum has consequences: namely, spears of spicy rum-soaked pineapple. Serve the drenched pineapple chilled plain, or blend it with ice for a tropical granita. 

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. 

Sweet muscat dessert wine and dry white wine come together for this dish that'll take a lunch-box snack -- the orange -- to a whole new level.