The last few days have been in the 90s which means summer has officially arrived—cue the all cold, refreshing treats.

There’s nothing better than biting into a cold slice of fresh watermelon or enjoying a handful of your latest orchard haul. Blueberries, cherries, and strawberries are a regular haul in our house and although we can eat them on their own, we decided to try something new, in the form of a simple dessert.

It’s not so much a “pie” as a layered dessert, but that’s what we have been calling it so there you go.

This no-bake treat is super easy. You just have to have a bit of patience before digging in as it needs a few hours to set and chill after assembling.

It’s a creamy combo of sweet vanilla pudding, fresh strawberries (or fruit of choice) with the scattered crunch. Essentially all the best textures in a chilled layered dessert. It’s definitely one to bring to a backyard party or family get together.

Let me know if y’all try some different fruits. We’re going to try some more this week.

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Strawberry Cream Pie

Ingredients (n1)

1 (3.4 oz) box vanilla instant pudding
1 1/2 cups alternative milk of choice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 box graham crackers—like Kinnikinnick (n2)
2 tbsp vegan butter, melted—like Earth Balance
1 (9 oz) container of So Delicious Dairy Free Original CoocWhip Topping
1 lb fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced (n3)

Directions

Prepare the pudding—whisk together the pudding, alternative milk and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
Crush the crackers—Add the graham crackers to a ziplock and crush. Set aside roughly 3/4 cup of the crumbs before adding the melted butter to the ziplock and tossing to coat the remaining crumbs.
Fold 1/2 of the whipped topping into the pudding.
Layer the dessert—Gently press the crumbs into the bottom of a 7x11-inch baking dish (it will still be crumbly). Spread 1/2 the pudding mixture over top the crumb crust followed by a single layer of sliced strawberries. Spread the remaining pudding mixture on top of the strawberries.
Top with the remaining whip cream and sprinkle a layer of the remaining crumbs that were set aside in step 3.
Chill for several hours before serving.

Notes
Notes n1. Make sure to check ingredients for gluten-free/dairy-free brands as even similar brands may be processed differently around the world.
n2. You can substitute the graham crackers for another vanilla flavored cookies (like vanilla wafers) or even Golden “Oreo” sandwich cookies. Great Values (Walmart’s brand) makes a GF vanilla sandwich cookie as well as Newman’s.
n3. You can replace the strawberries with whatever fresh fruit is your favorite or mix a few to make a “fruit cocktail” like dessert. We’ve done strawberries and blueberries together and it was delicious! I’m going to try cherries next. :) UPDATE: We made one with cherries and bananas this week and it was just as delicious. The bananas did brown by the next day but we still ate it. Yum!