Summer is the best time to create desserts that don't heat up the entire house. Take some locally grown fruit, throw in whipped cream, creamy custard, and you are in business. Not sure where to start for no-bake dessert ideas? Please continue reading.

There are many different avenues to take for creating light and refreshing or rich and decadent desserts without firing up your oven. Let's begin with the obvious and favorite kid's treat of all time - ice cream.

There are many great ice cream makers out there, from the old-fashioned crank and churn to the automatic for quick results. Use your ice cream maker for other frozen treats, like sorbet, sherbet or slushes. Sorbet utilizes fresh fruit with simple syrup while sherbet, like ice cream, contains milk but is tangy and refreshing like sorbet. With so many flavors and fruits, everyone is bound to have a favorite.

If you prefer to purchase your frozen desserts and try your hand elsewhere, keep three ingredients stocked - heavy cream, instant pudding and flavored gelatin. Gelatin and pudding are great desserts on their own, but add store-bought angel food or pound cakes with whipped cream and you're on a whole other level. Trifles are an English-inspired dessert and are great for summer gatherings. Cut your choice of cake into cubes and alternate with layers of fresh berries or fruit, and whipped cream in a large decorative bowl. Top with fresh mint and granola bits for an elegant presentation. Try different concoctions and substitutions. Diabetic? Try sugar-free cake and whip your cream without sugar. Want low fat? Choose ripe fruit in season for the sweetest flavor, angel food cake (naturally low in fat) and purchase low-fat whipped topping or omit and try non-fat yogurt instead.

Want to really cheat the heat? How about creme anglaise, cream puffs, eclairs, or cream pies? The trick to custard perfection is to distribute low heat throughout the mixture without scrambling the eggs (although custard for creme pies needs egg yolks heated to almost boiling to prevent a soupy mess). Read instructions carefully and don't deviate from the exact measurements. Adding less milk or more eggs will alter the texture of your completed custard - sometimes with disastrous results. Creme anglaise, or typical custard, is great to serve as you would a stand-alone pudding, since it contains no stabilizers.

Pastry cream has exactly the same ingredients as creme anglaise, except it contains starch. It is the basis for all cream pies and holds up well for fillings for cream puffs or eclairs. Purchase the pate a choux dough pre made, fill with pastry cream, and dip the tops with melted chocolate. Here is a tip for preventing the skin that forms on top of heated custards: touch the hot surface with butter to form a fat layer or cover directly on top of custard with plastic wrap to prevent air exposure and drying.

How about no-bake cookies or bars? Don't knock cereal treats with marshmallows, nuts, chocolate or peanut butter. You can whip them up in a flash and the kids love them. Wrap cut squares individually in wax paper and take them on the go. Try mixing together different ingredients to create no-bake drop cookies or bars. Some to start with are quick-cooking oats, different flavored chocolate chips (white, semi-sweet, mint, and peanut butter), mini marshmallows, peanut butter, nuts, seeds, and dried fruits.

Don't overlook fresh fruit by itself. The sweet nature's bounty is all you need. Cut different melons, peaches, apricots, nectarines and apples in chunks and skewer with whole berries. Have different sauces for dipping, like melted chocolate, caramel, flavored whipped cream, or marshmallow creme. Chef's tip: mix a touch of marshmallow creme in your whipped cream to stabilize and keep it from turning to water. Mix low-fat or non-fat yogurt or sour cream with strawberry sauce. Layer softened cream cheese with melted caramel and top with toffee bits.