What’s the perfect ending to a summer meal with friends and family? A delicious dessert, of course! But, with all the planning, prep work, and clean up, some desserts require a lot of time. The beauty of grilled desserts is that they take only minutes to prepare with essentially no mess! So, keep the grill fired up for these quick and easy summer desserts so you can get back to enjoying your company.
3 Summer Desserts You Can Make On the Grill
Grilled Banana Boats
Recipe adapted from the Pampered Chef
A cross between a s’more and banana split, banana boats are a campfire classic. Feel free to individualize them with all your favorite toppings!
Ingredients
6 bananas
⅓ cup miniature marshmallows
⅓ cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp chopped pecans
Directions
- Prepare grill for direct cooking over medium heat.
- Place bananas on a bbq rack or aluminum foil. Make a deep lengthwise cut along the inside curve of each banana, being careful not to cut all the way through. Open slit to form a pocket.
- Fill each pocket with 2 tbsp chocolate morsels and 2 tbsp marshmallows. Top with ½ tsp pecans, if desired. Press ingredients gently into pockets.
- Place rack on the grill. Cover and grill 8-10 minutes or until marshmallows are light golden brown.
Grilled Peaches & Cherries with Cinnamon-Honey Syrup
Recipe adapted from Home Cooking Memories
In-season peaches are a must for summer grilling! Combined with cherries and drizzled with a light syrup, this insanely delicious recipe is perfect with a scoop of vanilla or coconut ice cream.
Ingredients:
14 oz cherries
3 large peaches
¼ cup honey
1 ½ tbsp butter or ghee
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
Vanilla or coconut ice cream, optional
Directions:
- Cut cherries in half, removing their pits and stems. Cut the peaches into large chunks, and thread fruit onto skewers.
- Heat grill to medium heat. Grill fruit on medium heat for about 10-15 minutes or until tender and showing grill marks. Remove the fruit skewers from the grill. When cooled enough to handle, but still warm, transfer fruit to a large bowl from the skewers.
- In a small saucepan, melt butter, honey, and cinnamon over low heat. When butter is melted and ingredients are combined, remove from heat.
- Drizzle over fruit in the bowl and gently stir to ensure that all the fruit is coated with syrup.
- Spoon the warm fruit over a scoop of vanilla ice cream, if desired. Drizzle extra syrup over the ice cream.
Grilled Cherry Crisp with Chocolate & Almonds
Recipe from Food Faith Fitness
This easy, paleo-friendly dessert is crunchy, sweet and totally guilt-free! Enjoy on its own or with a scoop of coconut milk ice cream.
Ingredients:
3 cups cherries, pitted and halved
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp dark chocolate, roughly chopped
¼ cup + 2 tbsp almond flour
2 tbsp coconut flour
½ tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp coconut sugar
Pinch of salt
¼ Cup + 2 tbsp raw almonds, roughly chopped
2 tbsp coconut oil, chilled and cut into small pieces
Directions:
- Preheat your grill on medium heat.
- Cut two pieces of tinfoil into large sheets, about 8” long. Lay the pieces on top of each other and fold in each edge about 2”, to make a smaller square. Half way through each fold, fold the edges of the tin foil up, and squish the edges together, to make little square containers about 5-6 inches wide. They don't have to be perfect or beautiful, but do try to keep them roughly that size. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, toss the cherries with the honey until evenly coated. Divide the cherries among the prepared tin foil dishes (about ¾ cup cherries per dish) and sprinkle ½ tbsp dark chocolate over each dish. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the almond flour, coconut flour, cinnamon, coconut sugar, salt, and roughly chopped almonds until combined.
- Add in the chilled coconut oil pieces and blend, using your hands, into the flour mixture until the mixture turns into fine crumbles. Divide the crumb topping between each of the tinfoil dishes.
- Place the dishes onto the grill, on indirect heat (not right on top of the flames), and cook until the cherries are juicy, bubbly, and the crumb topping is golden brown, about 20 minutes.
- Let cool slightly, top with coconut milk ice cream (if desired) and enjoy!
We hope these recipes will inspire you to make grilled fruit a new summer tradition. Whether enjoyed on their own, or with a simple syrup and a scoop of ice cream, in-season fruits provide a sweet and satisfying end to any summer get together. So what are you waiting for? Get grilling!