Sweet summer dessert: Grilled Stone Fruit

Happy Summer! Loving these lazy summer days and, of course, all the summer food. We are eating most of our meals outside or poolside. The grill is getting lots of use too. Who wants to be cooped up in the kitchen cooking over a hot stove?! So, when The Recipe Redux announced that July’s theme was “super stone fruit”, we immediately started thinking of grilled fruit recipes. Stone fruits (another name for them are “drupes”) are fruits that have a large “stone” or pit inside. These fruits are especially great for grilling because their fructose will caramelize on the grill and add the perfect amount of sweetness. Yet, their dense texture allows them to hold up while grilling at a high temperature.

We had planned to make a grilled apricot recipe. However, at the grocery store we couldn’t help but notice these huge “apriums”. Apriums are a hybrid fruit genetically comprised of 3/4 apricot and 1/4 plum. If you’ve never tried an aprium, you need to! They were SO good. They taste mostly like apricots but sweeter and with a hint of plum.

Apricots are not only delicious, but also very nutritious. They are rich in beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin A and fiber.  Additionally, they are an excellent source of catechins. Catechins are phytonutrients that work to reduce inflammation in the body and reduce blood pressure. Plums are also very high in antioxidants. In particular, antioxidants that have been shown to prevent oxidative damage to fats and even neutralizes a damaging toxin called “superoxide anion radical”. Wow, so much disease-fighting nutrition in this little aprium super fruit.

Grilled fruit is a great summer dessert. If you’re already outside grilling, just wipe your grates clean and throw some fruit on when it’s time for dessert! We put our stone fruits on skewers for ease of flipping, but it’s not necessary. Select a ripe or nearly ripe (but not overly ripe!) fruit, so the texture can hold up to the high temperature. Keep in mind that even if the fruit isn’t completely ripe, the grilling process will enhance the natural sweetness of the fruit. Simply heat your grill to high and lightly brush your fruit with a high heat oil such as vegetable or canola.

Grill the fruit for about 2 minutes per side until it starts to develop a slight golden brown color and grill marks form.

Now, grilled fruit would be a sweet, simple dessert on it’s own but we topped our warm apriums over a cool, refreshing apricot frozen yogurt.

This frozen yogurt was high in protein, low in sugar and added a hint of tartness to compliment the sweetness of the grilled fruits.

A few more ingredients for another layer of flavor and texture: honey roasted slivered almonds, dark chocolate drizzle and a sprinkling of cinnamon.

Our kids loved helping with this dish. They helped with the assembly of the bowls and each kid customized their toppings. Just make sure you are serving this to guests quickly before the fro yo starts to melt!

This dessert was healthy, tasty and a big hit with both adults and kids alike.

Hope your summer is as sweet as grilled stone fruit!

You can check out other stone fruit recipes here: