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What Are the Best Tips for Making Grilled Desserts?

Sheri Cyprus
Sheri Cyprus

The best tips for making grilled desserts include carefully watching and turning the foods as needed to prevent burning. A pastry brush can be used to coat pieces of pound cake and fruit with oil before placing them directly on the grill. When used for grilling items directly without a pan, the grill should be oiled. Using a frying pan on the grill instead negates this step and provides a good method for preparing grilled desserts with a batter such as fruit cobbler.

Cobblers made on a barbecue grill can be a delicious way to use up a variety of summer fruit. The fruit combinations can vary widely according to what the barbecue chef has on hand and what fruits are the ripest. Berries, peaches and pineapple work well, but there are many other fruit possibilities to add into cobbler grilled desserts. A large frying pan is best to use since it should only be half full of ingredients, including the top crust, to prevent anything from bubbling over.

Peach cobbler can be made on a grill.
Peach cobbler can be made on a grill.

Medium heat is usually best for grilling desserts either when cooking them directly or in a frying pan. Cobbler fruit, melted butter, brown sugar, vanilla and a pinch of salt should be topped with the crust mixture. A fruit cobbler crust recipe that uses flour, sugar, baking powder and vanilla should be spooned onto the other ingredients. Closing the lid on the grill can allow the heat to be contained to produce a crispy crust and tender fruit.

For grilling fruit directly on the grill, first pour cooking oil on a paper towel and grease the grate. Melted butter and a pastry brush can be used to coat peach halves, pineapple slices or other fruit before placing them to cook on the grill over medium heat. Slices of pound cake can also be brushed with melted butter and heated on the grill. Such solid, rather than crumbly, cakes should be heated directly on the grill. A great tip to remember when working with foods directly on the grill is to use a spatula wider than the fruit or cake slices to avoid losing some of the grilled desserts when turning or removing them from the grate.

Delicious grilled dessert combinations can be created by placing the cooked fruits over the warm pound cake slices and topping them with whipped cream or ice cream. Alternatively, grilled fruit can be placed over ice cream in individual dessert dishes. Chopped nuts and a dessert sauce can be used for toppings. Caramel, chocolate and rum-based sauces can be ideal for any types of grilled desserts.

Discussion Comments

Krunchyman

@RoyalSpyder - Well, the problem with your request is that at most of the restaurants you've been too (I'm assuming it's one of the cheaper dining places), they buy things in stock and don't make them from scratch. You would be better off going to a fancier dining place, where they take much more time to prepare their food. Besides, grilling can definitely take a while, and they have to balance your order with everyone else they're trying to serve.

RoyalSpyder

Does anyone know if restaurants grill desserts as well? I've been dining out lately, and whenever I ask the waiter or waitress if I could have my dessert grilled, they say that the restaurant doesn't grill desserts. I find that to be fairly disappointing, and may even look for a different alternative. Perhaps I would be better off buying a grilled dessert at the nearest store?

Viranty

My dad used to make peach cobbler on the grill, and I really enjoyed it. At first, it seemed a little awkward that he was attempting to grill desserts, something which I felt should only be reserved for meat. However, I then realized that there are always different methods for cooking foods. For example, you wouldn't end up grilling a fruit dessert for as long as you would grill a steak or chicken, which usually amounts to an hour.

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    • Peach cobbler can be made on a grill.
      By: msheldrake
      Peach cobbler can be made on a grill.