Sweet & Spiked Grilled Summer Fruit Desserts

While cupcakes, ice cream treats and brownies are some of our favorite dessert recipes for BBQs or other outdoor celebrations, it's sometimes nice to keep things easier. All those desserts require quite a bit of prep work, but if you're bringing your summer party to a park or other non-backyard spot, they also become a hassle to transport.

Enter, grilled fruit. If you've never grilled your fruit before, you're missing out! The natural sugars and texture of many fruits lend themselves easily to grilling, but also become infused with more concentrated flavor then if eaten cold.

The best fruit to grill is sturdier and harder in texture, like apples, pineapples or pears. These fruits hold up on the grill much better than say, bananas, peaches or plums.

For your next picnic or BBQ, skip the make-ahead dessert recipes and try out this grilled fruit treat. You can eat them on their own, with a bit of cream or like we did, over some plain vanilla ice cream that can be popped right into a cooler and brought along without much hassle.

To add even more flavor, consider marinating your fruit in alcohol.

We've used tequila and lime, vodka and orange, and most recently went bolder with Van Gogh's Peanut Butter & Jelly Vodka. We were a little skeptical about such a crazy flavor, but it worked SO perfectly with the grilled fruit, enhancing the natural flavor pairing.

How to Grill Fruit

1. Slice your fruit into thick pieces with a flat surface to grill.

2. If spiking, marinate your fruit for about 20 minutes in whatever alcohol you're using. The Peanut Butter & Jelly vodka worked well with our grilled apples. We cut ours into thick slices and pour just enough so the surface is coated.

3. Make sure your grill is nice and hot.

4. If not marinating, lightly coat fruit surface with fruity olive oil.

5. Grill until surface is caramelized.