The Best Easy Grilled Peaches with Gingersnaps

Are you searching for the perfect summer dessert that’s incredibly simple to make, breathtakingly elegant to serve, and tastes like pure, concentrated sunshine? Imagine a warm, juicy peach, kissed by the smoky char of the grill, its sweetness intensified to perfection. Now, picture it topped with a cool, creamy scoop of frozen yogurt and a warm, spicy crunch of crumbled gingersnaps. This is the magic of Grilled Peaches.

This isn’t just a recipe; it’s a celebration of summer’s finest fruit. Grilling peaches is a game-changing technique that transforms them from a simple snack into a sophisticated dessert in a matter of minutes. This recipe is your ultimate guide to mastering this simple, elegant treat. It’s a light, healthy-ish, and utterly delicious way to end any summer meal.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Recipe Overview: The Ultimate 5-Minute Prep Summer Dessert

What makes this Grilled Peaches recipe so spectacular is its incredible contrast of flavors and textures. The smoky sweetness of the warm, tender peach is the perfect counterpart to the cool, creamy tang of the frozen yogurt. The spicy, crunchy gingersnap crumble on top adds the final, perfect touch. It’s a sophisticated, restaurant-quality dessert that requires just a handful of simple ingredients and is ready in about 15 minutes.

Metric	Time / Level
Total Time	15 minutes
Active Prep Time	5 minutes
Difficulty Level	Easy
Servings	2 (easily multiplied)

The Essential Ingredients for the Perfect Grilled Peaches

With so few ingredients, the quality of each one is key to the success of this simple dessert.

• Fresh Peaches: This is the most important ingredient, and choosing the right ones is crucial.
  • What to Look For: For grilling, you want peaches that are ripe but still firm. If they are too soft or overripe, they will turn to mush on the hot grill grates. A perfect grilling peach will have a fragrant, sweet aroma and will yield just slightly to gentle pressure, but it should not feel soft.
  • Best Variety: Freestone peaches are the easiest to work with, as the pit comes away cleanly from the flesh. Clingstone varieties will be more difficult to halve and pit.
• Brown Sugar: A sprinkle of brown sugar on the warm peaches melts into a beautiful, molasses-kissed caramel glaze, enhancing the fruit’s natural sweetness.
• Gingersnap Cookies: The crunchy, spicy counterpoint. The warm spice of ginger and molasses in the cookies is a classic and perfect pairing with sweet peaches. The crumble adds a wonderful, necessary crunch.
• Vanilla Fat-Free Frozen Yogurt: A scoop of cool, creamy frozen yogurt is the perfect foil to the warm, grilled fruit. It provides a lovely, light tang that balances the sweetness. Of course, a scoop of full-fat vanilla bean ice cream is also an incredible, more indulgent choice.
• Canola Oil: A neutral-flavored oil is needed to brush on the peaches. This simple step prevents them from sticking to the grill grates and helps them develop beautiful char marks.

Step-by-Step to Perfectly Grilled Peaches

Follow these simple, detailed steps to achieve a perfectly grilled, caramelized, and juicy peach every time.

Step 1: Prepare the Peaches and the Grill

First, preheat your outdoor grill or an indoor grill pan to high heat. Once it’s hot, lightly oil the grate by wiping it with a paper towel dipped in a little canola oil.

Wash and dry your peaches. Cut each peach in half along its natural crease, from the stem to the bottom. Gently twist the two halves in opposite directions to separate them. Use a spoon or a small knife to carefully remove the pit.

Brush the cut sides of the peach halves with a thin layer of canola oil.

Step 2: Grill the Peaches to Perfection

Place the oiled peach halves, cut-side down, directly onto the hot grill grates.

Let them cook, undisturbed, for about 5 minutes. You are looking for them to develop beautiful, dark, caramelized grill marks. The high heat is caramelizing the natural sugars in the fruit.

Using tongs, carefully flip the peach halves over so they are now skin-side down. Continue to cook for another 5 minutes, or until the peaches are tender, warmed all the way through, and can be easily pierced with a fork.

Step 3: Create the Caramelized Sugar Topping

Once the peaches are tender, remove them from the grill and place each peach half on a separate dessert plate, skin-side down.

Immediately sprinkle a tablespoon of brown sugar onto the center of each warm peach half. The residual heat from the peach will begin to melt the sugar, creating a simple, delicious caramel-like glaze.

Pro Tip (The Brûlée Method): For an even more dramatic and crunchy topping, you can use a small kitchen torch to carefully caramelize the brown sugar. Hold the torch a few inches from the sugar and move it back and forth until the sugar melts, bubbles, and turns a deep amber color, just like the top of a crème brûlée.

Step 4: Assemble and Serve

To serve, place two scoops of the vanilla fat-free frozen yogurt alongside or slightly on top of each warm peach half.

Sprinkle the crumbled gingersnap cookies generously over both the peaches and the frozen yogurt. Serve immediately while the peaches are warm and the frozen yogurt is cold and creamy.

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Serving Your Elegant Summer Dessert

This is a beautiful dessert that needs very little adornment. The contrast of the warm, smoky peach and the cool, creamy yogurt is the star of the show. For an extra touch of freshness, you can add a single fresh mint sprig as a garnish. It’s the perfect light and elegant ending to a summer barbecue or dinner party.

Storage and Make-Ahead Tips

This dessert is truly at its best when the peaches are served warm, straight from the grill.

• Make-Ahead: While you can’t grill the peaches in advance, you can do all the prep work. Wash and halve the peaches, and crumble the gingersnap cookies. Keep the peaches in a little lemon water to prevent browning. This way, the final grilling and assembly will only take 10 minutes.
• Storage: If you have leftover grilled peaches, they can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. They are delicious chopped up and added to yogurt or oatmeal the next morning.

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Creative Recipe Variations

This simple method for grilling peaches is a fantastic base for all sorts of delicious variations, both sweet and savory.

1. The Savory Balsamic & Burrata: For an incredible appetizer or light lunch, skip the brown sugar and frozen yogurt. Instead, drizzle the warm grilled peaches with a high-quality balsamic glaze. Serve them alongside a ball of fresh, creamy burrata cheese and a few leaves of fresh basil.
2. The Boozy, Herby Peach: For a more grown-up dessert, you can brush the peaches with a little bit of bourbon, rum, or amaretto before grilling. You can also add a sprig of a woody herb, like rosemary or thyme, to the grill alongside the peaches. The smoky, herbal aroma will infuse the fruit as it cooks.
3. Use a Different Fruit or Topping: This method is fantastic for other stone fruits like nectarines, plums, and apricots. You can also swap the gingersnap cookies for other crunchy toppings like toasted almonds, a simple granola, or crumbled shortbread cookies.

Enjoy the Sweet Taste of Summer Grilling!

You’ve just discovered one of the simplest, yet most impressive, desserts of the summer season. Grilling peaches is a magical technique that unlocks their deepest, sweetest, and most delicious flavor. Paired with a cool, creamy scoop of frozen yogurt and a spicy cookie crunch, this is a dessert that is both incredibly easy and truly elegant.

We hope this becomes your new go-to for a quick and stunning summer treat!

If you enjoyed making this recipe, please leave a comment below or share it with a friend who loves to grill!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)