Grilled Apricots, Coconut Cream and Crushed Candied Hazelnuts Recipe

Looking for an easy, gluten free, BBQ dessert recipe that requires just a couple of ingredients to throw together yet looks impressive and packs a punch flavour wise? I gotchu! These grilled apricots with coconut cream and crushed candied hazelnuts are the ultimate summer BBQ dessert, super easy to whip up and looks fancy too! Add a drizzle of honey to the finished dish for extra sweetness if your apricots are particularly sour. You can also sub in peaches, plums or apples if you can’t get your hands on apricots!

So how do I make these grilled apricots, coconut cream and crushed candied hazelnut dessert from scratch?

This summery dessert recipe is thrown together very easily with a few small steps! I used a cast iron griddle pan for these but if you’re having a summer BBQ, they do just as well (if not better!) thrown on to a BBQ off to the side as you cook your mains.

Grilled Apricots

The star of the show in this dish is the apricots. They can also be subsituted for peaches, plums or apples if you prefer. You can use softer fruit too, just make sure you wrap them up well in tin foil first. Think bananas, orange slices, or even rhubarb.

When choosing apricots to grill, choose apricots that are still firm and just barely ripe so they hold their shape when grilled. Ripe or over ripe apricots may go mushy and be a bit messy to take off the grill/BBQ.

Start off by slicing the apricots in half and removing the stone from the center. Heat up a lightly oiled cast iron grill pan or BBQ. Once hot, place the apricot halves cut side down. Cook for 4-5 minutes until they start to soften and caramelise. Turn over and continue cooking for another minute or two until soft and juicy. Remove from the grill or BBQ and place onto plates while you prepare the coconut cream.

Coconut Cream

This coconut cream comes together in minutes and is a delicious change from the typical whipped cream without any fuss. Simply add together double cream, icing sugar and coconut cream into a medium sized bowl and whisk until thick. You can buy coconut cream seperately if you wish, however I tend to just pop a tin of coconut milk into the fridge overnight for this. Once cooled, I skim off the solid part off the top of the can and use that as coconut cream. If you want to make this vegan, you can skip the double cream and use twice as much coconut cream. It won’t be as firm but it will be just as tasty! Take a large tablespoon of this coconut cream and dollop over the grilled apricots.

Candied Hazelnuts

These are so simple to throw together. It’s essentially just whole hazelnuts and honey (or maple syrup if you prefer!) tossed together and roasted off for 10 minutes until syrupy. Leave to cool until hard, crush and scatter over the dessert. For full instructions on how to make these, check out my Candied Hazelnut Post.

Got extra grilled apricots and not quite sure what to do with them?

Why not try out this incredibly looking Grilled Apricot, Burrata and Ham Salad by Food and Wine? This would also be equally gratifying with a soft goats cheese.

If fruit in salads aren’t your thing, you could make this Small Batch Apricot Jam by Happy Foods Tube.

Have extra candied hazelnuts leftover? You could try out this Honey Hazelnut Praline No Churn Ice Cream Recipe.

Looking for more Gluten Free Desserts? Check out my Gluten Free Desserts Category, here.