Forget The Oven: Baked Apples Are Even Better When Prepared On Your Grill

Baked apples are a simple, tasty dessert that you shouldn't sleep on. Cooking the fruit with sugar, warming spices, and butter transforms them into a decadent dessert that can be spooned on top of ice cream, eaten with a biscuit, or just spooned into a bowl and enjoyed straight. Although the name "baked apples" implies that you have to cook them in an oven, you can also make them when you don't have access to one by employing other cooking methods, including the stovetop. But if you don't want to turn your range on at all (like on those unbearably hot summer days), you can turn to your grill instead. 

The first thing you'll need to do is get your grill fired up. You don't want to char all the life out of your apples, so getting a hot, but not flaming, surface is important. You'll also want to select one of the absolute best apples for baking — these tend to hold their shape and not turn mushy. Honeycrisps  or Jonagolds are a good place to start. Once your apples are washed, carefully remove the cores and cut down into the fruit, but avoid slicing through them completely so you can add your seasoning: melted butter, cinnamon, and warming spices. After you encase the apples in foil, put them on the grill and cook until tender.

There is a lot to love about this campfire dessert, and it's excellent if you already have the grill going on a hot summer night. When it comes to seasoning your grilled apples, cinnamon is a must-have — but you can also draw on any spices you'd normally add to apple pie, including those like allspice, ginger, cardamom, and nutmeg, or more savory-sweet combos like lemon zest, sumac, or fenugreek.  

You can also use your baked apples as a component in another type of dessert. Some folks like grilling their apples with chopped nuts or streusel inside of them for a more apple crisp-like effect, or you can use them as a flavorful topping for a scoop of vanilla, butter pecan, or caramel ice cream. Regardless of how you like to eat them, once you have this hack down, you'll likely never go back to baking your apples ever again.