Grilled Pineapple with Praline Caramel

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Perfect for entertaining, Grilled Pineapple with Praline Caramel is a cinch to make, and even easier to devour. Heat up the grill for dessert!

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Did someone say grilled pineapple? If they did, if you even whisper it, I'll come running! There's something about pineapple, heated, with a little smoky char that is almost irresistible.

How to grill pineapple:

To get that fantastical flavor of grilled pineapple there's no fancy tricks. I don't even brush it with butter or oil. Some folks will sprinkle it with brown sugar or brush it with something sweet before grilling; but pineapple has so much natural sugar I find that isn't necessary and will just cause burning on the BBQ. If you do sugar it first, cook it over a lower temperature so there's no burning. Or better yet, sprinkle it with that brown sugar right when it comes off the grill.

Grilled Pineapple with Praline Caramel sauce is a dessert you won't want to miss out on. Plus there's no heating the oven for this tasty treat.

My grilled pineapple is simply marked and charred a bit. It gets the flavor of the grill and heated through so the fruit softens and gets juicy. Then, oh then, I drizzle it with caramel sauce and top it with candied pecans and cream. So now you know how to properly grill a pineapple at home. YASSSSSS!

How to cut a pineapple:

I cut my pineapple rings in various ways. For this grilled pineapple with praline caramel dessert I cut the skinned pineapple into rounds and cored each piece. However if you don't mind each ring having an open slice you can use a pineapple corer like this one to do the job, then create rings. For this dessert it doesn't really matter. The rings will grill perfectly with or without being whole and connected.

I do make quick work of a pineapple when I use a sharp chef's knife, slice off the top and bottom, then trim off the skin. I don't go too deep, but just deep enough to remove all the green and big "eyes" of the pineapple fruit. Then I have a whole, skinned pineapple. Slice into ½ inch slices and use an apple corer or round cookie cutter to cut out the core from each piece.

Just how do you serve a grilled pineapple? Top it with pralines and caramel! The praline comes in the form of candied pecans for this grilled pineapple recipe. Just a little sugar and water in a saucepan will turn into a great, crunchy caramel. At the end, once the mixture is a nice golden brown you stir in cinnamon, salt, butter and pecans. Make sure to spread the mixture into a thin layer to cool so you can easily break up the candied nuts.

My grilled pineapple is simply marked and charred a bit. It gets the flavor of the grill and heated through so the fruit softens and gets juicy.

Sweet whipped cream and a drizzle of dulce de leche or caramel finalizes this glorious grilled dessert. I prefer the dulce de leche if you can find it or want to make it. But totally swappable with the caramel.

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Recipe and Food Styling Tara Teaspoon. Photography Yunhee Kim. Prop Styling Deborah Williams. Originally published in LHJ 08/10.