Summer is the season for grilling anything and everything. In this post, Holley from our Kitchen Council shares a simple and light dessert recipe using Stemilt’s sweet cherries and homemade shortcake. Enjoy!
Cherry season is only here for a short time which means I find myself washing tiny cherry-stained hands, mouths, and shirts daily (and not minding one bit!) because my girls (and myself) have been eating our fill. While I love to just pop individual cherries as a super sweet snack, I’ve been using them in other applications as well. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Topped on oatmeal or yogurt with chopped pistachios and grated dark chocolate
- Stirred into chicken salad with toasted pecans and chopped celery
- Blended into vanilla-cherry smoothies
- Frozen into fruity pops
- Baked into a fruit galette with slivered almonds
- Sprinkled on a spinach salad with feta, orange slices, cracked pepper, and grilled shrimp
- Grilled and served as appetizer bites
During the summer, it feels like my family spends every weekend together at the lake, the beach, or at a friend’s house cooking out. Since we are always gathered around outside and in an effort to keep the kitchen cool, I’ve been creating more and more recipes on the grill. When I first decided to make grilled cherry shortcake, I was grilling thick slices of angel food cake and pound cake alongside skewered cherries and topping with Greek yogurt or fresh whipped cream. While this is an AMAZING way to eat this dessert, my 3-year-old and I decided to take it to the next level—hands-free and portion controlled! So while Ellie wasn’t all too worried about how nice it is to not need utensils when entertaining, I thought the idea of skewering both the cake and cherries for a simple pick-up dessert was brilliant. Enter grilled cherry shortcake kabobs!
In these photos, I’m using my mother-in-law’s famous homemade pound cake but you can easily pick up a pound cake or even an angel food cake from the grocery store and cut into cubes. Make sure to not skip the light layer of melted butter on each skewer since this will help keep it from sticking to the grill.
Once the skewers are done, serve them alongside a sweet and tangy yogurt dipping sauce, fresh whipped cream, or if you want to go even more over-the-top, melted chocolate! However you choose to customize your dessert, you’re sure to appreciate the simplicity, flavor, and ease.
Grilled Cherry Shortcake Kabobs
Makes: 10 kabobs
Ingredients:
- 20 1-inch pound cake or angel food cake cubes
- 20 Stemilt cherries, stems removed
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
- ½ cup low-fat plain Greek yogurt
- 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
Procedure:
- Skewer 2 pound cake cubes and 2 cherries onto each of 10 skewers. Brush with melted butter.
- Combine yogurt, 1 teaspoon zest, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, and brown sugar in a small bowl. Chill until ready to serve.
- Grill skewers over medium heat 5 minutes on each side or until golden brown and cherries soften. Serve with yogurt dipping sauce.
