I can’t take credit for this one. It’s my friend Jordan’s creation. She has been sporting an adorable growing baby bump for the past eight months. She makes pregnancy look good… which is not to say that I want to be pregnant any time soon. Oh no, this is a spectator sport. Pass the wine, please. Lucky for us, Jordan got a craving for peaches and plums a few weeks ago and went a little overboard at the store. She sliced up the surplus and brought it over to my place on girls night.
After dessert, she tossed the stone fruit with sugar and balsamic vinegar and put it in the oven. We chatted around the table while the fruit transformed into sweet roasted perfection. It’s one of those desserts that features a dangerous combination of contrasting flavors—sweet summer fruit, tangy reduced balsamic vinegar and creamy vanilla ice cream. We kept going back for bite after bite, and when we were finished, Jordan reported that even the baby approved.
I’ve made this dessert a couple of times since girls night. I could have changed it up by adding toasted nuts or granola, or baked it with a crisp topping, but sometimes the best summer desserts are the simplest ones. Since this dessert is composed almost entirely of produce, the flavor depends mostly on the fruit itself. You could probably make this dessert ten times and it will never taste quite the same (but it will always taste good!).
If you find yourself with a surplus of stone fruit, or just need a fresh, easy dessert and don’t mind turning on the oven, this recipe is for you. It’s especially wonderful with a glass of chilled white wine.
Speaking of summer desserts, I’m obliged to tell you about an app for iPhones and iPads by Foodie. The latest edition, called Summer Sweets, features a few of my recipes and others by some of my favorite food bloggers, including Erin of Naturally Ella and Ashley of Edible Perspective. If you’re into apps, this one is beautifully designed and totally free! Download it here.
Balsamic Stone Fruit Sundae
- Author:
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Dessert
A super simple summer dessert featuring balsamic roasted stone fruit (peaches, plums and cherries) and vanilla ice cream. Feel free to wing the amounts—my friend just tossed the fruit with sugar and balsamic vinegar until they seemed “pretty well coated.”
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ pound stone fruit (any combination of peaches, nectarines, plums and/or cherries)
- ¼ cup turbinado (raw) sugar
- 2 to 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- vanilla ice cream (or yogurt/frozen yogurt/dairy-free ice cream)
- optional add-ins: freshly toasted almonds/pistachios or granola
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare the fruit: peel, pit and slice peaches/nectarines, pit and slice plums, and pit and halve cherries.
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Toss the stone fruit with sugar and balsamic vinegar and spread into a single layer. Bake for about 30 minutes, tossing halfway. Serve warm, with ice cream.
Notes
- Recipe yields enough for 4 modestly sized sundaes. Plan on 1 cup prepared fruit per person.
- Leftover roasted fruit is great with yogurt and honey almond granola for breakfast.
- Want to serve an entirely made-from-scratch dessert? Here’s my vanilla bean ice cream recipe.
- I didn’t halve the cherries in this batch, but I suggest you do so they cook at the same rate as the other fruit.
- Handy kitchen tool: OXO’s Good Grips Cherry Pitter
makes pitting cherries easy and less messy.
makes pitting cherries easy and less messy.
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Ashley
Girl! That single spoon shot with the slight spatter is just lovely. As is the melted puddle of ice cream in the bottom of the bowl. Thanks for the shout out! That app is pretty fantastic, huh? :)
Kate
Thank you, Ashley!
Katrina @ WVS
Well thank goodness for your friend, because this looks awesome!
Allison @ bakingyear
This looks so simple and delicious!! I bet it’s easy to make too. I’ll definitely try it!
Stephanie
I guess I know what I’m picking up from the store today!
Amanda
This is gorgeous and I really want it in my life right now. On the recipe to-do list, for sure. :)
Marcie
This looks fabulous! I’ve got stone fruit fever, and this just sounds like the perfect way to cure it.
Heidi @ Food Doodles
Mmmm, looks wonderful! I love the rich, deep colors, I bet they taste so good :D
Emma
Sweet, rich, sticky, YUM! I wish I had spare stone fruit- it always goes so quickly in my kitchen. Your pictures are absolutely stunning too.
Tieghan
Stunning and so delicious! I want a big bowl right now!
Katy @ Katy'sKitchen
Yum, I love simple and easy desserts in the summer, especially ones full of fruit! The pictures are gorgeous, too.
Terri
What a lovely way to take advantage of the season’s produce! Can’t wait to give it a try.
Laura (Tutti Dolci)
I love fruit with balsamic, this sundae looks irresistible!
Grandbaby Cakes
That sundae is just so stunning! I love the balsamic flavor!
Harriet
Balsamic vinegar and fruits is one of my favourites, but I’ve never tried it roasted before. YUM!
Iris @ the yummyblog
awesome photos! and thanks for the app tip!
Joanne
Simple desserts like this are just the best. You can’t ever go wrong with them, especially when they involve summer’s most delicious of fruits!
Kate
Hear, hear! Thanks, Joanne.
Grace @FoodFitnessFA
Love this! Nothing beats simply-prepared fresh fruit and ice cream in the summer.
Cattail Down
Yummo, I’m sold! It’s too sweet and simple to pass up.
Chelsea Preedy
Absolutely incredible pictures! Looking at this recipe makes my mouth water and it is only 10am, can’t wait to try this at my next girl’s night. Thanks for sharing.
Inés
Hi Kate,
Your post inspired me to fill some cinnamon rolls, which I made today for work, with peaches. I had planned on strawberries, but there weren’t any strawberries in the shops… So I bought peaches. I roasted them (just the peaches, without anything else, though as I had a spiced dough) in the oven, pureed them and used that as a filling. When I made it I spent 5 minutes to get all the remainders out of the mixing jar, eating them, because it was so heavenly. And the color was magical as well. When trying a roll today I figured using twice as much filling wouldn’t have done any harm either ;-)
Thank you for the idea to roast peaches! You’re introducing roasting fruit to me I guess ;-)
★★★★★
Kate
Oh my, I would love to try a cinnamon roll with roasted peach filling. Such a brilliant idea, Inés! Roasted fruit is the best, glad I could share my obsession with you. :)
Nicole
YES! I love simple, let-the-fruit-shine-through desserts like this in the summer! I bet it is so good with the balsamic vinegar. I’m sure pregnant ladies come up with all sorts of genius flavor combos :)
theliz
I made this yesterday with plums to top homemade vanilla ice cream. It was SO good, and the plums weren’t even completely ripe. Thank you!
Kate
Wonderful! You’re right, this is a great way to use underripe stone fruit. I think I actually preferred the more sour fruits in my friend’s batch.
TARTESANDCARO
yummmmmm
Jamie @ GB&G
Winning.
Christy
I need to get on the stone fruit bandwagon! This looks delicious and in sundae form, no less?! Yum!
autumn
What an elegant take on sundaes. Love those stone fruit colors too!
Barb
It looks so fresh and tasty! I love the fruit that was put in the sundae!! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Emma
I have a glut of plums from my garden and I’d love to make some of this sauce. Do you think it would work to make a big batch of this and freeze it or seal it in jars? Would you reheat before serving? Thanks!
Kate
Hey Emma, that’s a really good idea! Definitely let the mixture cool to room temp before you transfer it to a freezing container. It’d probably be easiest to freeze the sauce in portions that work for you, whether that’s in freezer bags or glass jars. (If you’re freezing in jars, keep in mind that liquids expand as they freeze. Leave about an inch of space at the top, freeze it, and then screw on the lid.) Then just gently reheat when you’re ready to serve. Hope these tips help!
Emma
Thanks Kate! It sounds like a really yummy recipe- look forward to trying it :-)
Tricia
I made this for a cooking class I taught and everyone loved it!! Hopefully you get some more readership, because I tell so many of my patients about your blog :)
★★★★★
Kate
That’s so cool, Tricia! I’m glad they enjoyed it! Thank you so much for sharing my blog with your patients. I really, really appreciate it!
Wizewomanoils
Too much sugars I’m diabetic can’t do that. Any other ideas?
Thank you
Kate
Hi! I’m not sure on your needs. I would check my other dessert options here. Possible there is something that will work for you: https://cookieandkate.com/category/food-recipes/dessert/