By Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes

When the temperatures soar, desserts that require too much time in the kitchen with the oven or over a hot stove aren’t very appealing, so when we indulge in a little sweet something, we want cold. Chilled or frozen desserts can take away the heat of the day and using tropical fruits in cold desserts somehow makes it even more satisfying.

Cooling off your summer with tropical fruit desserts is easy and delicious. All of these desserts are chilled or frozen. Some require a little stove preparation, but most can be quickly mixed in a bowl, food processor, blender, ice cream freezer, or with a mixer.

Granitas originated in Sicily. They are semi-frozen and either stirred and fluffed with a fork or even made in an gelato machine. If you don’t have a machine, you can make granita easily with just a sturdy baking pan and a fork. After mixing the ingredients, just pour them into the pan and put it in the freezer. Stir with the fork several times as it freezes, then fluff it with the fork just before serving. Pineapple is great frozen, and Cookworm paired it with basil to make a beautiful granita with green flecks. The Food Bar Blog showed off their Mojito Granita with the classic lime, mint, and rum. And Jenn, The Leftover Queen, made a colorful Pomegranate Granita using pomegranate and lemon juice.

Sorbets are a close cousin to granitas, and the only real difference is in the texture. Sorbets have a fine, compact texture and granita has a crunchier texture. Both are dairy-free, made with just sugar, fruit juice, and water. Using mango and blood oranges, Layla of Laylita created a sorbet inspired by the memories of her mother’s cooking. Lemons are commonly used in sorbets, but Lynne of Cafe Lynnylu put a twist on the traditional by roasting the lemons before mixing the sorbet. Ginger and lychee make a tasty combination, and Nicky and Oliver of Delicious Days made a simple ginger lychee sorbet with a twist of lime.

If you want dairy with your fruit, make some ice cream. Jenn, The Leftover Queen, started with a no-egg base and made two delicious ice creams flavored with tamarind and papaya mango, hoping it would put her one step closer to her dream of owning a gelateria. At Coco Cooks she is serving up a papaya coconut ice cream using coconut milk. And what if you made vanilla ice cream? Pour some of Ivy’s kiwi sauce on top!

Fruit mousses are also very light and refreshing. Meeta of What’s for Lunch Honey? indulged in a coconut mouse with mango coulis, a thick sauce made from strained fruit. Passionfruit was the inspiration for Patricia of Technicolor Kitchen, and she turned her inspiration into mini mousses in chocolate cups.

The possibilities with tropical fruits are endless. Dhanggit of Dhanggit’s Kitchen covered fresh mango, banana, kiwi, and strawberry with an apricot basil syrup to create a Fruit Minestrone. Linda in the Netherlands created an elegant lemon and coconut rice pudding layered with pineapple and banana. And last summer Mary of Alpineberry hosted the Sugar High Friday event with the theme Tropical Paradise. The final tally was 41 tropical fruit creations, enough to whet anyone’s appetite. Some require baking, but many do not.

You can also find more easy and cold tropical fruit desserts using the FoodieView Recipe Search Engine.

Andrea is an instructional designer and self-taught cook who chronicles her adventures in the kitchen at Andrea’s Recipes. She likes to keep things cool in the summertime with frozen or chilled desserts and made a tropical fruit dessert of her own for Sugar High Friday with frozen banana, mango, pineapple, and some coconut milk.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 3rd, 2008 at 7:37 pm and is filed under Recipe Roundup. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.