There isn’t much easier than these Grilled Apple Pie Cinnamon Roll Cups when you are looking for the quick and easy grilled dessert. Bring on the kiddos as this one is right up the alley for their hands and attention span.
🍽️ Why This Works
Two Ingredients | Need I say more? There is no complex recipe here! Just two ingredients and a bit prep and you’ll have an amazing grilled treat!
Fast | This took less than five minutes to prep and just 20 minutes on the grill. In less than half an hour you can have these sweet finger food treats ready for your guests and family.
🍎 Ingredients
Prepackaged Cinnamon Rolls: If you are really energetic, you can make your own, but the refrigerated rolls were just so much easier to deal with. Make sure to set aside the package of icing that is included. We’ll use that to top them.
Pie Filling: I used apple pie for these, but be creative with your selection. The only prep work that needs to be done is to chop the large chunks up.
🔥 Instructions
Step One: Preheat the grill to 375 degrees on indirect heat. For the Big Green Egg, I added the plate setter. For a gas grill, turn off the center burners.
Step Two: While the grill is warming up, separate the cinnamon roll dough and place one in between two pieces of wax paper. Roll it out using a rolling pin. Continue to work it until it is less than ¼” thick. The wax paper makes it really easy to flatten without making a mess.
Step Three: Spray the muffin tin with a non-stick spray and line them with the cinnamon roll dough. Press firmly along the sides to form a cup.
Step Four: Pour the pie filling into a bowl. If the apples are a bit large, use a sharp knife to cut them into ½” sized pieces.
Step Five: Fill each cup with some of the pie filling. Go ahead and fill them full. While the dough will rise a little bit while baking, it will settle down as it cools.
Step Six: Add the muffin tin to the grill grate and let it bake for 15 minutes. When the dough is cooked, remove it from the grill and drizzle on the icing. Let it cool and serve!
❗ Expert Tips
This recipe is extremely forgiving. The biggest risk is over cooking and having the bottom of the cinnamon roll cups get too dark. Check these after about 10 minutes on the grill. Routinely, they are ready to be removed at the 15 minute mark. It’s best to remove before they burn and they will always cook an additional 1-2 minutes in the muffin tin so please account for that.
Change the pie filling for a completely different taste. I used strawberry, blueberry and apple for a red, white and blue theme for the 4th of July BBQ.
Don’t skip the icing! This is a sweet and gooey dessert, so let’s go ALL IN! If you want an apple dessert that is a little lighter try the Grilled Apples.
Recipe FAQ
You bet! The key is to set up the grill for indirect heat. This turns it into more of a convection oven where the rolls are cooked from all sides instead of just from the bottom. For a gas grill, remove the heat source immediately under the food and only cook using the burners away from the center. For a kamado grill, add a heat deflector or plate setter.
You can but it won’t have the same consistency. The cinnamon sugar mixture won’t have a chance to break down and make it saucy. That saying, you can do it and the results will be fresh and slightly crunchy instead of super soft apple pie filling.
Yes. Remove from the grill and allow to cool. Skip the icing as it will not stick through the freezer process. Freeze individually and add later. Place on a sheet pan and allow to freeze for 6-8 hours. Remove from the freezer and then individually wrap each one and place in a freezer bag. If double wrapped, these will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Place in a sealed container for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.
Related Recipes
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Grilled Apple Pie Cinnamon Roll Cups
Equipment
- Grill
- Mini Muffin Tin
Ingredients
- 1 can Apple Pie Filling
- 2 tubes Cinnamon Roll in the tube
Instructions
- Heat up grill to 375 over indirect heat.
- Roll out the cinnamon rolls to a bit less than ¼" thick and place one in each mini muffin tin. Press along the sides so the dough stays in place.
- Chop up the apple pie filling into bite size pieces and divide into each of the cinnamon roll.
- Grill for 15 minutes.
- After they are done, allow them to cool for a few minutes before taking the icing from the tube and drizzling it over the cups.
Notes
Nutrition
Ginny Collins is a passionate foodie and recipe creator of Savor and Savvy and Kitchenlaughter. Indoors she focuses on easy, quick recipes for busy families and kitchen basics. Outdoors, she focuses on backyard grilling and smoking to bring family and friends together. She is a lifelong learner who is always taking cooking classes on her travels overseas and stateside. Her work has been featured on MSN, Parade, Fox News, Yahoo, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and many local news outlets. She lives in Florida where you will find her outside on the water in her kayak, riding her bike on trails, and planning her next overseas adventure.
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