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These grilled apricots with a honey glaze and cheese rosettes will be the best thing you make all summer. The weather finally turned, which means it’s grilling season, and there’s something about cooking outside with a drink in your hand that makes everything taste better. If you’re somewhere like me where summer already means it’s too hot to stand over a grill, don’t worry, you can make these inside too.
Something almost magical happens when you char an apricot, the cut side caramelizes and goes jammy, the sugars deepen, and the fruit holds its shape while the center turns soft and syrupy. From there they get brushed with a honey glaze, sweet and tangy with a little heat from jalapeño and tarragon steeped right in, then topped with a savory cheese rosette and finished with nutty toasted sesame and fresh chive flowers. One bite has all of it at once, warm and cool, sweet and salty, soft fruit and delicate flowers.
Table of Contents
All About Grilling Apricots
Buy the Right Apricots
You want them ripe but still firm, with just a little give when you press. Too soft and they fall apart on the heat. Slightly underripe is better than overripe here, since the fruit softens as it cooks. If you can, go for freestone apricots, the pit pulls away clean and they’re far easier to prep. Clingstone apricots have flesh that grips the pit and takes more work to cut around. They’re usually not labeled at the store, but most grocery apricots are freestone, and at a farmers market you can just ask.
Halve and Pit
For freestone, slice around the natural seam from top to bottom, twist the two halves apart, and the pit lifts right out. Use tongs or the tip of a knife to pop it out if you need. For clingstone, don’t try to force the pit out. Use a small knife and cut the flesh away from the pit in sections. Work your way around it until the pit comes out.
The Grill
Clean your grates. Oil the sliced side of your apricot halves. Making sure you have oil on the apricots is how they will release easily instead of sticking and tearing that caramelized surface. Heat the grill to high and let it get fully hot. Lay the apricots cut-side down and leave them alone. They only need about 20 seconds each. The cut side will turn from an orange to a darker, golden-brown, with a few charred spots at the edges. You want that char, but you also want them to hold their shape and not turn mushy.
Too hot out to grill, or don’t have one?
There’s a couple of indoor options that work just as well.
- Gas Stove: Char them right on the stovetop. Lay a plain uncoated metal cooling rack across the burner grates, and turn the burner to medium-high. Oil the cut sides of your apricots and set them cut-side down on the rack. Let them caramelize, watching for that golden-brown, slightly charred look. Keep an eye on them and move them as needed so they char without burning.
- Electric or Induction: No flame to char over, you can use your broiler instead. Set an oven rack 4 to 6 inches below the broiler and preheat it on high. Put the apricots cut-side up on a foil-lined sheet pan and broil for a few minutes, watching closely, until the cut side darkens. You won’t get grill marks, but you get the same caramelized top.
The Cheese and Rosettes
Most grilled apricot recipes reach for goat cheese. I went the other way. Soft goat cheese melts into the warm fruit and turns everything one creamy texture, and there’s just not enough contrast. On the other hand, an aged, firm cheese does the opposite. You taste the sweet caramelized apricot and the salty, nutty cheese as two separate things in the same bite. I am all about balance, as well as texture, and these appetizer bites are perfect.
Here is exactly how to make the cheese rosettes, and what to do if you don’t have a girolle or can’t find the right cheese.
How to Use a Girolle
A girolle is the tool that makes the rosettes. It is a round base with a center spindle and a blade that spins on top, and it was built in Switzerland to shave one specific cheese into frilly curls. You don’t need much skill to use it, just room-temperature cheese and light pressure.
Tips for the perfect cheese rosettes: Bring the cheese to room temperature first. This makes all the difference in the thin cut. Your instinct will be to set the cheese on the spindle and press straight down, but too much pressure can crack the wheel. Do it the other way. Set the cheese wheel cut-side down on a cutting board, flip the girolle upside down, and line the spindle up with the middle of the cheese. Press down until the spindle drives all the way through. Flip the whole thing over, press the cheese the rest of the way down, and secure it on the bottom blades. Then add the blade back on top and spin, spin, spin.
If you want to see the girolle in action, there’s a great video made by Tête de Moine themselves called How to use?
The Best Cheeses for Rosettes
The girolle was made for Tête de Moine, but this can be very hard to find. You can always order it online but other semi-hard cheese wheels work just as well. Here are some other tried and true alternatives:
- Tête de Moine: The original. Nutty, semi-firm, and built for this. Worth tracking down if you have the option.
- Petit Basque: A dense sheep’s milk cheese that curls tight and clean. One of the best stand-ins.
- Manchego: Firm Spanish sheep’s milk cheese. Curls well and its sharpness works against the sweet apricot.
- Parmesan: Curls beautifully and brings a stronger, saltier punch. Use it if you already know you like it bold.
- Pecorino: Like Parmesan but saltier. Same easy curl, more bite.
- Aged Gouda: Use a mature, firm wheel. Younger Gouda is too soft to hold a curl.
No Girolle? Use a Microplane
You don’t need it to make these. Grate the Petit Basque on a microplane and pile a little on each apricot instead. It’s not exactly cheese rosettes, but it’s still cute and you get the same nutty, salty cheese melting into the warm fruit, which is the part that matters.
And if you have your heart set on the rosettes, check your deli counter. A lot of them shave cheese fresh, so it’s worth a call to ask.
Make-Ahead and Storage
The Glaze: This is the easiest part to do ahead. Cook the honey, sherry vinegar, sliced jalapeño, and tarragon spring down, let it cool, and keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a weeks. It thickens and may harden as it chills, so before using, warm it gently on the stove or in the microwave with a small splash of water until it’s loose enough to coat the apricots again.
The Rosettes: You can shave the cheese rosettes ahead and keep them in an airtight container in the fridge, the same way the deli counter shaves them fresh. They’ll keep for a day, but they’re at their best shaved the day you’re serving. Shaved that thin, the cheese has a lot of surface area and dries out at the edges over time. Keep them sealed tight so they don’t dry. If you are shaving the cheese, do this right before or it gets clumpy.
The Apricots: Grill these fresh. The whole point is warm apricots with the cheese softening on top, and they only take a few minutes on the grill, so there’s nothing to gain by doing them early. Leftover grilled apricots keep softening and turn mushy, so this is a make-it-and-eat-it appetizer.
How to Serve Grilled Apricots
These bites are a great shareable appetizer, and they go down easy with a glass of Tinto de Verano. For dinner, an Easy Kabob Plate with spiced beef and lamb pops right on the grill. Serve an Arugula Fennel Salad on the side, peppery and crisp with a honey dijon dressing, and finish with a cold and light Melon Dessert.
Cocktails
Tinto de Verano Recipe
Mains
EASY Kabob Plate
Sides
Arugula Fennel Salad
Desserts
Melon Dessert 🍨
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Frequently Asked Questions
A grill-ready apricot gives a little when you press it but still feels firm, with a deep orange color and a sweet smell at the stem end. If it’s rock hard it won’t have much flavor yet, and if it’s soft or wrinkled it’ll fall apart on the heat. Slightly underripe is better than overripe here, since the fruit softens as it cooks. If yours aren’t quite there, leave them on the counter for a day or two to ripen.
These are best made fresh and served warm, right off the grill. You can make the honey glaze and cheese rosettes ahead. But wait until close to serving to throw them on the grill. It only takes a few minutes from there.
Any firm or semi-firm cheese that shaves thin will work. Petit Basque, Manchego, Parmesan, Pecorino, or aged Gouda all curl into rosettes on a girolle, or you can slice any of them thin by hand. There’s more on this in the cheese section above.
No. You can char them on a gas stovetop using a wire rack over the burner, or under the broiler if you have an electric or induction stove. Both get you the same caramelized cut side. See the no grill section for more details.
Equipment
- Grill, or wire rack over a gas burner
- small saucepan
- Girolle, or microplane
- Basting Brush
Ingredients
Apricots
- 10 apricots, halved and pitted
- olive oil, for brushing
Honey Glaze
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 tsp sherry vinegar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/3 jalapeno, sliced
- 1 sprig tarragon
To Finish
- 1/3 cup sesame seeds, toasted
- 4 oz Petit Basque cheese
- chives, chopped, to taste
- chive blossoms, to taste
- flaky salt, to taste
Instructions
- Char the Apricots: Brush the cut sides of the apricots with olive oil. Heat a grill or a wire rack set over a gas burner until ripping hot. Place the apricots cut-side down and char hot and fast, about 20 seconds, until the surface is marked but the fruit still holds its shape. Do not overcook or they will turn soggy.10 apricots, olive oil
- Make the Glaze: Add the honey, sherry vinegar, pinch of salt, tarragon, and jalapeño to a small saucepan. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes until thickened. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly, then discard the tarragon and jalapeno.1/3 cup honey, 2 tsp sherry vinegar, 1 pinch salt, 1/3 jalapeno, 1 sprig tarragon
- Glaze and Sesame: Brush the apricots with the honey glaze, reserving some for finishing. Let the apricots cool slightly, then sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds.1/3 cup sesame seeds
- Shave the Rosettes: Bring the cheese to room temperature. Use a girolle to shave the Petit Basque into rosettes. If you don't have a girolle, you can grate any semi-hard cheese and make a mound.4 oz Petit Basque cheese
- Assemble: Set a cheese rosette in the divot of each apricot half. Drizzle with the reserved honey glaze, then finish with chopped chives, chive blossoms, and flaky salt.chives, chive blossoms, flaky salt
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Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
