Warm Cinnamon Pineapple Dessert

Warm Cinnamon Pineapple Dessert

One of our favorite places to visit is the beach.  We love the beach.  By "we" I mean, my son and me. My Husband goes with us because he knows how much we love it. This past summer, our neighbor's offered us the use of their Condo.  Of course we couldn't pass it by, so we took an unplanned vacation to the Beach.  As always we had so much fun.  We were in walking distance to several Pancake Houses, and we could see the oceanfront from the balcony. We were also very close to many of the attractions.  It was a wonderful get away.  We visited with some friends who live there, and we went out to eat, a lot.  

I have heard of Brazilian Steakhouses, but never been to one.  I decided to surprise my family with a trip to Brazil, via the Rioz Brazilian Steakhouse.  Now, I'm not trying to "plug" the steakhouse, but feel it necessary to call them by name, because I am about to share this recipe that I got from the waiter, or Gaucho, in the restaurant.  It's so important that we give proper credit where credit is due. 

If you have never been to a Brazilian Steakhouse, and you love meat, all meat, and you have dreams of being surrounded by a multitude of deliciously seasoned, and cooked meats, then you must go to a Brazilian Steakhouse.  We walked in and were immediately greeted by a friendly hostess, who checked our reservation and led us to our table.  We walked past a large buffet covered in every different type of vegetable, mixed salads, fruit, pasta, breads, seafood, cheeses, among other delicacies nestled among the ice, or steaming above a friendly warmer.   I was beginning to think, we'd be there all night.  

Once seated at our table, the young lady gave us an explanation of what to expect, and our role.  We could help ourselves to the endless Buffet, upon returning to our table there will be fried bananas, cheese bread, polenta and mashed potatoes.  We were each given a two sided card, one side was red, the other green.  The lovely Hostess instructed us, at our discretion, turn the card to the green side to begin the parade of the main courses.  When we have had enough, turn to red, repeat if we so choose.  We followed her direction, and upon returning to our table, found it just as she described.  Each of us turned our cards to green.  To say we were overwhelmed with the choices of meat presented to us would be a gross understatement.  Perfectly cooked meats, lined up neatly on warm  skewers, were in turn delivered to us.  It was a dance of such pleasure, we could not resist.  Very soon, our plates were piled high with perfect portions of mouth watering selections.  Each of us flipped the cards to red, the dance was over and we could enjoy our feast without interruption.  

Delighted by the atmosphere, we were soon ready to begin another wave of friendly Gaucho's.  The ballet began anew.  As a Gaucho came near, he had a type of meat I could not identify on his skewer. It looked, as he got closer, not like meat at all, but pineapple.   I couldn't be sure, as it was golden brown, crusted in a ruddy glaze.  What could this be?  It was, indeed, pineapple. Grilled to perfection on the rotisserie, covered in cinnamon sugar and presented as though it were a golden treasure.  We soon found out that is precisely what it is.  Golden treasure.  We sent our waitress to find him, three times.  

This has now become one of our favorite treats.  We eat thick, warm slices of cinnamon pineapple with frozen whipped topping.  Sometimes we eat the delectable pineapple all on it's own.  If you have never tried a warm, baked pineapple you don't know what you are missing.  The baking process brings out the juices which intermingle with the cinnamon sugar and create a mouth watering crust, full of sweet juicy pineapple flavor.

I am going to share with you, the simplicity that is the Grilled pineapple.  Whether you cut your own pineapple, or purchase it already cut and cored, it doesn't matter.  It will work either way. 

Cut the skin off the pineapple, no need to core it.  

Don't have a rotisserie? No problem, just elevate with a wire rack. 

Roll in Cinnamon Sugar, make sure to coat all sides thoroughly.

Place in oven, full recipe is shown below.  

 Warm Cinnamon Pineapple Dessert

1 Whole organic Pineapple

1 Cup organic sugar

2 Tablespoon ground Ceylon Cinnamon

• Remove the skin from the pineapple, careful to cut the sharp "eyes" out as well.  
• No need to core the pineapple, unless you want to shorten the baking time. 
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees
• Place a wire rack on a cookie sheet
• Mix the cinnamon into the sugar, use as much or as little of the sugar  and cinnamon as you like
• Carefully cover the pineapple in the cinnamon sugar by rolling and sprinkling it all over
• Place the coated pineapple on the wire rack and place in the oven, on the middle rack 
• Bake for 45 minutes until the entire pineapple has been warmed through and the cinnamon sugar is a mahogany color 
• Careful not to burn the sugar mixture
• Check at 30 minutes just to be safe
• Remove from oven and let cool a little
• Cut into thick slices, place on a plate 
• Serve as is or with ice cream or frozen whipped topping.