When you’re on vacation, dessert is always an option, right? The Smoky Mountains has so many desserts from which to choose – from fudge to fresh-pulled taffy and ice cream, doughnuts to pastry shops – but also so many unique desserts after you’ve had lunch or dinner. Here are some of our favorites and a really fun candy-making video!
Curl de la Creme
This sister-owned local business will curl your toes along with the ice cream, mix ins, toppings and amazingly fun flavors.
For each order, Curl de la Crème’s “curlers” turn liquid cream into ice cream folding in your flavors and mix ins on an ice-cold surface until it is ice cream. Then they push up the ice cream into curls and place it in your vessel of choice, including scratch made waffle cones and waffle tacos, along with Krispy Kreme doughnuts for a Krazy Kremewich.
“They mix it in front of you and they freeze it and make the little curls in front of you. That stuff is very very good,” my sister Summer said.
Choose mix ins from apple pie, Thin Mint cookies, red velvet cake, strawberries, cherries, Fruity Pebbles, pecan pie, coffee and much more. Those get mixed in to one of three ice cream base flavors that include vegan and sugar-free options. Make the ice cream boozy with a large liquor menu that includes bourbon, cinnamon whiskey, tequila and cognac. Then top off your creation with anything from basic whipped cream and sprinkles to Reese’s sauce, gummy bears or brownie crumbs. The combinations are endless!
Find Crème de la Curl at 2656 Parkway, Suite 6, Pigeon Forge. It is across the parkway from Pirate’s Voyage and Dinner Show and near Mel’s Classic Diner. Call (865)-286-9230.
Holston’s Kitchen
At Holston’s Kitchen in Sevierville, start with fresh-made lunch or dinner and finish with a delectable dessert – or just go for the dessert – it’s worth the trip!
Holston’s is known for its Big Orange Soak Cake- a mandarin orange cake served a la mode with a hot streusel topping. There’s also traditional strawberry shortcake, carrot cake and mud cake – mouthwatering.
Find Holston’s at 639 Dolly Parton Pkwy, Sevierville. (865) 365-4205.
Dollywood
Speaking of Dollywood, the park has a dessert people stand in line to get – its world-famous cinnamon bread.
“Literally, you wait in line for 30 to 45 minutes for this. We got in line and waited 45 minutes to an hour for this,” Summer said about her first time getting the dessert bread. “It’s like little balls of sour dough put in a pan, bake it with sugar and pour butter over it. It is amazing!”
That’s about the right recipe – except it is butter first, then cinnamon. Watch it being made.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V9Q1WyyUzs
Get in line for the cinnamon bread at Grist Mill after you enter the park. Built in 1982, the mill was the first fully operational grist mill built in the state of Tennessee in more than 100 years. “Workers constructed the grist mill exactly as it would have been more than a century ago when folks in the Smoky Mountains relied on the giant water wheel to grind corn and wheat.”
Anyone can watch the bakers create and prepare the famous bread. Also shop for jams, jellies and honey butters along with a selection of unique kitchen gifts. Stone-ground corn meal and grits are prepared here too and available for purchase. There also are fresh-baked confections available in the baker’s case, including homemade cookies.
Pigeon Forge Favorites
At Brick & Spoon in Pigeon Forge, you can have dessert for breakfast with Banana’s Foster French Toast. Rich and tasty French toast with Banana’s Foster sauce (traditionally butter, sugar, rum), candied pecans, caramelized bananas, whipped cream and powdered sugar. Are you drooling yet?
Enjoy this delight for breakfast or lunch as a dessert meal! Or share it after some of Brick & Spoon’s fantastic savory food (see our blog post on favorite lunch spots) – but why would you share something this good?! Have them both!
Located at 130 Community Center Drive in Pigeon Forge, (865) 410-1221, Brick & Spoon opens daily at 7 a.m.
Puckett’s Grocery and Restaurant in Pigeon Forge is known for its slow-smoked meats, comfort foods, live music performances AND its cobbler of the day, served in a cast-iron skillet with over-the-top accompaniments. Puckett’s giant skillet cinnamon roll is topped with a whiskey glaze. There are also milkshakes, a deep fried brownie sundae and a Tennessee pound cake with vanilla ice cream and blackberry honey.
“We’ve had the pecan cobbler – it was really good,” Heather (sister) told me.
Puckett’s roots go back to the 1950s as a small grocery store in Lieper’s Fork, Tennessee. This unique Tennessee restaurant idea now has six locations.
Below is Puckett’s deep-fried brownie sundae topped with candied bacon!
Find Puckett’s in Pigeon Forge at 2480 Parkway. (865) 285-0155.
Cobbler, Cobbler, Cobbler!
I grew up with cobblers. My stepfather’s mother would make blackberry cobbler and peach cobblers all summer.
Want to make your own classic Southern Peach Cobbler– and perhaps play with ingredients and over-the-top accompaniments? Here’s a recipe from Bare Feet in the Kitchen. Try it with blackberries or a mix of strawberries and peaches – one of my favorite combinations.
Prep Time: 20 minutes || Cook Time: 45 minutes || Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes || Servings: 8 || Calories: 510kcal
Ingredients
Peach Filling
8 medium-size fresh peaches sliced into thin wedges or bite size chunks – about 9-10 cups
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons arrowroot or cornstarch
Crust Topping
2 cups all-purpose flour *
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
12 tablespoons butter chilled and grated
1/2 cup boiling water
* Gluten-Free Substitution
1 1/4 cup brown rice flour
2/3 cup tapioca starch
1/3 cup potato starch
Cinnamon Sugar Topping Ingredients
1/3 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Preheat oven to 425°F. Place a large baking sheet covered in foil on the lowest rack in the oven. The baking pan will catch the drips and prevent a mess in the oven.
In a large bowl, combine the peaches and the lemon juice and then add the rest of the filling ingredients. Stir to coat and then pour into a 9×13 baking dish.
Bake the peach mixture in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
While the peaches are baking, combine the dry topping ingredients and whisk to combine. Toss the grated butter in the flour mixture. Stir in the boiling water, just until combined, leaving plenty of little lumps of butter.
Remove the peaches from the oven and drop the topping over them in spoonfuls. (I like to use my smallest cookie scoop to do this.)
Sprinkle the cobbler topping with the cinnamon sugar topping. Bake until the crust is golden and a toothpick inserted into the crust comes out clean, about 28 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Peach Cobbler is the quintessential summer dessert with juicy peaches and a flaky buttery biscuit-like topping sprinkled generously with cinnamon and sugar!
Chocolate Monkey
For chocolate fans, check out The Chocolate Monkey in Gatlinburg – a locally owned shop filled with homemade desserts from fudge, caramel apples, ice cream, truffles and chocolate covered everything including pretzels, bananas and strawberries!
Find The Chocolate Monkey at 702 Parkway, The Middle of the Main Strip Downtown, Gatlinburg. (865) 436-8244.
Poynor’s Pommes Frites’
Another unique experience is Poynor’s Pommes Frites’ Spaghetti Ice. Located at The Island in Pigeon Forge, this German restaurant is currently closed but when it reopens, you need to get there for the spaghetti and meatball dessert with chocolate truffels for meat balls and curls of white chocolate for Parmesan.
“It’s very good. Very cute, very creative,” Summer says.
Even More at the Island
You can still head to The Island for dessert and all the fun! Check out Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen
You know you can expect plenty of butter at Paula Deen’s. Try the Ooey Gooey Butter Cake – her signature dessert.
There’s also Banana Pudding with rich and creamy custard, fresh bananas and sweet vanilla wafers, topped with a dollop of whipped cream.
And then there’s that cobbler again. Paula offers a seasonal cobbler every day – a bubbling southern treat of fruit and crispy dough or biscuit topping.
Not to be forgotten, The Old Mill in Pigeon Forge and Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant – automatically bring desserts to your table when you have a meal there. At Applewood Farmhouse in Sevierville, every meal comes with apple cinnamon muffins and the restaurant’s famous apple fritters. There’s also Apple Valley Cobbler, Apple Spice Cake with Rum Sauce and Ole Timey Cola Cake. Check out their menus on their web sites.
At Park Grill in Gatlinburg, go for the local savory favorites such as Hickory Grilled Moonshine Chicken and Fresh Mountain Rainbow Trout, but stay for the desserts. From hot blackberry cobbler, Nanner Puddin’ and Jack Daniel’s Crème Brule to Black Bear Brownie Bash and Peanut Butter Mud Pie, you will only be sorry if you skip it.
Whatever your sweet tooth demands, you can find it in the Smokies!
Want to stay near all the action and desserts?
Let American Patriot Getaways’ friendly staff help you find the perfect cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains.
Cabins near the Parkway stretch from Pigeon Forge to Gatlinburg. Let American Patriot Getaways help you find the right one for you and your friends, family or significant other. Give our Reservations department a call at 800-204-5169 or check out all of our incredible cabins on our web site. You can search by size, location, cabins with hot tubs, cabins with fabulous views and more. Can’t decide – check out our Pinterest boards!
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