Berrylicious

Every Monday night we have a dinner party with our good friends to do a little bit of this:

Well it's definitely my favorite day of the week because not only do I get to see my bestie Caitlin, but we get to eat some incredibly gourmet food made by her husband, Nick. The man has food genius running in his veins or something. He doesn't even use recipes. And although I admit he makes me want to retire from cooking altogether- I can't help but to anxiously anticipate every Monday Feast of the Gods.

Well- on the wimpier end of the deal- I bring dessert haha. I'm big into desserts (eating them), always have been. So I'm even bigger into healthy desserts, or else I would be...well Big.

Here are two of our recent fav's.

#1- Love the nuts, the light creamy filling and tart berries- mmmm.

Fresh Berry Tart with Toasted Nut Crust

photo and recipe from VegetarianTimes.com

Serves 8

A crumbly homemade nut crust sets this tart apart from other berry pies. It can be made up to three days ahead and refrigerated until ready to use.

Crust

• 1/4 cup each almonds, pecans, and hazelnuts
• 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 6 Tbs. chilled unsalted butter, diced
• 1 large egg yolk

Filling

• 1/2 cup light sour cream
• 1/2 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
• 2 Tbs. light brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. grated orange zest
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 cup raspberries
• 1 Tbs. orange juice

DIRECTIONS

1. To make Crust: Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat 9-inch tart pan with cooking spray. Spread nuts on baking sheet, and toast in oven 12 to 15 minutes, or until browned.

2. Pulse nuts, flour, sugar, and salt in food processor until nuts are ground to powder. Add butter, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add egg yolk, and pulse until moist clumps form. Press dough into bottom and sides of prepared pan, about 1/4-inch thick, and pierce with fork. Freeze 30 minutes.

3. Adjust oven temperature to 400°F. Bake Crust 12 to 14 minutes, or until golden. Cool.

4. To make Filling: whisk together sour cream, yogurt, brown sugar, vanilla, and orange zest in small bowl. Toss berries with orange juice in separate bowl.

5. Spread sour cream mixture in Crust with spatula. Spoon berries over top a little at a time, until sour cream mixture is evenly covered. Refrigerate 30 to 60 minutes before serving.

# 2- LOVE rhubarb. We used Whole Grain Cinnamon Almond Biscotti Cookies from Whole Foods instead of Amaretti. This was my first time to use real vanilla bean- and o man is it good. 

Amaretti Frozen Yogurt with Warm Vanilla-Roasted Rhubarb

The components for this easy, elegant dessert can be made ahead of time and assembled just before serving. The roasted rhubarb will keep up to 1 week in the fridge. 

Serves 6

• 1 1/2 pt. nonfat vanilla frozen yogurt, softened (3 cups)
• 8 large amaretti (Italian almond cookies), crushed
• 1 lb. fresh rhubarb, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1/3 cup sweetened pomegranate juice
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1/4 cup sugar

• DIRECTIONS

  1. Place frozen yogurt in large bowl. Add amaretti; stir well to combine.
  
  2. Working quickly, scoop frozen yogurt mixture into 6 balls. Place in wax paper–lined metal baking pan, and freeze several hours, or until yogurt balls are firm.
  
  3. Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss rhubarb with pomegranate juice in 9- x 7-inch baking dish. Split vanilla bean, scrape out seeds, and stir seeds into rhubarb. Sprinkle sugar over fruit, and toss to mix. Bake 30 minutes, or until tender. Transfer to serving dish, and cool.
  
  4. For each serving, place 1 frozen yogurt ball in dessert dish, and surround with 1/3 cup rhubarb.