Berry Tart tonight

Low fat tart crust?  You must be kidding! In the interest of eating well while staying healthy, I've been searching for low-fat dessert options all summer.  We continue to have an abundance of berries which I have to admit do lend themselves to yummy shortbreads, scones, and rich butter crusts.  But, I have chosen to avoid butter like the plague.  I love the taste of butter and the flakey pastry crusts it makes, so coming up with a substitute has not been easy.  We've eaten several dry, tough tart shells.  However, I think I'm now headed in the right direction.  The last crust I made was tasty and certainly lower in fat than those I made "in the old days".  This crust was made with graham crackers and walnuts.  One tablespoon of melted butter was used to add flavor. I happened to have chocolate graham crackers in my pantry, so that's what I used.  I think it worked.  For the filling I drained and sweetened vanilla yogurt.  It was non-fat and tasted just right in combination with the berries.

Low-fat Tart Crust

2 cups of toasted walnuts
1 cup of crushed graham crackers
1 egg
1 TBSP melted butter
1 TBSP oil
Pinch of salt

Pulse walnuts and graham crackers in food process until finely ground, add pinch of salt.  Whisk together egg, butter and oil.  Add to crumbs and pulse until the mixture comes together.  Press onto the bottom and sides of a tart pan.  Bake at 325F until firm and slightly browned - about 12+ minutes.  Allow to cool before filling.

Simple Berry Tart

Filling:  3 cups of nonfat vanilla yogurt, drained
            2 - 3 TBSP sugar

            Assorted berries, washed and cut into uniform peices
            Sugar for sprinkling on top

Using cheese cloth or a coffee filter, drain about 3 cups of vanilla yogurt  (my favorite is locally made Nancy's Organic Vanilla) until it is thick, somewhere between sour cream and cream cheese.  This may take a few hours.  When the yogurt is thick enough to hold it's shape in the tart shell, sweeten it with sugar.  Spread in the cooled shell and top with berries.  Sprinkle sugar on the top.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  We found that this tart was better the second day.

Not totally nonfat, but totally good.