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.

On the lookout for low-fat desserts. I like desserts as much as anyone, in fact I really enjoy finishing a meal with a little taste of something sweet.  If the truth be known, I crave it. It can drive me crazy.  Recently I was hosting a group of friends for a meeting and dessert.  This group is particularly challenging when it comes to desserts, ie. no chocolate and no dairy.  Using the garden for inspiration I decided on something made with rhubarb.  My own dietary limitations made the search for the right rhubarb medium even more of a challenge.  Hmmm, something with no butter or cream, no cobbler, no rhubarb pie, no mousse. After cruising my way through several cookbooks and an online search I put together a tasty sponge cake rolled up with a pureed rhubarb filling.  The only fat came from the eggs used to make the cake.  Voila, dessert! 

Rhubarb Cake Roll

For the filling-
1 pound of rhubarb, chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1 packet of unflavored gelatin
1 tbs. cold water
In saucepan cook rhubarb with sugar over medium heat until rhubarb becomes soft and can easily be stirred into a puree.  In a small bowl sprinkle gelatin over cold water and let soften, about 1 minute.  Add gelatin to the rhubarb and stir over low heat until gelatin is dissolved.  Transfer filling to a bowl set in a bowl of ice water. Stir occasionally until cool and thickened.

For the cake-
4 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cornstarch

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of a greased jelly-roll pan with foil or parchment paper.  Grease the foil and dust with flour.  Beat egg yolks with 1/4 cup of sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla until thick and pale in color.  In a large bowl with clean beaters, beat egg whites with salt until they hold soft peaks.  Gradually beat in the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and beat until the whites hold stiff peaks.

Stir one third of the whites into the yolk mixture then gently fold in the remaining egg whites.  Sift flour and cornstarch over batter and fold in until the batter is just combined.

Spread batter evenly in prepared pan and bake for 6 - 9 minutes, or until the cake is lightly colored and springs back when pressed lightly.

Dust a kitchen towel with powdered sugar and invert the warm cake onto it.  Remove foil carefully from cake.  Starting with a long side, loosely roll up the cake in the towel.  Cool for 30 minutes.

Make a syrup by bringing to a simmer 1/4 cup of sugar with 2 tbs lemon juice and 2 tbs water. Simmer until the sugar is dissolved.

Unroll the cake carefully and brush with half of the warm lemon syrup.  Spread the cake with the thickened rhubarb filling and carefully reroll the cake - this time without the towel.  Transfer to a platter, seam side down and brush with the remaining syrup.  Chill at least 2 hours, or overnight.

To serve dust the cake with powdered sugar and slice diagonally.  I topped each piece with a sprinkling of lemon zest and served it with lemon sorbet. Unfortunately I became distracted and forget to photograph the finished product.  You'll just have to use your imagination.

Dreaming of Spring.  The past two days have provided nothing but 40 degree dark, rainy, and blustery days.  How quickly the doldrums of winter set in.  It seems like we'll never see the sun again, did we ever?  

Since the weather has kept us out of the garden, lately my thoughts have again turned to food.  Namely desserts.  I've been thinking about delectable, low-fat desserts.  There must be some.  Now, I'm not the kind of cook to use what I consider "fake ingredients".  No non-fat whipping cream for me.  I'm looking for yummy desserts that are naturally low in saturated fat.  I think I've found one. Thanks to the inspiration provided by a member of my Book Club.

Poached Pears are delightful, easy to make, and have no fat . . . .  unless you top them with a caramel sauce.  Hmmm, not a bad idea.  Here's how I made them.

For just the two of us I used only two pears.  I served some of the poaching liquid with the pears and had enough left over to repeat the dessert a second time.

In a sauce pan, heat -

1/2 cup sugar in
1/2 cup water until dissolved.
To get enough liquid to cover the pears I added -
1/2 cup orange juice and
1/2 cup, or so, of rose wine.  Red or white would also work
For flavor I added -
one slice of fresh ginger,
freshly grated nutmeg,
a dash of vanilla
Into this gently drop

2 pears, peeled and cored from the bottom

Cover and poach at a simmer for about 20 minuted, until the pears are soft.

I served them warm, sitting in a pool of the poaching liquid.  A really healthy, really delicious dessert.  Chocolate or caramel sauce drizzled over the pears would be a nice addition, but, then there goes the low-fat idea.