Here’s a tip for fine dining restaurants:  keep an eye out for desserts made without chocolate.  I love a good chocolate torte or ganache-covered cake as much as the next man, but in my experience, pastry chefs really enjoy the chance to do something different with their dessert menus.  One of the best desserts I’ve ever had was a carrot cake at the Chef Geoff’s location in Tysons Corner – while it’s a relatively standard dessert choice, it was presented beautifully and the cream cheese frosting was amazing.  It’s those kinds of hidden gems you can often discover by venturing beyond the top of the dessert menu – and your adventurousness will be rewarded.

The best part about desserts without chocolate is that they’re often doable at home in some form or another.  I’m thinking about fruit desserts here – the produce department in most grocery stores this time of year is absolutely overflowing with high-quality fruits, and making a fantastic dessert is easily within reach.  Anyone can buy angel food cake and serve strawberries and whipped cream right now – which, incidentally, I do recommend for a popular choice for your guests in a pinch – but it’s not too difficult to go a bit further than sliced strawberries on pre-made cakes!

Naturally, of course, making desserts presents another challenge:  the calories.  Strawberry shortcake is actually a relatively healthy choice, but it’s easy to load up on butter and sugar any time you’re making a more elaborate dessert.  A pie is usually a good choice when you’ve got a surplus of fresh fruit around, but that can also take a decent amount of time and effort.  A tart is supposed to be a bit easier than even a pie (no top crust, right?) but the dough can be tricky.  And a cake is even worse than those.  No, I was looking for a recipe that would let me enjoy my bounty of fresh strawberries without soaking them in sugar syrup, spending an hour rolling out pie dough, or dunking them into fondue chocolate.  (That last one is also a great choice for guests, but it’s obviously not low-cal…)

When I first came across this recipe, I saw it was made with pomegranate juice, but I couldn’t find any at the store – either my local Giant isn’t quite as hipster-credible as I thought, or they were out of stock.  I adapted the recipe to use apple juice instead.  There’s more natural sugar in apple juice, so I cut back on its recommended ¼ cup of sugar, but the underlying method used here is sound.  By making a fruit puree and a little syrup, blooming some gelatin, and adding some Greek yogurt, you end up with a quick, easy strawberry mousse – it comes together in 10-15 minutes (though it needs to be chilled for a while longer) and makes for a sweet and tart weeknight dessert.

This time of year, you simply can’t go wrong with all the fresh fruit at the store.  A weeknight recipe like this is an easy way to use up that pile of produce with a clear conscience.  And since it’s low-cal, you don’t need to feel guilty about keeping a whole bowl for yourself!

Weeknight Strawberry Mousse

10 ounces fresh strawberries, hulled

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

½ cup apple juice

7 oz 2% Greek yogurt

2 tbsp sugar

In a food processor or blender, puree the strawberries with the salt.

“Bloom” the gelatin in a small bowl with ¼ cup of apple juice – just sprinkle it over the top and let it sit for five minutes or so.

Whisk together the other ¼ cup of apple juice and the sugar in a small saucepan over low heat until warm.  Stir the bloomed gelatin into the saucepan and cook over low heat for about 1 minute until the gelatin dissolves.

Add the gelatin mixture to the strawberry puree and blend (or process) until combined.  Add the yogurt and blend just until mixed.

Spoon into dessert bowls and refrigerate for a couple hours or until firm.  Top with whipped cream and enjoy!

-HML

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Check out my friend Ami’s Costa Rica Tours and don’t forget to use the code “TOUCAN” to save money. He has some group tours that you can join, including an upcoming August tour, and I hear that airfare to Costa Rica is inexpensive right now for August.

-JAY