Strawberry Parfaits

It is time for the latest edition of the Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club and the theme, selected by yours truly, is Canada Day celebrations. The dishes people could bring to the party had to be 'Canadian' or feature the colours of the Canadian flag (red and white). Since the only Canadian dishes I know of are poutine, butter tarts, and Tortiere, none of which is low-fat or low-calorie I went with the colours.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to make these on Canada Day itself - for one thing the local berries are almost over - everything being about 3 weeks ahead of schedule. The main reason is that I am actually out of the country with a group of teachers in France and the flight out was on july 1st - Canada Day. I was more focused on last minute details i.e. showing Paolo how to use the lawn mower (something he has done once in 15 years), how the new grill works, and what he needs to water. It's been impossible to think about packing!

I had a flashback to my grandmother when I was making this recipe - she often had parfaits for dessert. I gotta tell you though, while her offerings were good they were NOT as good as these. This recipe was brilliant. I'm looking forward to trying it with other fruit as it comes in season.

Strawberry Parfaits

4 cups sliced strawberries, divided
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup fat-free ricotta cheese
1/2 cup (4 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup amaretti cookie crumbs (about 8 cookies)
1/2 cup frozen reduced-calorie whipped topping, thawed
2 tablespoons slivered almonds, toasted

Place 2 cups of strawberry slices and granulated sugar in a blender or food processor, and process until smooth. Set strawberry puree aside.

Combine ricotta and next 4 ingredients (ricotta through vanilla) in a medium bowl; stir well with a whisk. Spoon 2 tablespoons cookie crumbs into each of 4 parfait glasses. Top each portion with 2 tablespoons strawberry puree, 1/4 cup strawberry slices, and 3 tablespoons ricotta mixture; repeat the layers. Drizzle the remaining strawberry puree over each serving. Chill for 2 hours. Top each parfait with 2 tablespoons whipped topping and 1 1/2 teaspoons almonds.

Comments

[bellini]

This parfait does sound delicious Jerry and ad you mentioned perfect for any seasonal berries that come our way over the summer!

[Helene]

I can wait to make this recipe, what a beautiful parfait! Enjoy your trip.

[Shelby]

Your parfait sounds perfect and looks delicious! Thanks for welcoming me as a guest this month!

[Kayte]

There is always something exciting and thrilling when a parfait comes to the table after dinner...always such a stunning dessert in my mind. Love fruit for dessert, this looks so perfect.

[JDeQ]

Thanks everyone, these were brilliant. I couldn't have asked for a better thing to have brought to the super club!