ArcaMax

Cheers and bottoms up.

For your recipe today I thought I’d give you a green vegetable to go along with the “wearing of the green theme”. I had a brussel sprout in mind, but instead I’m going to give you a dessert treat so you can celebrate. If you’re dead set on green you can top this off with a green cherry.

Dark Cherry Dream

This is a wonderfully light dessert. It comes together in a flash and can be mostly prepared ahead. Serve this to company and be proud. Or save it for you and your family. You deserve to feel special too.

Serves 6 small portions. Can be doubled easily.

1 can (16 oz) of dark cherries or frozen dark cherries thawed (2 cups)
4 tsp of Truvia, divided
¼ cup of Grand Marnier or Cointreau (orange liqueur) or if you don’t cook with alcohol you can just skip this or put in ½ tsp of orange flavoring
2 cups of full fat (Fage brand will say Total on the label) plain yogurt
1 cup of whipped cream
4 tsp of vanilla, divided

Open the cherries and drain off almost all of the liquid. (You don’t want the sugar from the syrup). Put them in a small bowl. Add two teaspoons of the Truvia and the liqueur and stir. Let set in the refrigerator, covered, for at least 15 minutes. (I did this hours ahead. You can do it earlier in the day and it will be ready when you want to present dessert).

Combine the yogurt with two teaspoons of vanilla and 2 tsp of the Truvia. Mix well and put this in the refrigerator too.

When ready to serve...

Whip the cream with two teaspoons of the vanilla. (If you own an ISI Whipper you can make the whipped cream ahead too and just keep it in the refrigerator til ready to serve. I love my ISI whipped cream maker!)

Combine the yogurt with the whipped cream. Just gently fold together.

Get out pretty little bowls (or in this case I used antique champagne cups. Put a few soaked cherries in the bottom. Maybe four. Then put a dollop of cream/yogurt mixture on top. A few more berries. (Each person gets only maybe seven or eight cherries). Then another dollop. I squirted a bit of whipped cream on top and then topped it off with another cherry. Voila!

Serve immediately.

Note: This dessert can be made while others are clearing the table.

If you are serving to your kids while they watch TV at night this is MUCH better for them than ice cream and just as grand! It’s not enough liqueur to make anyone tipsy but if you don’t want to serve your kids any alcohol just leave it out and maybe put in a bit more Truvia to sweeten the cherries.

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola