Thursday, July 9, 2009

Berry De-Lite

I've been pregnant through 3 summers and I must say that on every hot day I am profoundly grateful that I'm not pregnant now. My first pregnancy I wore a bikini. I was young and cute and could pull it off. My second pregnancy I bought a huge, black maternity bathing suit and a kiddie wading pool. My toddler was excited about the pool, but got a pouty lower lip when he saw that mammoth mommy took up the whole pool.

The last time around I was a pro at keeping cool. Stay in the mall. Lurk near the frozen foods section. And above all else, do not turn on the oven to bake!

Luckily for those who don't enjoy sweltering, as well as a heat wave, summer also brings a bounty of fresh fruit that tastes fabulous without any cooking necessary. This berry dessert was originally intended as a pie filling, but I was not about to turn on the oven to make a pie crust, so it became parfaits. Beautiful parfaits, heady with splash of wine flavor, topped with a generous dollop of whipped cream. Cool, fruity, and easy. What better summer dessert could you ask for?

Berry De-Lite Parfaits
- adapted from Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too

2 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried, or frozen unsweetened whole blueberries
2 cups fresh raspberries or frozen unsweetened whole raspberries
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup dry white wine
2-1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup water
2 tsp unflavored gelatine
2 Tbsp creme de cassis
Whipped cream to top
Fresh berries to top


1- In a 1-1/2 quart nonreactive saucepan, combine 1 cup of the blueberries, 1 cup of the raspberries, the sugar, wine, and lemon juice. Set over low heat and cook gently, crushing the fruit with a potato masher or the back of a large spoon, until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and set aside.

2- Pour the water into a small saucepan. Sprinkle the gelatine over the water and allow it to sit for about 3 minutes to soften. Stir the mixture over low heat just until the gelatine dissolves. Do not boil.

3- Stir the dissolved gelatine into the berry mixture, then stir in the remaining berries and the creme de cassis.

4- Transfer the hot berry mixture to a heatproof bowl and set it in a larger pan of ice water. Cool, stirring on and off, for about 5 minutes, until the mixture thickens to the consistency of raw egg whites. Carefully spoon the mixture into parfait glasses. Cover the glasses with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set, at least 3 hours, or overnight.

5- Top the parfaits with whipped cream and fresh berries just before serving.


24 comments:

  1. 1--love the glasses you put these in.
    2--funny about all you've learned being pregnant in the summertime. The dr. with my first said "there's nothing worse than having a baby in August, except having one in September." Ah, so true. And what did I do. Moved to Arizona and had my second in Sept. (Dumb!--The pool saved my life.)
    3--Yum and refreshing to your de-lite!

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  2. These were amazing mom. Thanks for sharing with me :-)

    And thanks also for putting up with me taking over your buddy in a heat wave lol.

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  3. i'm hungry :) i want these parfaits :)

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  4. Holey Batman! Blueberries, raspberries AND wine AND no oven allowed! That I can love.
    Beautiful glasses and perfect for such a lush parfaits as this.
    My first time around baby came beginning of June ... no bikini but not pregnant either for summer.
    Sheeze second time around we moved to Dallas in August at the end of my 7th month. My normally very trim ankles swelled, I told the doc it was simply I was melting. Everyday I took #1 child to the airconditioned mall where he played on a huge hippo statue and 3 baby ones. In the evening, we slushed in the kiddie pool :) no bikini.

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  5. I certainly couldn't ask for a more perfect looking summer dessert! But, could I ask for it to magically appear in my kitchen? ;)

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  6. Amen! My daughter was born at the end of Aug. If I could have climbed into our freezer I would have lived there for the entire third trimester.

    I'm all for desserts that magically appear in my kitchen too!!! Esp this one. Sounds delish.

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  7. Three times pregnant in the summer? Poor you. That's why Serena is your favourite child, right? lol
    Lousia was 3 weeks late, taking me right into September. Oh well, I love her anyway.
    I see these are gluten free. I could eat this. They look beautiful in the stem glasses.

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  8. Beautiful, love the glasses too. I could go for one of those about now!

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  9. the only thing more gorgeous than your lovely glasses is the dessert itself! what a treat for any time of year and any stage of pregnancy (including pre-pregnancy, the category into which i fall). :)

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  10. Oh I cannot share the pregnancy experience with you yet. But the dessert is soo lovely, I want to try!

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  11. It's still 72 degrees at 11pm and those look wonderful; cool and refreshing.

    Yes, I'll refrain from your summer baby hot story. You're welcome.

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  12. My daughter was a September baby so I do remember the days of sitting in front of the fan...of course plenty of local fruit in those days perfect for desserts such as this:D

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  13. These look soo good :) TWO kinda of berries, cream, and wine!! What could be better?

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  14. They look amazing. Perfect to keep you cool. I would eat all of them. :)
    I had a Persian friend years ago who was having trouble with English idioms. "Have your cake and eat it too" was especially troubling to her. I still remember her trying to wrap her head around that!

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  15. Who these look perfect. I actually enjoyed being pregnant in the summer. i did the bikini thing and ate tons of ice cream. I couldn't recognize my own feet and ankles b/c of the swelling, but they went down eventually.!

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  16. Looks delicious -and I LOVE mixing berries with cassis. Delish!

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  17. Looks delicious...I love most anything with berries in it!

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  18. This time last year I had a 4-day-old son. I am not missing those days AT ALL.

    Pregnant or not I'd love one of those gorgeous parfaits!

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