The 9th Annual Great On-line Cookie Exchange Extravaganza!!

This is one of my favorite events of the year.  Sharing recipes with this community of bloggers is always interesting and fun. I love to find a recipe to share and then run around and look at everyone else’s.

Traditionally, I like to share a recipe that super easy.  That’s because I’m a super basic cook/baker.  If the instructions are more than 3 or 4 paragraphs long, or if they involve fancy maneuvers (beyond chopping, mixing and pouring) then I get intimidated and don’t do it.  I excel at recipes like Chocolate Bark or Irish Cream that require little to no expertise.  (Those are my last two years’ entries!)

This year, I decided to challenge myself by finding  a dessert recipe that would be low carb enough for David and me to enjoy with a minimum of guilt.  For what it’s worth, there are lots of low carb recipes out there – even for sugar cookies.  (I’m about to talk nutritional facts here for a minute, skip on down to the recipe if you’re not interested.)

Of course, the low carb sugar cookies use things like almond flour and truvia or stevia, and I was concerned that they really wouldn’t be very good.  I’ve had some low carb cardboard before that was just not that yummy, and I don’t have time to do a lot of experimenting with baking.    So I discarded those.

I looked at some Baked Pear Halves, which were super low carb.  You just cut the pears in half, scoop out the core, and put in three cranberries and a few pecan pieces, drizzle with a little bit of raw honey, sprinkle with nutmeg and cinnamon, and bake them at 375 for 25-30 minutes.   That sounded pretty good, but the only thing Christmas-y about them was the cranberries, and I don’t even think I like them. 

I also looked at some low-carb eggnog.  That almost made the cut, but it involved almond milk, which I’m not crazy about, and whipping egg yolks, which is tricky.  Besides which, I can only find one of the beaters to my egg beater so I couldn’t test it.  (Don’t judge me, I moved twice in one year.)

Then I found this recipe.  Yogurt Berry Trifle.  And I remembered that I worked with this woman a long time ago who used to bring this to all the office potlucks we had.  It was my very favorite dessert, even back then when I was not worried about carbs or calories.  The red strawberries make it a little bit Christmas-y, and if you have a Christmas bowl, you could serve it in that, which would be a nice holiday touch. 

Anyhow, without further ado, here it is.

YOGURT BERRY TRIFLE

PREP TIME: 20 Minutes

Angel food cake cubes float on clouds of Greek nonfat yogurt and assorted berries…

Ingredients

•          4 CUPS FRESH SLICED STRAWBERRIES, OR ASSORTMENT OF BERRIES (RASPBERRIES, BLUEBERRIES, SLICED STRAWBERRIES)

•          2 TBSP. SUGAR

•          THE JUICE AND ZEST Of ONE NAVEL ORANGE (We love this orange twist)

•          4 CUPS CUBED ANGEL FOOD CAKE

•          3 CUPS GREEK NONFAT VANILLA YOGURT

Directions

1.         MIX TOGETHER THE BERRIES, SUGAR, AND THE JUICE AND ZEST OF ORANGE, TOSSING TO COAT. SET ASIDE FOR 15-20 MINUTES.

2.         IN ONE OF 6 WINE GLASSES OR GLASS BOWLS PLACE 1/3 CUP CAKE CUBES, 1/3 CUP BERRIES AND 1/4 CUP YOGURT, REPEAT PROCESS ENDING WITH FRUIT. REPEAT WITH THE REMAINING GLASSES. REFRIGERATE TRIFLES UNTIL READY TO SERVE. TOP WITH A MINT IF DESIRED.

ONE LARGE TRIFLE CAN BE MADE IF DESIRED.  FOR AN EXTRA FANCY TOUCH (AND A FEW MORE CARBS) YOU CAN DRIZZLE ORANGE LIQUEUR OR AMARETTO OVER THE ANGEL FOOD CAKE.  1.5 OUNCES OF AMARETTO ADDS ABOUT 3 CARBS PER SERVING.

Serves 6

Nutrition Per Serving:  141 Calories, 29 g carbs, 0.5 g fat, 6 g protein, 2 g fiber, 200 mg sodium, 22 g sugar

Now, if you’re not used to counting carbs, that can be confusing.  What about all those g’s of sugar?  What the deal on fiber?  I found this easy guide to counting carbs that brought it all into perspective…  here. 

I never thought I would be that low-carb recipe person, but life changes us in ways we never expected.  Hope you enjoy the trifle – and hope you enjoy looking at everyone else’s recipes!  Remember that we’re in lots of different time zones, so if someone hasn’t posted the first time you look, check back later.

Baker

Bogey and Bacall

Cat

DelFonte

Fondles

greengirl

Hermione

Jz

Katie

Kelly

Lindy

messymimi

Mrs. FeverO

ronnie

Ryan

Sassy