Healthy, Non-Fat, Low-Calorie Blackberry Mousse with Blackberries and Blackberry Syrup

Hi, friends,

How are you?

Are you almost ready for the Mother’s Day? Because I think that I am getting there…

Well, since unfortunately my Dearest Mom doesn’t live here in LA, I’ll only be able to wish her a happy Mother’s Day on Skype when I’ll also be bragging to her about my latest sweet creations…

But when it comes to treating myself… because oh yes, I will be treating myself since I am officially a mom and when I think about it, there are actually just two times during the year when I know that I have all the rights to make it an “All About Me” day: my Birthday and… yes, the Mother’s Day!

So. When it comes to treating me. OK, well I know that I will definitely treat myself with something sweet and extra decadent, but, of course, healthy (I don’t want any post-factum regrets about overindulging on it; it must be PURE pleasure!) …A beautiful dessert (that I will be most likely eating for breakfast!)

How about…. a blackberry mousse? Mmmm… I think that it sounds pretty good to start my Mother’s Day with!

The grocery stores are filled with the fresh, yummy-looking blackberries and although I am not a big fan of eating them (or raspberries) fresh (it’s because of all the little seeds that get stuck between my teeth which distracts me from the pleasure of consuming them. It’s unfortunate, though, since I love their sweet taste), I think that they are a pretty good  choice for a decadent dessert. (And a decadent MEANS putting some effort into it, right? Not too much effort in the case of this dessert, just straining the seeds. But in my mind it’s definitely worth it!)

So, decided! I’m whipping up this decadent, but healthy, non-fat, low-sugar, full of probiotics, protein, vitamins and antioxidants dessert!

And here is the recipe:

Healthy, Non-Fat, Blackberry Mousse with Blackberries and Blackberry Syrup

For the Mousse:

• 1 2/3 cups of non-fat greek yogurt
• a 4-serving pouch of instant pudding mix*
• 4 tbsp of blackberry syrup

For the Syrup:

• 1 lb. of blackberries
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1 tbsp of pectin

Directions:

First (and this can be done a a day in advance) put all the blackberries in a saucepan with a few tablespoons of water and bring them to boil. Let the berries boil a little bit until they are soft (cooking the berries makes it easier to remove the seeds). Pour the blackberries into a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl to catch the juices and press them firmly until all the juices are strained and only the seeds remain in the strainer.

Put the blackberry juices back into the saucepan, add the sugar and the pectin and bring the mixture to boil. Boil the syrup until the sugar is dissolved, for a few minutes. Let it cool.

To make the mousse combine the yogurt with the pudding mix and 4 tbsp of the cooled syrup. Beat everything, first on low speed gradually increasing the speed of your mixer, until the mousse is fluffy.

Serve the mousse with some blackberries (optional – if you don’t mind those seeds). But definitely don’t forget to pour some syrup on top of your mousse (the syrup of very low in sugar so don’t worry about pouring a little more – you need those extra antioxidants!)

• I used a xylitol-based pudding mix which made my mousse very low-calorie. I think that xylitol is a pretty safe sugar-substitute, but if you are making it for the kids, I would go with the real sugar.

Makes four regular and two giant portions (I’m up for the giant one :)!)

Enjoy!