I love this time of year! There’s so much wonderful local produce. Strawberries and blueberries are both in season now in my neck of the woods. With Memorial Day coming up, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to make a red, white and blue parfait to cap off those holiday backyard barbecues.
This strawberry and blueberry parfait is light, bright and pleasantly sweet, but not too much so, with a touch of chocolate decadence. My daughter exclaimed that the chocolate made it for her! What dessert can’t benefit from a little chocolate?
This Chocolate Berry Parfait is dairy-free, soy-free, gluten-free and bursting with flavor!
This chocolate berry parfait is dairy-free (and gluten-free and soy-free), but you won’t miss the dairy a bit and neither will your guests! The chocolate coconut cream is rich and luscious. Dates naturally sweeten and thicken the chocolate cream and add to the flavor depth. Coconut vanilla yogurt with a touch of lemon and honey is the perfect cool, creamy companion to the sweet, tart, fruity berries.
This Chocolate Berry Parfait can be a substantial dessert or a petite treat depending on the size of the glass.
You can layer this chocolate berry parfait in any wide-mouthed glass. The recipe makes 5 servings in typical 8 oz glasses, but could make more with smaller glasses such as small, short 6 oz wine glasses.
This dairy free chocolate berry parfait is the perfect indulgence to top off a special summer meal. With the red white and blue colors, it will fit right in on Memorial Day or Fourth of July!
- 1 pint strawberries (about ¾ pound or 1 ½ to 2 cups sliced)
- 1 pint blueberries (2 cups)
- ½ of a 14 oz can of full fat coconut milk
- ¼ cup dried pitted dates
- ½ cup dairy, gluten and soy free semi sweet chocolate chunks or chips (Enjoy Life brand is gluten and major 8 allergens free.)
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 42 oz dairy free, soy free vanilla coconut yogurt
- 3 Tbsp plus 1 ½ tsp honey, divided
- 1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp fresh lemon juice, divided
- Mint leaves for garnish (optional)
- Heat coconut milk and dates over medium high heat until hot but not quite boiling.
- Add chocolate and vanilla and stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is uniform.
- Set aside to cool a few minutes and then process in a food processor until smooth.
- Divide between parfait glasses. You can use any glass that’s as wide or wider at the top than at the bottom. This recipe will make 4-5 parfaits using roughly 8 oz glasses. If you use smaller glasses, say small wine glasses, it will stretch further.
- Place the glasses with the chocolate cream in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to solidify.
- Wash the blueberries, spread on a paper towel, pat dry and pick off any stems.
- Reserve ¼ cup blueberries for garnishing the tops of the parfaits.
- Heat 1 cup blueberries and 2 Tbsp honey in a small saucepan over medium to medium high heat, stirring frequently until berries open and release liquid, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in ½ tsp fresh lemon juice and ¾ cup more blueberries and chill in the refrigerator at least a half hour.
- In a large bowl, mix the coconut yogurt, 1 Tbsp plus ½ tsp honey and 1 Tbsp plus ½ tsp fresh lemon juice. Whisk vigorously until the mixture is smooth. Refrigerate until ready to assemble the parfaits.
- Up until this point, you can do everything a day ahead if you like.
- The parfaits can be assembled several hours ahead of serving. I recommend waiting to slice the strawberries for the top garnish and garnishing until close to serving time.
- When you’re just about ready to assemble the parfaits, rinse and dry the strawberries, remove the hulls and slice.
- Reserve a few slices to top the parfaits.
- Mash about ¼ of the strawberries and add 1 tsp honey and the rest of the strawberry slices. Mix well.
- Let the mixture sit just long enough to develop just a little bit of liquid, just a few minutes.
- To assemble the parfaits, layer yogurt, then strawberry mixture, then yogurt, then blueberry mixture, then more yogurt over the chocolate cream in the glasses.
- For 5 parfaits, it will work out about right if you put 3 Tbsp yogurt over the chocolate, then about ¼ cup each of strawberries, more yogurt, blueberries, and yogurt again.
- If the strawberries develop a lot of liquid, let most of it drain away before you put them into the parfait.
- Top each parfait with a strawberry slice and a few blueberries, and if you like, mint leaves.
Leave a Reply