Light desserts: These recipes are the perfect finish to a holiday meal - Low Fat&Luscious

Shape, Dec, 2001 by Victoria Abbott Riccardi

After a rich, luxury-food-laden meal, there's nothing more welcome than the fresh flavor of ripe fruit. Splurge on such treats as honey-sweet strawberries and velvety raspberries now arriving from Southern-hemisphere neighbors like Chile, where it's midsummer. Sure, these specialty fruits may be expensive, but it's the time of year for a little indulgence. Exotic fruits' perfumes, colors and juices invigorate the senses, while their natural sugars add a healthy jolt of sweetness. What's more, they burst with vitamins and minerals, but contain minimal fat and calories.

Unlike cakes and pies that can require hours of preparation and baking time, the three dessert recipes here can be put together in a flash to serve to your guests. Of course, you can't just hand out a bunch of bananas and a cup of cafe au lait and expect a standing ovation. So we've made our desserts sparkle: They're either whimsical (like the Party Apples), elegant (like the Ruby Surprise) or luscious (like the Chocolate Pound Cake With Roasted Strawberries and Yogurt Cream). They're also special because they contain fancy festive ingredients, such as candied ginger, chopped nuts and grenadine. For the perfect ending to a sophisticated holiday meal, turn to the recipes below. They're simple, sweet and irresistibly "wow!"

Party Apples

Serves 6

Prep time: 5 min.

Cook time: 10 min.

Place a little gold star on the handle end of each Popsicle stick to add a festive touch to this unexpected fun-to-eat treat.

36 store-bought caramels (such as Brach's, which come with sticks)

1 tablespoon water

6 Popsicle sticks

6 medium-sized, crisp Granny Smith apples

6 tablespoons shelled pistachio nuts, coarsely chopped

Place caramels and water in top portion of a double boiler. Heat until melted, stirring occasionally (chopsticks do a good job) until caramel is smooth, about 10 minutes.

While caramels melt, push Popsicle sticks into stem area of the apples. Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Place chopped nuts in a bowl. Let caramel cool for 1 minute (so that it thickens and adheres better to the apples). Dip apples, one at a time, in caramel so that it comes about two-thirds of the way up the apple. Twirl apple as you remove it from caramel. Working quickly, press apple in pistachio nuts, using about 1 tablespoon of nuts per apple. Stand apples, stick-side up, on wax paper. Place apples in refrigerator for 5 minutes to set caramel.

Nutrition Score per serving (1 apple, 6 caramels and 1 tablespoon nuts): 286 calories, 25% fat (8 g; 3 g saturated), 70% carbs (50 g), 5% protein (3.9 g), 4.5 g fiber.

Ruby Surprise

Serves 6

Prep time: 8 min.

Grenadine is a sweet scarlet syrup made from pomegranate juice that, at one time, was exclusively produced on the Caribbean island of Grenada. It flavors and adds color to desserts and drinks, such as the children's ginger-ale-based "cocktail" called the Shirley Temple.

3 cups red grapes, rinsed

2 pints fresh raspberries (about 3 cups)

6 tablespoons minced candied ginger

6 tablespoons grenadine

For each dessert, arrange 1/2 cup raspberries and 1/2 cup grapes in a crystal goblet or martini glass. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon minced candied ginger over fruit and then drizzle with 1 tablespoon of grenadine.

Nutrition Score per serving (1 cup of fruit, I tablespoon of ginger and 1 tablespoon of grenadine): 155 calories, 5% fat (0.8 g; 0.1 g saturated). 92% carbs (36 g), 3% protein (1 g), 5 g fiber.

Chocolate Pound Cake With Roasted Strawberries and Yogurt Cream

Serves 6

Prep time: 3 min.

Cook time: 12 min.

You can also make this dessert with fat-free golden pound cake. Garnish with fresh mint leaves for a pretty plate.

1 tablespoon lightly salted butter

24 medium-large strawberries, hulled

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

6 1-inch-thick slices fat-free chocolate pound cake (like Entenmann's)

2 cups nonfat whipped topping

1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt

Preheat oven to 450[degrees]F.

Melt butter in a large oven-safe skillet over high heat. Add strawberries and gently shake skillet to coat berries with butter. Sprinkle sugar over berries and shake skillet again to coat them with sugar. Place skillet in oven, uncovered, and roast for 10 minutes.

While berries cook, lightly toast pound cake until edges are crunchy. Place cake slices on 6 dessert plates. Whisk together nonfat topping with yogurt. Remove berries from oven and spoon 4 berries and some juice over each slice of pound cake. Serve yogurt cream on side.

Nutrition Score per serving (1 slice cake, 4 berries and juice, and about 1/4 cup yogurt cream): 197 calories, 9% fat (2 g; 1 g saturated), 84% carbs (41.5 g), 7% protein (3.6 g), 2 g fiber.

Victoria Abbott Riccardi is a food writer based in Boston.

What's the trick to successful entertaining? A yummy dessert, says food writer Victoria Abbott Riccardi, a frequent Shape contributor. "Dessert's the last thing guests put in their mouths," she says, "so if it tastes fabulous, that's what they'll remember - not the overcooked pot roast." For "Light Desserts," page 84, her inspiration came from the first dinner party she ever hosted - at age 7. She served all her favorite foods, from baked macaroni and cheese studded with hot-dog slices to chewy caramel apples. Based in Brookline, Mass., Abbott Riccardi is at work on a travel-food memoir of the year she lived in Kyoto, Japan.