Cranberry-Pomegranate Chiffon Pie and Ben’s Gingerbread Hall of Fame

It is once again my pleasure to bring you two of my favorite Christmas traditions: a delicious recipe you can serve at Christmas dinner, (this year, Cranberry-Pomegranate Chiffon Pie in a Graham Cracker Crust with White Chocolate Sauce), and the 2011 inductees into Ben’s Gingerbread Hall of Fame. With a two-part article there’s much to show, so let’s get started!






Part 1: Ben’s Gingerbread Hall of Fame Class of 2011


Gingerbread cookies are, of course, one of Christmas’ most cherished traditions. One of my favorite things is to use them to commemorate people or images that made a special mark during the year. (Click here to see the previous inductees, along with a recipe for a great-tasting pecan pie with cranberries and bourbon.)


And now, please welcome the Gingerbread Hall of Fame, Class of 2011!



Angry Birds



Sock Monkey



Sue Sylvester



William and Kate Royal Wedding


Part 2: Cranberry-Pomegranate Chiffon Pie in a Graham Cracker Crust with White Chocolate Sauce



A delicious dessert is the perfect finish to a special dinner. This Cranberry-Pomegranate Chiffon Pie tastes great, is easy to make, and is low-fat too! (If you've never worked with unflavored gelatin before, this recipe is a good example of why you might want to add this wonderful and useful ingredient to your arsenal.)

This recipe makes one 9” pie. (You might also want to save the directions for the graham cracker crust and the white chocolate sauce separately, since those will be useful for lots of other dishes, too!)


First, let’s make the crust. (If you use a purchased graham cracker crust, just skip this step and go on to the filling directions.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


To make 1-1/2 cups of crumbs, put about 12 low-fat graham crackers in a large (1 gallon size) food storage bag.






Use a rolling pin to crush the crackers and make the crumbs. (Try not to let on how much fun this is to do.)





In a bowl, combine the crumbs with ¼ cup sugar, a pinch of ground cinnamon, and a pinch of ground nutmeg. Add 5 tablespoons of melted butter substitute.



Combine until the mixture has the consistency of wet sand.








Spread the batter into a 9” pie pan, pressing down using fingers or the flat bottom of a glass.





Bake for 10 – 15 minutes until light brown and firm to the touch. Allow the crust to cool before filling.







To make the chiffon filling:


You'll need a bottle of cranberry-pomegranate juice.


Place a mixer bowl, mixer blades, and ½ cup of juice in the freezer until very cold.







In a small saucepan, bring ¾ cup juice to a boil. Pour into a bowl or mixing cup, add 1 packet (1/4 ounce) of unflavored gelatin and stir. Add ¼ cup sugar, and stir well.


Let the mixture cool until it is the consistency of unbeaten egg whites, about 20 minutes.


Place ½ cup non-fat dry milk and the ice-cold juice in a mixing bowl. Beat on high speed 3-4 minutes, or until soft peaks form.


Add  2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice and continue beating.


Gradually add ¼ cup of sugar and continue beating until soft peaks form.




Gently mix the cooled gelatin mixture into the beaten dry milk mixture to form the filling.







Pour the filling into the cooled pie shell, cover and refrigerate three hours or until firm.









Finally, to make the white chocolate sauce:
Finely chop 3.5 ounces of white chocolate and place in a bowl.








Combine 6 tablespoons of fat-free half-and-half and 1 tablespoon light corn syrup in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.





Pour the boiled mixture onto the chocolate in the bowl. Let stand for 1 minute.









Add ½ tablespoon of butter substitute and stir until smooth. (If the sauce thickens too much when cooled, add a splash of skim milk to thin.)





To complete the pie:


Once the pie has cooled and is firm, sprinkle the top with finely chopped pecans.






Slice to serve. As you plate each slice, top it with the white chocolate sauce using a spoon or squeeze bottle as shown in the photo at the top of the recipe.


Wishing you all a joyous [fill in the name of your favorite December celebration]!




See you next week with another delightful treat for your cooking and eating pleasure!  Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)

Pomegranate Chiffon 123 Dessert

I have to confess to being very excited about this week’s recipe, Pomegranate Chiffon 123 Dessert. Forget the fancy-sounding name; this is a delicious - and very retro - tribute to a much-beloved mainstream classic.


Anyone old enough to have been aware of his surroundings in the late 60’s and early 70’s will no doubt remember a dessert-fad called Jello 1-2-3. The folks at Kraft found a way to apply colloidal solution technology (whatever that is) to their venerable staple, Jello, and create a special formula that, properly prepared, would separate into three uniquely textured layers while cooling.  It enjoyed a good popularity for a time, and gradually faded out until being discontinued in 1996. Although this specially formulated Jello is no longer available, the concept – and the memory - still enjoy a very devoted following.


Recognizing this, Kraft includes on their web site a recipe for using their regular Jello formula to make a layered dessert in the spirit of Jello 1-2-3. It's a good recipe (although it separates into two layers, not three), but there's one problem: it uses their regular Jello product.


Let me be clear: I like Jello. It’s just that the flavor is never quite what it’s supposed to be. (Ask someone what their favorite Jello flavor is, and they’ll probably say something like, “red.” Yes, it’s supposed to be strawberry, but let’s be honest: have you ever taken a bite of red Jello and said, “Mmmm…sure tastes like strawberry!” My guess is that you haven’t.)  Red is supposed to be a color, not a flavor.


To remedy this, we know it’s possible to put fruit juice into unflavored gelatin and create a dessert that really is the flavor it claims to be.  So why not bring those two concepts together, create a layered chiffon gelatin that really tastes like something, say pomegranate, and sandwich the pomegranate’s tartness between the sweetness of a graham cracker base at the bottom and a fresh strawberry syrup garnish on top?


I believe you will like the result. A lot.


You’ll note the recipe uses Cool Whip which, by astonishing coincidence, is also made by Kraft. Regular readers know I normally prefer fresh whipped cream to packaged whipped toppings, but whipped topping has one (and only one) advantage over fresh whipped cream that is important to the chemistry of this particular recipe: it doesn’t break down quickly the way fresh whipped cream does.


This recipe makes an 8” x 8” baking dish size dessert that divides nicely into 9 servings. The only special considerations are the need for a blender, and freezing about 1-1/2 cups of your juice into ice cubes before starting.
Begin by preparing a graham cracker crust in an 8” x 8” baking dish. (Click here for a link to my recipe for pineapple pudding pie that includes a graham cracker crust made with reduced-fat ingredients.) Once the crust is made, it must cool completely before you prepare the gelatin-chiffon mixture.


Only after the graham cracker crust has cooled, put 1-1/2 cups of pomegranate juice (or pomegranate juice mixture) in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Sprinkle in two 0.3 ounce packets of unflavored gelatin and stir about two minutes till the gelatin powder is completely dissolved.


Pour the hot juice into the blender. Add the 1 cup of cold juice and 1-1/2 cups of frozen juice (ice trays work best), and blend until smooth (about 30 seconds).


Add 1 cup of Cool Whip and blend until completely incorporated into the juice mixture.


Pour the blended liquid into the baking dish on top of the crust. Almost immediately, the liquid will begin to separate into a darker gelatin layer on the bottom, and a lighter chiffon layer on top. Refrigerate for at least three hours till the gelatin and chiffon set.



After the dessert has set, garnish the top with strawberry syrup and cut into 9 equal squares to serve. (Click here for a link to my recipe for fluffy reduced-fat blueberry pancakes that includes a fresh-made strawberry syrup that has chunks of strawberry. To make a smooth syrup instead of a chunky one, use the same recipe except puree, rather than chop, the strawberries.)
And there it is: a dessert your family and guests will enjoy even if they’re not old enough to remember the classic that inspired it.


If you'd like a cookbook-style, notebook-ready copy of this recipe, drop me a line (including your e-mail address) and it will be sent. 


See you next week with more food that's as much fun to make as it is to eat. Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)