A nice, cool parfait is the perfect dish for summertime. Raspberry and lemon are two of my favorite flavors and they blend together nicely to create this creamy dessert. My version of 15-29: Raspberry-Lemon Parfait will look much different from what you see here, but it is equally as delicious even though it is lactose-free.
The set designer and photographer did a particularly good job of staging the photo for this recipe card. The fresh raspberries and lemon rind really add a nice pop of color. The choice of tablecloth, wine, grapes, and flowers each provide a nice contrast to the yellow and white creamy colors of the dish and the parfait itself.
Editor’s note: This entry was written last summer, but didn’t get posted until now.
I made these parfaits to serve for dessert after a family BBBQ (the extra B is for BYOBB). I thought it would be easier to transport the dish in individual servings and the mugs I chose look pleasant to the eye.
Editor’s note: I finally got to reuse the mugs from 15-30: Champagne Sundaes!
To make this dish lactose-free, I took some liberties with the ingredients. To create the same texture as whipping cream, I chose to use a whipped tapioca topping called truwhip. Greek yogurt is basically the same thing as sour cream, so the substitution was so minor that no one noticed.
Time to get started. I like the process of separating the egg yolks from the whites. It is oddly satisfying. I’m not really sure why I took the photo of a bowl inside a bowl, but looking back on it, I really like how it looks. This is also a rare action shot where I hold the whisk in anticipation of “beating the devil” out of these eggs, as Bob Ross would say.
I might have been keeping ice in the big mixing bowl to keep the eggs cold while I was working with them. I didn’t want anything to get warm and turn into scrambled eggs. This mixture is the base for both flavors of parfait. Time to get out another mixing bowl and make the raspberry base.
Mashing raspberries is so much fun! This purée provides both flavor and color when added into the egg and sugar base.
I skipped a couple of steps and made the lemon parfait base first. Here’s where my mad scientist mind started to come into play. Why make the parfait in a loaf pan with only 2 layers? MORE LAYERS, I SAY! I also chose to make the servings in individual mugs.
The raspberry parfait went from blood red to pink as all of the ingredients blended together. Time to pour some parfait!
We had these mason jar mugs with handles that I thought would be the perfect serving vessel for this delicious treat. It was tough to dispense the parfait into the mug without it touching the sides. I wanted to get clean layers of raspberry and lemon parfait.
It’s not perfect, but it’s starting to look like I imagined. A layer of raspberry, a layer of lemon, then another layer of raspberry. I think I started to run out of raspberry at this point so I could only go 4 layers deep.
With the last layer of lemon in the jar, the parfaits need to chill in the fridge until I am ready to serve. I think it’s so cool how you can see the striations of color through the side of the mug. It would have been nice if I could have gotten the layers to be even, next time, I need to use a better measuring method to ensure consistency. Uneven layers aside, they will taste great.
Is that whipped cream in that photo? Yes, it was easier to use a can of whipped cream to top 3 out of the 4 parfaits as the truwhip topping is served out of a container much like Cool-Whip. I ate the truwhip topped version while everyone else enjoyed their whipped cream topped parfaits.
With an added raspberry on top for color, these parfaits were a huge hit. Sweet and creamy while also tart and fruity, this dessert features flavors that can be enjoyed by all. The different colors reminds me of doing a sand art jar as a kid, only with the added benefit of being edible (and before you ask, NO, I did not try to eat the colored sand as a child, I swear). This dish was rated highly by the entire party of diners that night, so I will consider this a Simply Delicious success story. 🍰🏆
Grade: A
