German Advent lasts for four weeks in both secular and religious households. Almost everyone has an Advent's wreath with candles on the coffee table, guests are invited for "Adventskaffee" with cake and coffee, and the house is cleaned and decorated for Christmas.
This lovely dessert is reminiscent of Italian tiramisu but without the expensive mascarpone cream. Layered with gingerbread cookies and fruit, this yogurt cream is a nice change from heavy pies and stollen.
Makes 6 servings of Advent's Dessert
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 0 minute
Ingredients:
- 1 package of unflavored gelatin (1/4 oz.)
- 3 T. water
- 1 c. whipping cream
- 1/8 tsp. Stevia (or sugar to taste)
- 1 c. plain yogurt
- 4 T. agave nectar (or sugar to taste)
- 1/4 tsp. vanilla
- 1/4 tsp. lemon peel
- 6 oz. sugar-free spekulatius or ginger cookies (here, "Heaven Scent" windmill cookies) or regular spekulatius
- 1 c. unsweetened fruit (blackberries, currants or orange sections, etc.) in juice
- Cocoa powder for dusting
Preparation:
Soften the gelatin in the water for at least 5 minutes.
Whip the cream in a bowl until stiff and sweeten to taste with Stevia or sugar (as sweet as you would want for pie).
In a separate bowl, beat yogurt with agave nectar (or 2-4 tablespoons of sugar), vanilla and lemon peel.
Mash thawed berries with a fork until slightly lumpy.
Line an 8 inch by 8 inch pan with ginger cookies. Cover with 1/2 the fruit mixture and let sit until the juices soak the cookies.
Heat softened gelatin in a pan or microwave until gelatin dissolves. Do not boil!
Beating or whisking constantly, pour gelatin in a thin stream into yogurt mixture. Mix thoroughly. Fold in whipped cream.
Spread half of the yogurt cream mixture over the soaked cookies.
Place another layer of cookies on the cream, spread with the other half of the fruit and spread the rest of the cream on top.
Refrigerate several hours, or until ready to serve.
Just before serving, sprinkle cocoa powder over it. Here, I used a star cookie cutter for the faint star outlines.
Notes: If you microwave your gelatin, do so in 5 second increments, stirring each time until just barely dissolved. If gelatin boils, it will not set up.
If you don't like Stevia, you can sweeten to taste with barley malt sugar or artificial sweetener of choice. There is no browning or cooking involved in this dessert, so many sweeteners can be used.
German desserts are not as sweet as Americans are used to, so do taste as you go and add more sweetener, if necessary.
