Stop. Take a moment, and think about your favorite food. What is it?
This is mine.
These caramelized berries are tossed in a mascarpone and heavy cream mixture, coated until they are swimming, then broiled in the oven until heated through and nice and brown on top. When out of the oven, you scoop the warm berries into a bowl and I swear it will be so hard to not finish it all in one sitting. Did I mention these are refined sugar free?
Someone recently asked me what my favorite food is and I sat there stumped. It is really hard to choose one thing but then I thought, to sort through all of my favorites and really choose one. If I had to choose it would obviously be the foods I have the hardest time not eating until I am brutally full. With that, there comes two answers. Pizza and caramelized berries. Which, let’s be real, one is dinner and one is dessert. So with that said, I can choose both as my favorite.
Back to these berries though.
All you need to make these are a few simple ingredients. I will hold back from saying ingredients you might already have in your home because let’s be real, it’s not everyday someone has mascarpone in their fridge. Here is what you will need:
- Mascarpone cheese, I go into a bit of detail below on what mascarpone is and why it is important, but just know that it is essentially a better version of cream cheese and tastes AMAZING in desserts. Here is the one I use most.
- Greek Yogurt, will help with the texture, but you only need 2 tablespoons. If you don’t have greek yogurt, you can use sour cream or even some applesauce. I have tried both before and it turns out the same. However, whatever you do, don’t use mayo. I’ve tried it and it’s repulsive. In my defense, I was desperate. If you don’t have any of these you are better off just leaving it out.
- Heavy Cream, is the absolute best. When you mix it with the mascarpone you get this sweet cream that will blow your socks off. Seriously, don’t taste it until it’s done, otherwise you will find yourself taste testing the cream mixture until it’s gone and have nothing left to cook the berries with.
- Maple syrup. If you haven’t noticed by now, I am the queen of maple syrup. I always have a huge bottle stashed away in my fridge and use this anytime a recipe calls for sugar. It is the best natural sweetener out there and I am hooked. I always go for a good quality maple syrup that is organic and 100% pure maple. This way it isn’t filled with lame fake chemicals and tastes so delicious.
- Vanilla Bean Pod. I know I am asking for a lot by telling you to scrape the seeds out of a ridiculously expensive piece of spice, however it is worth it. When you use a natural vanilla bean pod, the flavor comes through 10x stronger and just tastes so perfect. However, I will say vanilla bean extract or vanilla bean paste works just as well. If I don’t have a pod for this recipe, I will mostly use vanilla bean paste, to still get the seed speckles throughout the berries. Something about those speckles of vanilla bean seeds that signifies that these caramelized berries are about to taste so good!
One of the main ingredients in this recipe is mascarpone. Which I didn’t know much about until a few years ago. However, now I am hooked. If you don’t know what mascarpone is, it isn’t common so don’t worry! It is essentially the same thing as cream cheese but the italian version. The only real difference being it is made from whole cream instead of the American which is made of part cream and has a lower fat content. This is starting to sound a lot like my Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe post where I explain how much better it is to cook with European ingredients. But this is basically the same reason.
Mascarpone is essentially interchangeable with cream cheese in that they are created in the same way. The only difference is the base of the cheese when it is started where mascarpone uses a heavier whole cream and therefore turns out a bit sweeter and creamier. Due to this sweeter, creamier texture that mascarpone has, it is typically used in a lot of desserts. The first time I heard about it, someone had made cupcakes with it. They turned out amazing and I figured I would have to do some research.
Then this happened. I don’t know how it started but I must have been watching Ina Garten where she makes her macerated berries recipe topped with balsamic vinegar and knew I needed to improvise. I love any dessert that involves berries being slowly cooked or infused with sugar, however, I try and keep things sugar free when I can. Therefore, I decided to make up for the sugar loss in this dish with heavy cream and mascarpone then top these berries and broil them in the oven. I’ve seen it done before and it has always looked so tempting to make. Instead of adding sugar for a bit of sweetness, I just used maple syrup and it turned out perfect! Topped with some extra sea salt and the seeds of a vanilla bean, I couldn’t be happier.
To make this even better, I do feel a bit guilt free when I make this because I’m not putting a ton of sugar in my mouth but still getting the same amazing taste. I typically eat this at night after dinner so not having sugar is good for my sleeping habits as well.
One thing I should mention is the way this turns out when you bake it. While it may look like it is cooked all the way through when you take it out of the oven, it is going to still be liquidy on the inside. The outside will form this amazingly beautiful crust that once you break through, will notice the rest is liquid. That is perfect! The crust forms when it bakes and add this beautiful caramelized dimension to the dish, but all we are doing is cooking the eggs until they are safe to eat and still have this thick cream soaked berry mixture. Trust me, it’s magical.
Caramelized Berries
Ingredients
- 2 pints fresh berries
- 8 oz mascarpone cheese
- 2 tbsp greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg white
- 1 vanilla bean pod, scraped for seeds (extract works as well)
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to a broil and move the baking rack so it is in the middle of your oven to the lower half of the oven. See note below for other options.**
- Wash your berries, then pat them dry. Place in a casserole dish or pie dish. Set aside.
- Whisk together remaining ingredients until smooth, then pour over berries. Bake until the top is golden brown and the egg is cooked all the way through, about 10-12 minutes. Keep a close eye out since it is the broiler and will brown quickly. This will come out with a caramelized shell on top and nice and liquidy on the inside.
- Serve warm out of the oven.
Notes
Nutrition
