Fresh Fruit Desserts

Take advantage of the wonderful fresh fruit available all summer long to make sweet delicious and entirely healthy desserts.

Watermelon

I had many Korean friends in San Diego. They routinely finished their meals with a slice of sweet watermelon. It's so light, sweet and refreshing, it satisfies your sweet tooth without any damage to your health.

Oranges

Ambrosia is an old-fashioned dessert made with fresh oranges. Peel several oranges, removing all the pith, and then cut out each section of the oranges into a bowl. Add just one tablespoon of sugar to the orange segments and juice, and mix gently. Divide the orange segments and juice between four pretty bowls. Sprinkle grated coconut over the orange segments and let the dishes sit for a while to combine the flavors. You can use unsweetened or sweetened dried coconut, or grate fresh coconut over the orange slices.

Grapefruit

A similar dessert is made with grapefruit, peeled and sectioned just as the oranges are in ambrosia. Combine the fresh grapefruit sections and juice with about 1/4 cup of chopped candied ginger. Cover the mixture and store it overnight in the refrigerator to blend the flavors. Serve in beautiful wine glasses as an elegant dessert.

Apricot Souffle

Cover 1 to 1 1/2 cups of dried apricots with water in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer gently for five minutes. Let the apricots cool overnight in the refrigerator.

The next day, combine the drained apricots with 1/2 cup orange juice in a food processor. Process while adding as much of the cooking liquid as needed to make a smooth puree.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter a 1 quart souffle dish.

In a mixer, beat 5 room-temperature egg whites with a pinch of cream of tartar or 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice until frothy. Gradually add 1/3 to 1/2 cup of sugar and keep beating the egg whites until they are stiff and glossy. Stir 1/3 of the egg whites into the apricot puree to lighten it. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites until well combined.

Pour the apricot mixture into the souffle dish. Set it into a larger baking dish and pour 1 inch of boiling water around the souffle dish. Bake the souffle in the oven until it is puffed and lightly browned, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve immediately with a little unsweetened fresh cream. You can also cover the souffle with plastic wrap and chill it in the refrigerator to serve cold the next day. It will deflate slightly but will still have a light texture and tangy taste.

Poached Fruit

Combine  a bottle of white wine with an equal amount of water in a large saucepan. Peel the zest from two lemons in long thin strips and add them to the wine and water. Peel two inches of fresh ginger root and cut it into matchstick pieces. Put those in with the wine, water and lemon zest. Add 2 cups of sugar and bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.

Peel your favorite fruits -- pears, apples, peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums or whatever you find in the market -- and cut them into large pieces. Keep adding the fruit to the wine mixture while it simmers, until you can't get any more fruit into the liquid. Simmer for up to 20 minutes until the fruit is tender. Cool the mixture and store it in the refrigerator in closed containers. Serve the poached fruit on its own in pretty wine glasses, or serve it with yogurt, maxcarpone, whipped cream or ice cream, sponge cake or crisp cookies. Be sure each serving gets a little of the lemon peel and the ginger as well as fruit. Makes about two quarts of poached fruit and you haven't tasted anything until you taste this!