Thickened Berry Compote

[mific]

I've been making this for a while and it's become my favourite dessert, mixed with Greek yoghurt and a little cream, plus sweetener to taste. It's far less posh than the title I invented for it, almost more of a life hack than an actual recipe, but for what it's worth, here goes. I make it as it's relatively low carb and keto-friendly, and as berries and fibre are best for me, but you can of course un-keto it by using sugar.

Ingredients:
500g bag of frozen berries (~1.1 lbs). My fave has become blueberries - I used to prefer raspberries but crunching the pips annoys me more than it used to. But use whatever you like - raspberries, blueberries, mixed berries, etc.
1.5 Tbsp granular sweetener to taste - I use erythritol/stevia. Or substitute sugar if you prefer.
1.5 Tbsp lemon juice (to taste)

1 heaped Tbsp plain Metamucil (or ground psyllium)

Directions:

Microwave the berries, sweetener and lemon juice until thawed and a bit stewed. It takes me about 10 min. Stir in the Metamucil until well mixed, but you don't have to keep stirring until it thickens. Cover and cool, then refrigerate. It lasts several days in the fridge and tastes better once cooled.

I serve it with a roughly equal amount of Greek yoghurt and 2 Tbsp cream, plus some extra sweetener for the cream/yoghurt. For that I don't use granular erythritol as it's harder to dissolve and can taste gritty. Instead I add about 4-6 Splenda tablets as in the tablet form they contain no maltodextrin, just sucralose. Allulose would also dissolve well, or a liquid sweetener like stevia. Or, of course, sugar! 

The  Metamucil's the charm - it acts like gelatine or cornstarch but it's way faster-acting, and of course, it brings the low carb and fibre. It's also the easiest thickener ever - you just stir it in. You end up with a thick, creamy berry compote and I really like the texture. Metamucil doesn't work well like this to thicken everything, as I learned the hard way by ruining a savoury stew. In hot dishes it can be nastily glutinous, but with these chilled berries it really works, as the berries' texture disguises it even as it makes them thick and creamy, and the berry taste easily covers that of the psyllium, if that's an issue for you. 

I'm going to try to develop a keto trifle recipe using this, if I can work out a way to make a semi-palatable pound cake to replace the usual sponge. Will let you know how that goes. :)

Comments

[fred_mouse]

Oh, interesting, thank you. I don't have either of the thickeners that you've suggested, but I do have chia seeds and a device I could grind them in. Will have to think about whether that might work next time I can get some berries.

[mific]

It probably would work, although it might not be quite ias absorbent as psyllium (Metamucil is also psyllium). I think you might need to leave the chia compote for longer to fully soften, like overnight. Worth a try, though.

[nerakrose]

I do something almost exactly like this, using raspberries, a tablespoon of chia seeds, a tablespoon of maple syrup and some lemon juice. The chia seeds get disguised by the raspberries but obv if you don’t like the texture of the pits then that won’t work! I’ve not thought to use psyllium before. I might try this one day

[mific]

I don't mind textures usually, but the pits keep getting stuck in my teeth! That sounds very tasty with the maple syrup.

[runpunkrun]

Thickened Berry Compote sounds very posh indeed! And easy.

I do want to remind you that on gluten_free we avoid using the word "healthy" as well as saying that something is "good/better for you," as these things are different for everyone. Could you please edit your recipe to remove this language:

berries and fibre are good for us,
they're the healthiest
way better for you

Saying something is "best for me," though, is perfectly fine.

[mific]

Oops, sorry = fixed.

[runpunkrun]

Thank you!