Social media is alive with decadent, tasty, and delicious recipes for Valentine’s Day. As a chocolate lover, I have always looked forward to this holiday. For those of us trying to lose weight, and celebrate the lovey-dovey occasion without breaking the calorie bank, it can be extremely frustrating!
I have been playing around with low calorie, and low carb dessert recipes. While there are plenty of choices, many of them take a lot of time and preparation. I recently swallowed my fears and started playing around with “cook and serve” pudding, rather than instant. All I can say is…I CAN’T believe I waited so long to use it. The taste far supersedes instant.
That being said, I was so happy when our local store started carrying a sugar-free variety. While shopping today I snatched it up, along with the makings of a low calorie chocolate pie…sure to satisfy the skeptical “diet dessert” crowd at my house.
Ingredients
1 ready-made graham cracker crust (I used chocolate)
2 boxes of sugar free cook and serve chocolate Jello pudding
4 cups of skim milk
½ a block of chocolate almond bark
1 tub of lite cool whip
Step #1. Prepare TWO packages of cook and serve sugar free chocolate pudding. Place pan in fridge to begin to cool.
Step #2. Melt chocolate almond bark OR semi-sweet chocolate chips in double boiler. This is where I used an old trick I learned from the Pioneer Woman! Spread melted chocolate in thick layer on back of cookie sheet. Transfer to fridge to let it harden. Locate a flat edged spatula. After 20 minutes, remove cookie sheet from pan and use spatula to scrape chocolate into beautiful and tasty chocolate curls!
Step #3. Carefully pour partially set pudding into graham cracker crust. Return to fridge for two hours.
Step #4 Spoon lite cool whip into center of pie, and generously dust entire pie with homemade chocolate curls. Add fresh fruit such as strawberries or raspberries if desired.
Enjoy a slice of heaven with your loved ones this Valentine’s Day!