Strawberry Parfait

Name: Strawberry Parfait
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 pint strawberries, trimmed and sliced (about 2 cups); 1 lemon, zested, plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice; 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar; 1/2 cup whipping cream; 1 cup fresh ricotta

By David Tanis

Updated Oct. 11, 2023

Strawberry Parfait — David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Total Time: 15 minutes
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Rating: 4(223)
Comments: Read comments

Ricotta cream — sweetened fresh ricotta, lightly whipped — is used in Sicily to fill cannoli or frost traditional cakes. Here, it’s combined with whipped cream and strawberries for a layered “parfait” and a very simple but impressive dessert.

Featured in: A ‘Steak’ Dinner With Vegetarians in Mind

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

1pint strawberries, trimmed and sliced (about 2 cups)
1lemon, zested, plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice
¼cup confectioners’ sugar
½cup whipping cream
1cup fresh ricotta

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Put strawberries in a bowl and add 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Toss with 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar and set aside.
Step 2
Make the ricotta cream: In a medium bowl, beat whipping cream with a whisk until soft peaks form. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar, then fold in ricotta and lemon zest.
Step 3
Spoon the strawberries into 4 dessert glasses. Top with ricotta cream and smooth to cover. Refrigerate for up to 6 hours, but serve at cool room temperature.

Ratings

4 out of 5

223 user ratings

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Comments

Stella Luna2 years ago

Ricotta cream! Not too sweet, elegantly simple. I might try halving the sugar and adding almond extract or a liquor. Imagine it over fresh peaches.

Luisa2 years ago

Wouldn't you just double the ingredients? Anyway, I hope so as I'm going to be doing just that tomorrow night. Don't see any reason why you couldn't serve out of one big bowl. It just wouldn't be as elegant as individual servings.

stephanie2 years ago

if you want a single vessel, a baking dish would probably be best so you have equal distribution of ricotta and berries for each person. or layer it in a trifle dish. basically anything that doesn't taper too much toward the bottom.

bg1 month ago

Perfect seasonal fare with whatever fruit is popping. The fresh ricotta is essential. When I have some on hand, I love to add 1/3 cup of homemade vanilla bean pudding or pastry cream to the dairy mixture for some extra lushness; basil or mint chiffonade in the berries is a nice touch, fresh thyme leaves too; and it's gorgeous topped with toasted hazelnuts (candied, if you're feeling extra). Lily-guilding aside, at its simplest, this is the fastest elegant dessert ever. Thanks again, David!

S3 months ago

We enjoyed this simple dessert. Used regular grocery store ricotta and tossed it into the mixer after I whipped the cream to smooth it out. Pretty easy and good way to use up ricotta if you already have some left over from another recipe

Pat B10 months ago

The key to this seems to be the quality of the ricotta. The one I used is more expensive but really smooth and flavorful. I cut the sugar in half though and will try the almond extract when I use this with fresh figs next week.

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