Ice cream, you scream?

We had an ice cream social at my office yesterday, which is all well and good until someone has to step on a scale. While I was thrilled with the sugar-free ice cream option they provided, I blew any chance to cut-down the calories by piling on caramel, chocolate, pecans and whip cream.
I spotted this Splenda-rific recipe on Hungry Girl Web site today. It might take some time - well, more time than scooping ice cream into a bowl, anyway - to prepare, but it's low in calories and sounds too good to pass up. Note to self: replace ice cream sundae with fruit tartlets next time you choose to splurge on desserts.

Gooey Crunch Fruit Tartlets

PER SERVING (1 tartlet): 43 calories, 0.5g fat, 60mg sodium, 9g carbs, 1g fiber, 3g sugars, 1g protein = 1 Point

Ingredients:
1 batch (entire recipe) Chunky Peach Strawberry Sauce (see below); chilled 12 small square wonton wrappers like the ones by Dynasty or Nasoya (found with the other refrigerated Asian items in the supermarket); 48 sprays 0-calories-per-serving butter spray (like I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! Spray)
Optional topping: Splenda No Calorie Sweetener, granulated OR Fat Free Reddi-wip

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick spray, and set aside.

On a clean dry surface, set out 4 wonton wrappers. Spray each one with 2 sprays of butter, and use your fingers to spread butter evenly over each wonton; gently flip wontons and repeat. Carefully transfer wontons to muffin tin, placing each wonton in a muffin cup and pressing it in to form the cup shape. Repeat entire process 2 more times, and place tray in the oven.

Bake wonton cups in the oven for 10 minutes, or until they are firm and brown. Once cups are cool enough to handle, transfer them to a plate. Allow cups to cool completely.

Evenly spoon chilled sauce into the wonton cups (for best results, fill the wonton cups close to the time you'll be serving or enjoying your tartlets). Place in the fridge until ready to serve.

If desired, before serving, top each tartlet with a squirt of Reddi-wip or a sprinkling of Splenda.

MAKES 12 SERVINGS

Chunky Peach Strawberry Sauce

PER SERVING (1/4th of recipe): 61 calories, <0.5g fat, 40mg sodium, 15g carbs, 2g fiber, 8g sugars, 1g protein = 1 Point

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups frozen whole strawberries
1 1/2 cups frozen peach slices
2 tbsp. Splenda No Calorie Sweetener, granulated
2 tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
dash salt

Directions:
Combine Splenda, cornstarch, cinnamon, vanilla extract and salt with 1/2 cup of cold water. Stir until all ingredients are completely dissolved. Set aside.

Place fruit in a nonstick pot over medium-low heat. Once fruit begins to thaw, add liquid mixture. Stir.

As fruit defrosts and heats, use a spatula to break fruit apart into smaller pieces. Continuously stir until mixture becomes uniform, thick and syrupy.

Can be eaten hot, warm or chilled in the fridge until cold.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

News you can sink your teeth into...

Diabetics and calorie counters rejoice!
According to a recent article in Science News, researchers have developed a low-sugar alternative to the standard U.S. supermarket watermelon.
Melon geneticist Angela Davis of the U.S. Agricultural Research Service - and her team - produced two lines of fruit whose seeds now uniformly grow into pink, low-sugar melons.
And if a series of tastes tests encompassing more than 170 youth and adults is any indication, the melon could be a huge hit with people following restricted sugar or low-carbohydrate diets. As background, domesticated watermelons tend to be so sweet, they are typically off-limits to most of the nation's 20 million people with diabetes.
The individuals involved in the taste test process were offered two types of watermelon - the conventional supermarket variety and a low-sugar version sweetened with sucralose. Researchers report the majority preferred their melon with sucralose.
The Oklahoma team will now turn its experimental melons over to seed companies.