I can stuff my face with tofu, I can spend 2 hours kickboxing every morning, I can remember to take my vitamins daily, I can start every morning with lemon water.....but I can not, no matter how hard I try, kick my sweet tooth. It's so bad that even my sweet tooth has a sweet tooth problem. And I'm totally owning it. Instead of forcing myself to forego desserts (it pains me just to say those 2 words together, so you can imagine how detrimental it would be for me to actually forego the desserts), I've instead mastered the art of portion control....except for things that contain ice cream, caramel, chocolate, whipped cream, or sugar....because obviously anything in one of the main food groups according to "Elf" absolutely does not require portion control. When I'm not busy being a portion control ninja, I'm inventing new ways to trick my taste buds into thinking I'm eating a decadent dessert all while secretly saving my waistline from the "moment on the lips, forever on the hips" epidemic. My latest such invention is these gingerbread fruit parfaits. Now, they aren't nearly as healthy as some of the gluten-free cardboard options available on the market, but they aren't quite as rich as, say, a triple chocolate fudge brownie topped with cookie dough and oreos. Before these parfaits were born, I was already a fan of gingerbread. It's healthy....unless you put whipped cream on it, which I always do, so, I guess for me it's not healthy, buuuuut for everyone else, it's healthy. Even making half the amount of my favorite recipe still leaves us with so much extra gingerbread that a few pieces almost always go bad. I hate wasting food (especially dessert), so what better way to save a cake than fry it in butter, am I right or am I right?! I promise it's not a lot of butter (and you could even use coconut oil). To make the parfaits the gingerbread croutons are layered with Greek yogurt whipped cream and a champagne-infused fruit compote (because everything is better with bubbles). Spoons up for healthy desserts!

INGREDIENTS

CHAMPAGNE-INFUSED FRUIT COMPOTE

• 2 small blood oranges, peeled and chopped into small pieces

• 1/3 cup blackberries

• 2 tablespoons champagne (prosecco would also work fine)

• 1 teaspoon of an orange liquor

GREEK YOGURT CREAM

• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt

• 1/4 cup heavy cream

• 2 teaspoons vanilla

• 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar

• 1 tablespoon of honey

GINGERBREAD CROUTONS

• 1 1/2 cups gingerbread cubes (about 3 2"x 2" square pieces cut into cubes; recipe link below)

• 1 teaspoon butter or coconut oil

INSTRUCTIONS

1. First, in a small bowl, stir together the fruit, then pour the champagne and orange liqueur over it. Place the bowl in the fridge while you assemble the remaining layers.

2. Next, in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attached, combine the yogurt and cream. Beat together until the mixture has combined and become thick, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla, sugar, and honey and beat about 2 more minutes. Remove the bowl form the stand and place in the fridge until you are ready to assemble the parfaits.

3. Lastly, heat the butter or oil in a medium-sized skillet over medium heat. Toss in the gingerbread cubes and sauté them for a couple minutes, tossing them every few seconds, until they are warmed and crispy.

4. To assemble the parfaits, in a bowl/serving dish/glass layer a few gingerbread cubes followed by cream topped with the fruit. Repeat these layers one more time. Continue until all of your parfaits have been assembled. Serve immediately.

NOTES

• The fruit mixture and cream can each be prepared up to 24 hours in advance and stored separately, in airtight containers, in the refrigerator, until you are ready for them.

• If you can't find blood oranges feel free to use regular oranges or even grapefruit. Similarly, feel free to replace the blackberries with another type of fruit.