Ina Garten Turns Frozen Berries Into Dessert With Just 3 Extra Ingredients

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Among the many tips from Ina Garten that will make you a better cook, preparing simple recipes with quality ingredients may be one of her most impactful pieces of advice. However, while making the Barefoot Contessa's recipes for roast chicken or rigatoni with sausage is never a bad idea, sometimes all you want is a sweet-tasting dessert that requires minimal effort in the kitchen.

Fortunately, next to our all-time favorite Ina Garten desserts like her black and white cookies and lemon mousse, Garten also has a super simple recipe that features common yet flavorful ingredients like frozen berries and white chocolate. More specifically, her recipe for frozen berries with white hot chocolate was first published in her 2006 cookbook "Barefoot Contessa at Home, and apart from the berries, is made with only three more ingredients: heavy cream, quality white chocolate, and vanilla extract.

To make this no-fuss recipe, all you need to do is melt these three extras in a heat-proof bowl over a double-burner and then pour the combined mixture directly over a bowl or plate of frozen berries. The heat from the chocolate sauce will slowly melt the berries into luscious pools of warm, vanilla-flavored cream.

Aside from experiencing the complementary flavors of tangy berries and creamy chocolate, you also get to enjoy the contrasting textures of frozen berries and warm chocolate sauce with every bite of this dessert. Though, while this recipe may be easy to prepare, the quality of your ingredients makes all the difference. 

Instead of using pre-frozen bags of berries from the supermarket, opt for freezing your own fresh berries at home. Pre-frozen berries are often clumped together and don't necessarily make a worthwhile presentation upon serving. For an instant upgrade, wash and dry a variety of fresh berries and freeze them on a baking sheet until solid. Once frozen, store your berries in freezer-safe plastic bags until needed. 

Apart from using pure vanilla extract and heavy whipping cream instead of half-and-half, you should always prepare this recipe with high-quality white chocolate. Though, in order to gauge whether or not your white chocolate is actually chocolate, look at the ingredient label on the back of your bar. According to the FDA, for a product to be labeled as white chocolate, it must contain at least 20% cocoa butter along with minimums of 14% milk solids and 3.5% milk fat. Keep in mind, many white chocolate baking chips contain excess oil and sugar, so opt for white chocolate bars and make sure to read each ingredient label carefully. You can also use dark chocolate for a more bittersweet and chocolate-forward flavor. 

Lastly, upon serving, allow your berries to thaw slightly before covering them in the warm chocolate sauce. Then, for an extra special finishing touch, feel free to add a dollop of whipped cream or a bit of crunch with crushed cookies or chopped nuts.