Sweet Quark & Berry Parfait is a classic German dessert shared by my friend Tanya today. You will love the perfect combination of flavors.
My sister Nicole recently visited Germany for a work trip. While she was there she visited our long time friend Gina and her family. Gina was an exchange student that lived with my parents when I was little. Her family has come back to the states over the years for a visit. Every visit we of course get some type of German meal.
The best meal was from Gina’s mom! She served us comfort food at it’s best. Naturally when Gina’s daughter, Tanya, came to visit this week, I immediately asked her if she would make a dish with me for the blog. And I even convinced her to do a video! I am so lucky.
I knew exactly which dish I was going to ask her to make, this amazing Sweet Quark & Berry Parfait that Nicole had while she was visiting Gina. She asked Gina for the recipe, but we had no idea what the “white stuff” was. She described it like yogurt, but Nicole said the flavor was so different.
When Tanya came she explained that it was called Quark. Of course, we searched for it and found that luckily Target, yes Target, my favorite place on earth, carried it. You can also find quark at select Trader Joe’s and Whole Food stores.
I would describe quark as a mix between sour cream and Greek yogurt, but better. If that makes any sense?
Tanya said that her mother mixes the quark and berries together, where Tanya layers them. She also prefers frozen berries because of the extra juices from the fruit. For the photos, and the first time we made this we used fresh berries. You could really go either way.
Recipe Tips
I love the toasted oats on top. What I love about them is that she doesn’t use any butter, just rolled oats and sugar. This dessert is so light and refreshing. I love it! It will become a permanent brunch item as well.
Having Tanya here with her love for Germany, their culture, food, and people, I am excited to visit there soon with my family. Cheers to friends that last a lifetime and relationships that flourish from across the globe.
Pair this With…
pin to pinterest.
Sweet Quark & Berry Parfait
Ingredients
- 1 pint heavy whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar or white granulated sugar
- 24 ounces Elli Creamy German Style Quark plain, I used four 6 ounce containers.
- 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar or white granulated sugar
Topping
- 4 1/2 tablespoons heaping old fashion oats
- 1 1/2 tablespoons white granulated sugar
- 3-4 pints fresh or frozen raspberries
Instructions
- Pour the heavy whipping cream, 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar (or white granulated sugar with a dash of vanilla extract) into a large mixing bowl. Use hand mixer or KitchenAid stand mixer and whisk on high for 3–5 minutes, until it creates soft peaks.
- Fold in quark and additional 2 tablespoons of sugar until combined, smooth and creamy.
- At this point you can decide whether to mix the berries into the quark & whipped cream mixture or to layer them like pictured.
- If you layer the parfait cups, start with some fruit on the bottom, add quark, repeat until you reach the top of the cup, making sure to end using quark. Set cups aside.
- To prepare oats- Over medium high heat add rolled oats and sugar to a small saute pan.
- Heat until oats and sugar start to brown. Stir constantly as not to burn the sugar or oats. Once the oats have browned and the sugar has completely dissolved visibly, the oats are done. Remove from heat and sprinkle over quark.
- Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to eat. Enjoy!
Quark is one of the things I have missed from Germany. We were served dessert with quark all the time on my mission. Yum!
This sounds SOO yummy and I’ll be trying it ASAP! If I have a hard time finding Quark in the shops here, could sieved cottage cheese be substituted instead? I used to make a yummy German style no bake lemon cheesecake years ago when I was about 13 and the recipe was so simple, and from a kids’ recipe book, and it used sieved cottage cheese instead of cream cheese and, OMG, it was THE absolute simplest yet most delicious cheesecake ever and much nicer than some of the heavier, denser cheesecakes that are made with thick cream cheese. It was a bit tangier, thanks to the cottage cheese and lemon, and was to die for. I don’t have the recipe anymore though so I can’t remember what else was in the cheese mixture, except for the cottage cheese, lemon juice & grated lemon zest. Caster sugar was likely used to sweeten it but I’m not sure how it was set and I can’t use gelatine because I’m vegetarian, but I suppose Agar Agar powder could be used instead. The base was simply yummy crushed Digestive cookies with melted butter. So easy!