Strawberry season is upon us, so I figured it was a perfect time to share my recipe for Strawberries Romanoff.
You might have seen this at La Madeleine and while I’ve never actually had it, I always think it looks really good…can you go wrong with strawberries and cream?
A few years ago I created this version at the request of a nutrition client. The original recipe served 4 and the ingredients were as follows:
- ½ cup sour cream
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon brandy or vanilla
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 4 cups fresh strawberries
The problem with the recipe isn’t the strawberries (obviously), but the cream, sour cream and sugar. Heavy cream has 50 calories and 5 g fat (3.5 saturated) per tablespoon. Sour cream has the same calories/fat per 2 tablespoons. And then there’s the sugar – 18 teaspoons total which adds 270 calories. Aren’t strawberries already sweet enough?
So, that’s where I made the changes. I swapped plain Greek yogurt for the sour cream (originally I used plain yogurt…but now I’m liking Greek better), left the heavy cream alone and reduced the sugar to 7 ½ teaspoons.
I used ¾ of a cup (6oz) of yogurt instead of ½ of a cup – this helps “dilute” the calories in the whipped cream even further. I also increased the fruit and made 6 servings instead of 4.
You may wonder why I left the heavy cream alone; it is high in fat, after all. For some, fat-free Cool Whip would be an option, but I don’t use Cool Whip. I don’t think it tastes very good and it’s not made from anything natural like cream or milk (remember the Reddi-wip commercial…”cream or oil?”).
Here is the ingredient list from Cool Whip (the fat-free kind):
Ingredients: WATER, CORN SYRUP, HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL* (COCONUT AND PALM KERNEL OILS), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, LESS THAN 2% OF SODIUMCASEINATE (FROM MILK), NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, XANTHAN AND GUAR GUMS,POLYSORBATE 60, POLYSORBATE 65, SORBITANMONOSTEARATE, SODIUM HYDROXIDE, BETA CAROTENE (COLOR).
*ADDS A NEGLIGIBLE AMOUNT OF FAT
You be the judge…
I’m sticking with whipped cream lightened with Greek yogurt.
Strawberries Romanoff
adapted from Recipezaar.com
Makes 6 servings
6 oz container Greek yogurt (I used 0% Fage)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup heavy cream
1 ½ teaspoons sugar
6 cups fresh strawberries, sliced
- Mix yogurt, brown sugar, and vanilla in a small bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whip cream and sugar until thick and fluffy.
- Gently fold half of cream into yogurt mixture. Add the remaining cream and fold to combine.
- Serve over fresh strawberries.
Per serving
before – 296 calories, 18 g fat (11 g saturated), 33 g carbohydrates, 3 g fiber, 3 g protein
after –152 calories, 8 g fat (5 g saturated), 17 g carbohydrates, 3 g fiber, 4 g protein
Blair Buras is a dietitian, dancer, food enthusiast, blogger and healthy recipe developer. She is also the New Orleans Saintsation director, choreographer and nutritionist.
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