Raspberry Pie for One!

Only 155 calories are in this petit raspberry tart!

For this recipe you will need:

· 1/3 cup of fresh raspberries

· One frozen tart shell (a small pie shell about four inches in diameter)

· 1 teaspoon of sugar

· 1/8 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice

· 2 tablespoons of frozen light (low calorie) whipped topping

· A bowl, spoon, fork, oven

Wash and drain 1/3 cup of fresh raspberries. Add raspberries to a small bowl. Lightly mash the raspberries with a fork. Stir lemon juice and sugar into the raspberries. Take one tart out of freezer. Measure and remove two tablespoons of whipped topping from the freezer. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Let your ingredients rest (and thaw) on the counter, while the oven preheats, for about ten minutes.

Check the raspberry pie filling. Drain a spoonful of liquid, if it seems runny. Taste the filling. It should be a little “tart” with overtones of sweetness. Remember, sweet whipped topping will be added later. If you like your pies very sweet, and don’t mind the extra calories, add a little more sugar. Pour into the uncooked pie crust. Put thawed whipped topping into refrigerator.

Bake in 350 degree oven for twenty minutes.

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Your finished pie should have a lightly brown crust. Let it cool for ten minutes (if you can wait that long!). Add the whipped topping just before serving.

As a person watching my caloric intake, I couldn’t resist adding a little pie math to this recipe. I looked at the nutrition panels, which are now on most food products. My premade, frozen tart shell package told me that I would be snacking on 160 calories for just the pastry shell! I looked more closely at the label, and realized that the serving size was TWO tart shells. Since I would only be eating one shell, my calories would be half of 160 calories, or 80 calories.

I looked up the calories for fresh raspberries online. There are approximately 90 calories in one cup of fresh raspberries. I am using 1/3 cup of raspberries for my little tart, so 90 divided by 3 equals 30 calories for 1/3 cup of raspberries. At the risk of offending my obsessive-compulsive readers, I am going to assume that 1/8 teaspoon of sour lemon juice has (rounded) zero calories.

You aren’t supposed to use REAL sugar when dieting, right? Guess what? That one teaspoon of REAL sugar has only 15 calories! Add another 20 calories for a generous two tablespoon dab of light whipped topping.

So, for the entire Raspberry Pie Tart, I will only be eating 155 calories, the equivalent of many highly processed (and expensive) grocery store diet snacks.

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