Name: Festive Pomegranate Parfaits with Pistachios
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: 3 ripe pomegranates; 2 tablespoons corn starch (dissolved in 2 tablespoons cold water); 7 oz or 200 g mascarpone; 7 oz or 200 g cream cheese; 5 oz or 140 g quark (Greek yogurt or Skyr); 2 tablespoons honey; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 4 teaspoons roasted pistachios (chopped); 1 teaspoon dried culinary rose petals (to garnish); 4 cinnamon stars (or other cookies of your choice, to garnish)

Beautiful and delicious Pomegranate Parfaits Recipe with Pistachios and Mascarpone Cream is a perfect Christmas dessert. These rich, creamy, festive and gorgeous looking layered parfaits take just 15 minutes to make!

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Can you believe that Christmas is around the corner? It seems like Thanksgiving was just yesterday and then suddenly I find myself baking German Christmas cookies, going to Christmas market on the weekend to have a cup of hot Glühwein and candied walnuts, and of course thinking about Christmas menu!

Last year I spent Christmas in the hospital, since my son was born on December 22. It was the best Christmas gift I could have ever gotten! Now my little newborn baby is turning into a curious toddler who tried my blueberry pancakes today for the first time 🙂

I don’t know what he will eat from our Christmas table but I’m pretty sure he would try these pomegranate parfaits. He loves yogurt, fruits and creamy textures, so I believe he will love them.

Pomegranates look so beautiful and festive! Pomegranate seeds make everything look Christmassy. Moreover, they give a lovely crunch to both sweet and savory dishes. I experimented quite a lot with pomegranate seeds, and here are some of my favorite vegetarian and vegan holiday dishes that you can serve for Christmas:

No Bake Granola Bars (makes for a great homemade gift!)

Besides granola bars, all other recipes are actually savory. To balance this, I came up with these delicious and healthy pomegranate parfaits.

Silky mascarpone-based cream with a little honey vanilla note alternate with tart and sweet pomegranate compote and topped with crunchy pistachios, pomegranate seeds and rose petals. I decorated them with cinnamon stars to give them even more distinctive Christmassy look.

If you like pomegranates, I’m sure you will enjoy this pomegranate parfaits recipe. So festive and delicious!

Make them in jars with lids and give them as gifts! They are wonderful and your loved ones will surely appreciate the gesture. If they are foodies like us, check my foodie gift guide for other Christmas gift ideas 😉

How to Make Pomegranate Parfaits with Pistachios

You will be amazed at how easy it is to make them! Whip the cream, make the pomegranate topping, chop some pistachios and assemble! No baking, no waiting, no mess. If you are a quick cook like me, you’ll be done in 15 minutes.

The most important thing in this recipe is to find perfectly ripe pomegranates. You can use a guide on how to choose and store pomegranates, but in short: make sure they are deeply-colored and heavy (these are the juiciest!), and store them in your refrigerate to prevent drying.

Once you have two beautiful pomegranates, you need to get the juice out of them. Easy solution: a citrus juicer. Just cut two pomegranates in halves and juice like you would juice an orange (make sure there are no chunks in the juice, strain if necessary), keeping one more pomegranate for seeds. Remove them and keep for later.

You can also use store-bought pomegranate juice (about a cup) but you’ll still need pomegranate seeds for garnishing. If you are in a hurry, you can skip this part, although it’s highly recommended.

Transfer the juice into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Dissolve corn starch in the same amount of cold water and combine with the pomegranate juice. Cook for one more minute, then remove from the heat and let cool. Once it’s cooled a bit, add the pomegranate seeds, keeping about 1/4 for the topping.

Meanwhile, prepare the mascarpone cream. Combine mascarpone with cream cheese and quark (Greek yogurt or my recent favorite – Icelandic Skyr will work well too). Add honey and vanilla extract and mix to combine using a silicon spatula or a spoon. Try not to overwork the cream.

You will need four Weck tulip jars or equivalent. Place a layer of cream on the bottom of each jar (about 2 tablespoons), then a layer of pomegranate, repeating until you run out of both.

Sprinkle the top with chopped pistachios and dried rose petals (make sure they are edible!) and decorate with cinnamon stars or other cookies of your choice for a Christmas feel. Enjoy!