For some reason, my life has been surrounded by fruit gratin lately.  Ina Garten was making one on Barefoot Contessa and then there was one Smitten Kitchen made with raspberries and sour cream which sounded... ummm... scary.  So I decided to make it with plain yogurt instead.  Which, yes, I realize tastes almost the same as sour cream.  But it sounds different in my head and my version tasted just great, so I'm thinking I won't even voyage into the land of sour cream mixed with fruit. 

The first time I made this it was with peaches, and it was delightful except for the fact that I am an idiot and can't get through my brain that sometimes you just need to use the full-fat version of food if you want it to taste good.  I had this fat-free plain yogurt and - no surprise - was kind of thin and not as flavorful as I would have liked.  It was fine but there wasn't really any "wow" factor.

Fast forward to this past weekend when I had fresh raspberries and blackberries in the fridge.  Why not give the whole fruit gratin thing another try?  This time I used greek yogurt and a couple of drops of pure vanilla extract and it was amazing the difference it made!  I would definitely advocate using real, fatty, delicious yogurt.

Then you throw a whole lotta brown sugar on top.  You can't go wrong with brown sugar.  Ever.  I could see you eating this for breakfast (it is practically a parfait) or even as a light dessert.  Personally, I would eat it any time of day.  And if you ever try making it with sour cream or creme fraiche or anything instead of yogurt, let me know how it goes!

Brown Sugar Fruit Gratin

2 cups plain greek yogurt 3-4 drops of pure vanilla extract 2 cups bite sized fruit (berries or other fruits sliced up) 1 cup brown sugar

Preheat the broiler on low.  Mix the yogurt with the vanilla extract.  Spread a layer of half the yogurt on the bottom of a shallow baking dish or ramekins.  Add all of the fruit, gently pressing it down into the yogurt.  Spread the remaining yogurt on top of the fruit.  This makes you less likely to crush the berries than just mixing it all together, but if mixing it is easier then feel free because this isn't a pretty dish by any stretch of the imagination.  Then crumble all of the brown sugar on top, making sure that there are no lumps.  Broil for as long as it takes for the brown sugar to melt and start to bubble a bit (it took me about 10 minutes).  Enjoy!