This week we offer a rich Italian dessert for you to try. Our Biscuit Tortoni is similar to one you might find in Italy: sweetened condensed milk combined with egg yolks, flavored with rum, mixed with chopped maraschino cherries, toasted almonds, and macaroon crumbs, and then folded into 4 cups of whipped cream. It's no wonder each serving contained 33 grams of fat!

For this recipe, we:

• Used fat-free sweetened condensed milk.

• Omitted the egg yolks. This dessert is not cooked, and we don't recommend anyone eat raw eggs due to the possibility of salmonella poisoning. Egg beaters could be used because they are pasteurized, but they are made from egg whites and would not contribute to the creamy texture.

• Replaced the 4 cups of whipped cream with the same amount of Cool Whip Free.

Thanks to the rum flavoring and other ingredients, this substitution worked well. Reduced to 8 grams of fat per serving, this Biscuit Tortoni is a great ending to any meal. It's also perfect for entertaining because it's made in advance and frozen.

Tip of the Week: The original recipe molded this dessert and cut it into wedges to serve. We found it just as tasty and much easier to serve when scooped into dessert dishes.

Biscuit Tortoni

1 14-ounce can fat-free sweetened condensed milk

1/4 cup light rum

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2/3 cup coconut cookie crumbs (4-5 large cookies)

3/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted

1/3 cup maraschino cherries, chopped

4 cups frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed

In large bowl, combine condensed milk, rum, vanilla, cookie crumbs, almonds and cherries; mix well. Fold in whipped topping. Pour into 11/2 quart bowl. Cover with foil; freeze 6 hours or until firm. Scoop into dessert dishes and garnish as desired. Return leftovers to freezer. Makes 10 servings.

Before and after

Based on 1 serving ( 1/10 of recipe)

Biscuit Tortoni		Adapted
Calories	512	363
Fat	33 g	8 g
Carbohydrate	45 g	59 g
Sodium	108 mg	93mg
Fiber	1 g	1 g
Cholesterol	93 mg	6 mg
Calories from fat
	56%	20%

Nutritionists recommend those on daily 2,000 calorie diet limit their fat consumption to 65 g or less, cholesterol to 300 mg or less and sodium to 2,400 mg or less per day.

Karen Weber, Pat Streicher and Ellen Illig are registered dieticians at Jewish Hospital's Cholesterol Center. To have your recipes rehabbed, send them to: Recipe Rehab, The Jewish Hospital Cholesterol Center, 3200 Burnet Ave., Cincinnati 45229.