Possibly the best yogurt you'll ever have

Last month Ian and I flew to Austin, TX for Austin City Limits. In addition to the music festival, we also have a few buddies there that we were looking forward to seeing.  Our friends Michael and Rachel hosted an awesome brunch the last day of the festival. Although everything they served was delicious, the dish that really stood out for me was Rachel's yogurt parfait (the bloody marys were a close second :).  While I enjoy yogurt as much as the next person, it's not something that I would expect to still be thinking about weeks later, but let me tell you, this yogurt was special.  This past weekend, Ian and I were invited to a potluck brunch, so I email Rachel and asked if she'd share her recipe with me. Here's what she said:

"Happy to share! It's not really a "recipe," but it's super easy. It's just a yogurt parfait with 3 layers- fruit, almond yogurt and salty honey almond brittle.

• Fruit- Raspberries and cherries work best
• Yogurt- Fage Greek yogurt sweetened with Splenda and almond extract. It is very important to get the best almond extract you can buy. No real guidance on measurements except that it's easier to add than it is to subtract and it usually gets sweeter/almondier as it sits. So get it just a little less flavorful than you want, and then adjust right before assembly if needed
• Brittle: Toast almond slivers in pan. Once they are lightly toasted and smelling good, add enough honey to get them wet and turn off the heat. The honey loosens up as it warms up, so feel free to add, stir to see if it's nice and glossy/wet, and add more if you need. Then dump onto pam-sprayed parchment paper (foil works in a pinch, but not wax paper), spread in an even-ish layer and sprinkle with kosher or sea salt. Pop in fridge to cool.Once cool, break into clumps
• To assemble, layer fruit on bottom, then yogurt, fruit, yogurt. Top with brittle"

The almond brittle, right before I stuck it in the fridge

About half-way through assembling the parfait

The finished product!

It would never have occurred to me to add almond extract to the yogurt, but it makes such a difference! It gives the yogurt a subtle, but sophisticated flavor. I didn't have splenda, so I used regular sugar instead. I added a bit of water to it to start the dissolving process and make sure that it mixed in to the yogurt. Also, I couldn't find cherries this time of the year, so I went with blueberries and chopped dates.  Finally to give it a bit of a fall flavor I sprinkled a little bit of cinnamon and nutmeg on top of the assembled parfait. I would say that in total (not including cooling time), this dish took about 30 minutes to make.  Thanks for sharing Rachel!