Healthy Dessert Makeovers

Healthy Dessert Makeovers

No one said you can’t enjoy a decadent dessert on occasion while leading a healthy lifestyle. In fact, the best desserts are homemade, using the healthiest ingredients possible. Here are some delicious ideas to help make your favorite desserts calorie–friendly.

Skip the full-fat whip. Whipped cream is a common dessert topping. Leaving it off your desserts will significantly cut down on fat and calories. Instead, use nonfat plain Greek yogurt sweetened with a  low calorie sweetener.

Avoid the sugar. Replace sugar you would use in baked goods with monk fruit all-natural no-calorie sweetener (look for the baking product rather than the packets) or use Splenda. You may have to experiment to get the taste you like.

Cut the butter. Butter enriches many baked desserts, but it's also high in saturated fat. If a recipe calls for butter, try replacing it with trans-fat-free margarine (vegetable-oil spread) or in some cases with olive oil or canola oil. Keep in mind that you may need to experiment with the recipe to achieve the taste and texture you like with the substitution.

Avoid "à la mode." We all know the pleasure of pie with a scoop of ice cream — it’s a common temptation that you really should not indulge unless you have been good for a couple of months. You can easily avoid this double whammy by enjoying a few bites of just one or the other. Another solution: Have a small slice of pie with a little nonfat plain yogurt on top instead.

Consider healthy flour options. Use whole-wheat, white whole-wheat, or whole-wheat pastry flour instead of white all-purpose, bread, or cake flour to prepare baked desserts. In addition, you can experiment with gluten-free flour options, such as almond, hazelnut, or coconut flour, buckwheat, cornmeal, garbanzo or other bean flour, and sorghum flour. Mixing a few of these grains is quite common in gluten-free baking.