Healthy dessert recipes

'Freezer jam' from frozen berries and splenda is great for the calorie count. Warmed up and then topped with greek yogurt or cottage cheese is a favorite of mine. (low calorie +high protein+minimal effort required).

Unsweetened cocoa powder is pretty low calorie. Adding splenda instead of sugar saves a lot of calories in hot cocoa or a quick chocolate sauce.

Weight watchers giant fudge bar 90 calories.

I usually eat fruit with whipped cream or a mini ice cream sandwich.

I recently discovered Yasso bars; I love them for days I either don't want a more calorie-dense dessert, or want something a little sweet. Their bars also have a variety of calorie ranges. I really, really like them!

Cut a pear in half lengthwise and scoop out the hard part with the seeds. Pour some balsamic vinegar in the hole and roast the pear for 15-20 min at 425. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Sweet, filling and satisfying and only about 110 calories. So filling we’ve decided to just split a pear next time which even halves that number. You can also fill the hole with a spoonful of chopped walnuts before baking.

I use a quality Cinnamon-Pear balsamic from Oli+Ve. 10 calories per tablespoon. They have a ton of flavors and they are terrific in lieu of salad dressings, too. Their chocolate balsamic (still 10 calories per tbs) makes a mean base for pork carnitas, and is also good over plain yogurt, or cottage cheese with fruit. Gourmet vinegar places are sprouting up all over. Worth every dime, and worth a visit to sample. They are all very different tasting. A $10-15 bottle of a good vinegar seems expensive til you realize it lasts several times longer than an equivalent sized salad dressing and is way more versatile. Plus they satisfy the old sweet tooth.

Btw I never knew this, but a good quality cinnamon is a totally different experience than the cheap McCormicks or grocery brands. Whole Foods has a good one called Frontier Co-op Vietnamese 5% oil. Absolutely worth the dollar or two extra a bottle over the cheaper ones because it gives the sensation of extra sweetness and you don’t have to use very much.

Baked apples are good, too. Sprinkle with a little apple pie spice.

Fruit topped with Fage or cottage cheese. If you have the calories sprinkle some pecans or almonds pieces and drizzle with Hershey sugar free chocolate syrup.

Sometimes I mix equal part of no sugar added easy churned vanilla ice cream (supermarket brand) with Fage.

Homemade, no sugar added, apple sauce topped with Fage (I don't eat anything with cinnamon).

Dannon light and fit Greek style yogurt. One serving= 80 calories

I don't have a sweet tooth so my deserts are simple and not too high in calories, and if my dinner was filling, I may skip desert all together.

echmain3 wrote: »

What do you mean by “healthy”?

Hopefully not the Pinterest definition, involving lots of dates and avocado. However, you and I both know OP means lighter in calories.

Did someone say chocolate???

Okay, what's your calorie budget for dessert?

If you don't have a lot of calories to spare and want chocolate, I generally recommend Ghirardelli squares. The squares are pretty big compared to other individually wrapped chocolates, and they are typically about 50-75 calories each depending on which variety you get. It's not high end chocolate, but it can hit the spot.

If you have more calories to play with and are also looking to get some protein, I would go for one of the lower calorie/high protein ice creams. Breyers Delights chocolate is very good and is 270 calories for the entire pint. I vastly prefer it over Halo Top. I also enjoy Target's Archer Farms line of light ice creams, though those tend to run about 350 calories per pint. Enlightened brownie and cookie dough is also very good but is substantially higher in calories (400 for the pint). Or if you're not me, you could stop at less than the entire pint.

A drizzle of Hershey's syrup is also nice on these ice creams if you've got another 25-50 calories to spare. If you don't, then a drizzle of high quality balsamic vinegar is very nice on ice cream. And of course, you could get some skim milk and make shakes with your light ice cream.

If you are able to stop at less than the entire chocolate bar, or if you have someone to split the bar with, then you can do what we do and share a high quality chocolate bar with someone else. Most nicer bars are going to run 200-250 calories for half the bar; split it into quarters and enjoy it over a few evenings if you don't have that many calories.

There are also other chocolately things that I would not consider dessert, like protein shakes, protein bars, etc. My breakfast every morning is 0% Fage, chocolate PB2, chocolate protein powder, and fiber cereal mixed together. My portion is 300 calories. I typically keep Quest bars around too, and I especially enjoy the double chocolate chunk (180 calories). This things may be ways to hit your macros while also satisfying your chocolate craving.

Frontier products are also a nice way to hit your macros and get some chocolate. I especially like their triple chocolate brownie mix, which I make with just my 0% Fage and aquafaba to keep calories down and protein up. This makes the brownies very moist, dense, and fudgy, which is just how I like them.

Then there is always the option to just make regular desserts in smaller portions. I bake cookies every week, most of which I give away, but I also use a 1.5 tbsp scoop, which makes smaller cookies that are usually around 100 calories each depending on the cookie. I wouldn't do this unless you have plenty of other people to give cookies to

Just buy the cheap whipped ice creams and froyo man, some of them are extraordinarily low calorie, as few as 70 per serving. These are an absolute staple in my house I'm currently eating Dutch chocolate froyo for 90 calories a half cup. Hits the spot and easy enough.

Overeating something that low calorie is actually quite difficult. Can't really have a terrible day even if you eat half the tub. Just gotta make sure your stocked with stuff like this as opposed to cake, cookies, pies, or anything else really dense when a craving hits.

Clio bar

Define 'healthy'?

I like Eton Mess, but made with vanilla Skyr instead of cream. Because meringues are healthy.

I tried this 'one ingredient banana ice-cream' recently: https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-creamy-ice-cream-with-just-one-ingredient-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-93414
Not quite the same as ice-cream, but quite good really.

The other day I remembered this desert my college friend (back in the late 90's) who had done WW taught us. You mix 2 small containers of a yogurt of your choice with an 8 oz container of lite Cool Whip and put into a reduced fat graham cracker crust. You could make your own parfait with graham cracker crumbs and amount of yogurt and cool whip that you want.

Any flavor jello sugar free pudding. Mix with 2 cups skim milk. Voila - 70 calorie dessert. 1/2 cup serving.

alisdairsmommy wrote: »

I have discovered that it is frequently possible to reduce sugar in recipes without it being noticeable. I don't eat desserts besides fruit very frequently, but when I do, I want the real thing and not a "diet dessert." I make room in my calories for it and/or eat a smaller portion.

This. I usually reduce the called for sugar amount in a recipe by a third to a half. It works just fine taste wise.