How to Bake a Healthy Pie for Dessert
Have your pie and eat it, too, with tips for lightening up almost any pie from crust to topping.
Up next in How to Bake Pies (15 videos)
Why not whip up one of these tasty treats for the pie lover in your life?
You Will Need
- Single crust
- Whole wheat pastry flour
- Canola oil
- Low-fat buttermilk or fat-free cream cheese
- Sugar substitute
- Fat-free sweetened condensed milk
- Evaporated skimmed milk
- Low-fat or light cream cheese
- Low-fat vanilla ice cream or low-fat whipped topping
- Cookie crumbs (optional)
- Fruit (optional)
Steps
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Step 1
Use a single crust
Use only a single bottom crust, which will save you 120 calories and 8 grams of fat per slice of an eight-slice, 9-inch pie.
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Ditch the crust altogether and line a pie dish with crumbs over a layer of cooking spray. Try gingersnaps, shortbread cookies, graham crackers, or chocolate cookie crumbs.
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Step 2
Swap white flour
Swap half the white flour in your crust recipe with whole wheat pastry flour. You'll gain 1-1/2 grams of fiber per slice.
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Step 3
Use good fat
Use a pie crust recipe that calls for oil instead of shortening and use a healthy oil, like canola. Use less than called for and substitute the rest with low-fat buttermilk or fat-free cream cheese.
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Step 4
Reduce sugar
Reduce the amount of sugar in your pie filling by half or replace half with sugar substitute.
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Step 5
Cut filling fat
Cut the butter in your filling -- which can normally go up to a half a cup -- to about two tablespoons. Use fat-free sweetened condensed milk in recipes that call for sweetened condensed milk and evaporated skimmed milk in recipes that call for evaporated milk. Try low-fat or light cream cheese in place of the full-fat variety.
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Make your own fruit pie filling to boost fiber and nutrients.
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Step 6
Top it off
Top your healthy pie off with low-fat vanilla ice cream or fat-free whipped topping and dig in.
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The American Pie Council named January 23 National Pie Day, dedicated to celebrating pie.
