How to Make Desserts Healthy and Sugar-Free
"Sugar-free" doesn't have to mean a dessert is not sweet. Try alternatives that are rich and satisfying without compromising your healthy lifestyle.
Up next in Delicious Desserts (34 videos)
Learn how to make delicious desserts, like brownies, cobbler, pudding, and sorbet, with the easy step by step recipes in this Howcast video series.
You Will Need
- Heat-stable sugar substitutes
- Sugar-free syrups
- Avocado, nuts, Chia seeds
- Raw cacao, coconut milk, chocolate
- Applesauce or pureed fruit
- Cinnamon
- Sugar-free sweetener
- Apple and lemon juices
- Reduced-fat cream cheese
- Fresh fruit
- Pecans
- Nutmeg
- Ginger
- Dried, unsweetened fruit (optional)
- Low-fat ricotta cheese (optional)
- Plain Greek yogurt (optional)
Steps
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Step 1
Experiment with substitutes
Experiment with baking breads and cakes using heat-stable sugar substitutes for baking healthy desserts. Use sugar-free syrups and low-calorie replacements in banana bread and muffins.
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Step 2
Blend smoothies
Blend chocolate smoothies or shakes without sugar, using avocado, nuts, and Chia seeds as thickening agents. Flavor it all with raw cacao, coconut milk, and chocolate.
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Use dried, unsweetened fruit, such as raisins or diced dates, to add natural sweetness to everything.
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Step 3
Replace the oil
Replace half the oil in muffin or cake recipes with applesauce or pureed fruit to make them moist without using sugar.
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Step 4
Use cinnamon, sweetener, and apple juice
Surprise the family with an apple pie sweetened with cinnamon, sugar-free sweetener, and apple juice. Use the same sweeteners for cranberry streusel pie, or an apple pizza over reduced-fat cream cheese.
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Step 5
Go natural
Go natural and put together frozen fruit cups with fresh fruit, lemon juice, and sugar-free sweetener. Add pecans, which are low in oxidants and high in vitamin E, for a healthy balance.
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Be creative and substitute low-fat ricotta cheese for whole-milk or plain Greek yogurt for sour cream in your recipes.
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Step 6
Bake anything
Bake a cheesecake, pineapple upside-down cake, banana cream pie, or rice pudding with measures of nutmeg, cinnamon, real fruit, and ginger, and use sugar free sweetener.
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Sara Lee started in 1939 when Nathan Cummings bought the C.D. Kenny company, a wholesaler of sugar, coffee, and tea.
