Sort of healthier dessert versions

[LeafOnTheWind]

Salt is usually my demon but occasionally I do want something sweet as a treat. Usually I end up regretting these treats because they are too sickeningly sweet and I end up throwing them away. Tonight I'm attempting a black bean brownie recipe with agave substitute in place of honey. I'm trying to find less sickening sweet dessert recipes for that occasional treat.

Anyone have any other recipe ideas?

 

[chantilly]

Apple crumble with like half the sugar or a honey substitute is pretty good.
Or any fruit crumble.
Or maybe try apple slices grilled with Maple syrup.
Maple syrup the real stuff is much better for you then any processed sugar.

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

I'm not a fan of maple syrup. Would that work with the agave syrup too?

 

[chantilly]

Probably

 

[altai_rose]

Apple crisp with less sugar
Apple chips
Vanilla roasted pears
Peanut butter cookies - salty and slightly sweet (plus you can just freeze balls of cookie dough and take 1 or 2 out to bake whenever you have the craving)

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

Vanilla roasted pears sounds delicious.

 

[StitchMonkey]

using less sugar is an option in many recipes, they may be dryer though as sugar is a we ingredient.

You could look into cooking with stevia, which is a very potent sugar substitute. So potent that most people mix it with some kind of bulking agent to make it easier to work with. In your case, you could just mix it with more bulking agent.

Dark chocolate might be a good option for you as it is less sweet and often recipes with it veer to being less sweet.

Scones instead of cookies are a good idea. They are still sweet, but not candy sweet, just a hit of sweet. Toss some dark chocolate chips in them and you have a tasty sweet but not too sweet indulgence.

Salt can make things seem less sweet. So looking for recipes that involved that could be up your alley.

Also possibly try recipes that add heat to the sweet to balance it out. It might make it less sickly seeming to you.

 

[Spun Silver]

A summer treat: Peach slices in rose wine with just a tiny bit of sugar or sweetener added.

 

[Lanie]

I've considered trying this recipe for chocolate mousse made with avocado. It's got a lot of sugar, though, so maybe use some sugary substitute?

 

[Aceon6]

I bake and "fails" aren't an economic hardship for me, so I just experiment with reducing the sugar. You may need to add a just a bit more flour to get the batters to the correct thickness. Think about natural applesauce, banana, and other creamy fruit as options for sweetness. Fortunately, lots of people experiment and post their results, so Google is your friend. Jut search things like "starfruit as sweetener in baking."

You can do the same with the fats with yogurt as a swap for cream and the like. Just be careful as texture is normally tied to your fat choice.

 

[Jenny]

Good ideas here - I find anything with fruit is naturally sweet, so for example a bowl of strawberries with just 1/4 tsp sugar to get the juices flowing is very satisfying without being sickly sweet.

I also make apple pie with 1 tsp sugar in the crusts and 1 tsp in the apples - not the 3/4 cup some recipes call for! Then I add baharat seasoning (Chinese five spice would work too) for than cinnamony flavour but with a peppery kick. I've served this many, many times over the years and it always goes over huge, especially with my husband and male relatives I'm sure you could do something similar with an apple crumble.

We also use organic cane sugar. It's not great, but better than the overprocessed white stuff.

 

[clairecloutier]

I've been experimenting with recipes from Joanne Chang's Baking with Less Sugar cookbook. The results have been a mixed. The low-sugar chocolate desserts that I've tried are the best so far; her low-sugar non-chocolate desserts haven't been as good. Chang is quite aggressive about reducing sweeteners in this book; sometimes a little too much so, for my taste.

One of my favorite lower-sugar desserts is Yotam Ottolenghi's Fruit & Walnut Crumble Cream from his Jerusalem cookbook. You can make this recipe with different fruits. I always use plums (100%), and it is so good in the fall. (I actually made it a few days ago.) But here is an online version of the recipe with blueberries: http://kahakaikitchen.blogspot.com/2013/06/almondwalnut-blueberry-crumble-cream.html.

 

[TheGirlCanSkate]

For something sweet, nothing beats a crepe! Pair with berries and a sprinkle of sugar, or dark chocolate and/or fruit. Sauteed apples, caramelized bananas - sp many varieties, flavors and textures - add nuts, a little whipped cream. You can make and freeze plain crepes for another day.

I think shortbread is ideal as well - simple, plain, but one or two small cookies with tea are just fab at the end of a day.

 

[PDilemma]

Please don't make a cinnamon chiffon cake with zero sugar and no replacement for it and make everyone eat it on a holiday.

Of course, if your family treats you the way my in-laws treat their idiot daughter, even if you are 41 years old, they will ooh and ahh over how good your hard, bitter "cake" is as if you are a 4 year old and made it in your easy bake oven.

And, yes, this really happened. Easter, 2017.

 

[TheGirlCanSkate]

LOL - one year a coworker was really excited, she made Rice Krispie treats with diet butter spray. Everyone said it was amazing, so I took a big bite.

Butter spray turns cereal into pebbles. I had sticky gravel in my mouth.