A guide to low fat dessert recipes

When trying to keep to a healthy balanced diet, deciding what to serve for dessert can be a big problem. Too many desserts can include high levels of fat and sugar which can undo all your good work. Cooking desserts that fit in with a low-fat diet need not be a problem. Read more about healthy dessert ideas in this article.

Creamy desserts

Cheesecakes can also be light desserts and are not difficult to prepare. Substituting full-fat cream cheese for the low-fat version makes a huge difference in the nutritional content of the recipe and turns what is otherwise a fairly naughty choice into a low fat dessert. A slice of cheesecake with a generous portion of fruit on the side makes a balanced dessert. Also, consider making rice pudding with semi-skimmed milk and panna cotta with buttermilk rather than double cream. These substitutions do not affect the flavour of the dessert but really lowers the fat content.

Home baking

There is no better way to enjoy healthy baking than by doing it yourself and it is also better value than buying items ready-made. There are plenty of recipes for healthy cakes and cookies which all make fantastic and satisfying dessert ideas. Orange, honey and almond cakes are made with no butter and ground almonds instead of flour and carrot. Banana cakes can be prepared by using vegetable oil instead of butter.

Chocolate

Dark chocolate in particular is high in antioxidants and perfectly fine to eat in moderation as part of a balanced diet. The best option is chocolate which includes 70% cocoa solids (or higher). When considering chocolate in a dessert, try and choose something which doesn't have a lot of sugar in it. Any recipe including dark chocolate is generally designed to be fairly bitter and therefore won't have a lot of sugar in. Brownies can be made with low-fat yoghurt and vegetable oil to keep fat content low.

Fruit

There are so many types of fruits that can be made into literally hundreds of versatile and delicious desserts. It can be as simple as a piece of fruit after dinner or a selection of fruits blitzed into a smoothie. Some of the best desserts based around fruit include pears poached in sweet wine, raspberry granita with no fat at all and mixed fruit salad. Source Woman & Home - Womanandhome.com