Healthy Dessert Recipes

If you're anything like me...I have, no NEED to have something sweet after dinner. Without breaking my healthy eating habits, I usually try to come up or make something healthy for my dessert. I know that sounds cliche...healthy dessert? Come on how can you have healthy and dessert in the same sentence?? Well you can, really the idea is to not make something with tons of sugar, fat & calories. Now every once in awhile its ok to have dessert that is 'unhealthy' just make sure you eat in moderation...which is good, that means if you get a piece of chocolate cake at the restaurant then you can eat a portion now and have leftovers!! I have listed a couple of health friendly dessert recipes, so if the sweet tooth strikes, its better to make these desserts than head to the store to pick up a box of cookies.

Indoor S'Mores 

Ingredients
2 Graham crackers broken in half
4 marshmallows
Dark or milk chocolate melted

Preparation

1.Position oven rack in the upper third of the oven; preheat broiler.

 2. Place graham cracker halves on a baking sheet; top each with 1 marshmallow. Broil, with the oven door ajar and watching carefully, until the marshmallows are golden brown, 45 to 75 seconds. Remove from the oven and drizzle each S’more with a little melted chocolate.

Mango Fro-Yo Pops

Ingredients                               
1 ripe mango (not the skin)

1 cup vanilla yogurt
1/2 lime juiced and a few zestings from the skin
2 tablespoons (more or less) sugar
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla

Preparation

1. Whirl all the ingredients in a blender until smooth.
2. Taste the mixture for sweetness: it should taste sweeter than you want the finished popsicle to taste, since freezing will dull the sweetness a bit. Add more sugar if it needs it, or a bit more lime juice or zest if the flavors aren't smacking you in the head with their vibrant excellence.
3. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze for 4 hours.
4. When ready to eat, run the molds briefly under hot water to dislodge the frozen pops before you try taking them out.

Baked Apples
(Tastes like apple crisp but better!)

Ingredients              

• 4 medium apples
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
• 3 tablespoons softened butter
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• juice from ½ a lemon
• 1/2 cup apple juice

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash, peel the apples halfway, and remove the cores, taking care not to pierce through the bottom of the apple. Make a nice wide core, so there is plenty of room for the filling.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together the brown sugar, oats, butter, walnuts, spices and lemon juice until crumbly. Divide mixture equally between the apples, mounding it a bit.

3. Place apples in an 8 x 8 inch baking pan and pour the apple juice all around the bottom.

4. Bake for 45 minutes, or until tender. Serve warm with gently whipped cream spooned over the top.

 

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies                 

 

Ingredients

	1/2 cup all-purpose flour
	1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour 2 cups oatmeal (not quick cooking)
	1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
	1/2 teaspoon baking soda
	1/2 teaspoon salt
	1/2 cup tahini (see Ingredient note)
	4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter , cut into pieces
	2/3 cup granulated sugar or 1/3 cup Splenda Sugar Blend for Baking
	2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
	1 large egg
	1 large egg white
	1 tablespoon vanilla extract
	1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
	1/2 cup chopped walnuts(optional) Preparation Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk oats, all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Beat tahini and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until blended into a paste. Add granulated sugar (or Splenda) and brown sugar; continue beating until well combined-the mixture will still be a little grainy. Beat in egg, then egg white, then vanilla. Stir in the oat mixture with a wooden spoon until just moistened. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts. With damp hands, roll 1 tablespoon of the batter into a ball, place it on a prepared baking sheet and flatten it until squat, but don't let the sides crack. Continue with the remaining batter, spacing the flattened balls 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies until golden brown, about 16 minutes, switching the pans back to front and top to bottom halfway through. Cool on the pans for 2 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Let the pans cool for a few minutes before baking another batch