# ISO: Low fat and Low sugar dessert ideas - tried and tested



## kyles (Jan 7, 2005)

Hey it's me being a pain again. I would love to know what some of you make for dessert when you are observing a healthy eating plan. (PA Baker and Sierra Cook I am expecting great things of you!) I just know I am going to get tired of fruit and low fat yoghurt real soon.

Thanks in advance kind peoples!  :P


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## Audeo (Jan 8, 2005)

Kyles, you will NEVER be a pain!  I doubt that you even know how...!

Here are a few for you, all tried and true and downright good, straight from my hard drive to you!

First and foremost is Angel Food Cake.  It has zippo fat and is actually fairly low in sugar.  Grab a premix box of this stuff and make the batter.  Just before pouring into your tube pan to bake, fold in a can of well-drained crushed pineapple and bake as directed.  Geez, this stuff is good!  

Alternatively, bake the angel food cake as directed and cool completely and remove from the tube pan.  Remove the top inch of the cake using a serrated knife and set aside.  Hollow out the interior of the cake, leaving the sides at least half an inch thick.  Get a container of low-fat Cool-Whip (a non-dairy whipped topping here in the States – do you have something like that there?) and combine it with about a pint of sliced strawberries.  Fill the hollowed angel food cake with the strawberry mixture, replace the top of the cake and chill thoroughly (2 hours) before slicing and serving.  Oh boy, is this EVER good!

An absolute favorite around here you will probably get a kick out of considering your love (as is mine) of tea:

I frequently poach Bosc pears in Earl Gray tea.  And it is very simple to do.

You will need:

2 firm Bosc pears, peeled and halved lengthwise, then cored
2 cups of water
2 Earl Grey tea bags
½ cup of Splenda
8 dried apricot halves
4 whole cloves
¼ cup dried tart cherries

Bring the water to boil in a medium saucepan and add the tea bags.  Remove from heat, cover and allow to steep for ten minutes.  Discard the tea bags.  Add the Splenda to the tea and stir over medium heat until it is dissolved.  Add the pear halves, apricots and cloves.  Cover again and simmer until the pears are tender (about 5 minutes).  Add the dried cherries and simmer another minute or so to rehydrate them.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer a pear to each of four serving dishes, as well as the apricots and cherries (trying to evenly distribute them among the serving dishes).  Discard the cloves.

Now boil the tea/splenda juice over medium heat until it reduces to about ¾ cup of syrup.  This will take about 5-7 minutes.  Pour this syrup over the fruit. 

Chill the fruit until cold (about 3 hours) and serve.


I also often make an Apple-Ginger-Basil Granita, especially in the Summertime:

4 large Granny Smith (tart) apples, peeled, cored and sliced
The juice of 2 lemons
Zest of 1 lemon
1 2-inch piece of peeled, fresh ginger
½ cup of Splenda (or even sugar)
1 tablespoon of finely chopped, fresh ginger

Place half of the sliced apples at a time into a blender and puree, then strain through a fine sieve into a large bowl to collect the juice.  (You should have about 3 to 3-1/2 cups.  *You can also obviously substitute some good cider or sparkling cider here instead of juicing the apples!)

In a food processor (or cleaned and dried blender), combine the Splenda (or sugar) with the basil and process until the basil is finely ground and the sugar is a nice, light green.  Now add the fresh ginger and process until the ginger is ground.

Add the sugar mixture to the apple juice, along with lemon juice and zest and combine well until the sugar is dissolved.  Pour into a baking dish (I use a square one) and place into the freezer.  Every hour or so, take a dinner fork and stir, crushing any lumps, until the mixture is evenly frozen.  This takes about four hours.  Just before serving, take your fork and scrape the frozen mixture to create a grainy texture and spoon into serving dishes (glass compotes are pretty!).  Serve immediately with a n extra sprig of basil as a decoration, if you wish.

**You may use this very same recipe and method to make granitas using strawberries, raspberries or any fruit you can conceive and find available, and substitute other spices like cinnamon, etc. for the basil.

If you need a little more “tooth” in your desserts, try this one, another favored recipe:

Light Applesauce Carrot Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a Bundt pan with nonstick vegetable spray.

1 cup unsweetened applesauce 
3 eggs 
5 tablespoons corn oil 
2 teaspoons baking powder 
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
3/4 cup honey 
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
1/4 teaspoon allspice 
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 
2 1/3 cups whole wheat flour 
2 cups grated carrots

Combine flour, spices, salt, soda and baking powder in a large bowl and set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk eggs until light lemon color and add oil until completely incorporated.  Add applesauce and honey until blended.  Combine wet into dry ingredients in a large bowl until well blended.

Add grated carrots last and fold into the batter until evenly distributed. 

Pour the batter into the bundt pan and bake for approximately 35 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. 

Cool completely on a wire rack.  Frost with Lemon Cream Frosting and refrigerate until chilled (2-3 hours).

Lemon Cream Frosting 

8 ounces low-fat ricotta cheese 
1 tablespoon lemon juice 
1 1/2 tablespoons honey 
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch 
zest from one lemon
4 tablespoons chopped walnuts

Combine cheese, honey, cornstarch, lemon juice and lemon zest in a food processor and process until smooth. Pour this mixture into a saucepan and heat over low heat just until the mixture begins to boil. Stir constantly to prevent scorching. Chill the mixture completely before frosting the top of the cake. After frosting the cake, sprinkle the top with nuts.

My husband absolutely loves this one and so do the sons:

Low-Fat Chocolate Pudding

1 pkg. (10.5 ounces) extra-firm tofu
½ cup honey
¼ cup dutch processed cocoa
1 tsp. vanilla

Blend the tofu in a blender until creamy and smooth.

In a small bowl, heat the honey in a microwave until it is very hot, but not boiling.  Add the cocoa powder to the hot honey and combine until it is fully dissolved and blended well.  Add vanilla and combine well.

Add the honey/cocoa mix to the tofu and blend several seconds more until both are well combined and smooth.

Pour the mixture into serving cups (4) and chill completely before serving (2-3 hours).

Jazz it up by adding chocolate curls to the top of each cup.



My personal favorite, and that of my mother’s is…

Low-Fat Lemon Pudding

2/3 cup boiling water
1 pkg. of lemon gelatin (Jello here)
1 cup of low-fat cottage cheese
1 pkg. (8 oz) of fat-free cream cheese

Pour the lemon gelatin into a medium bowl and add the boiling water, stirring until the gelatin is completely dissolved.  Transfer this mixture into your blender.  Add the cottage cheese and cream cheese and blend on a medium speed until the mixture is creamy and smooth.

Pour the mix into serving dishes and refrigerate about 3 hours until it is set and firm.

You can also sprinkle some graham cracker crumbs on top…kinda reminiscent of a lemony cheesecake and delicious!


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## mudbug (Jan 8, 2005)

Wow, Audeo!  Looks like I need to buy a bundt pan soon.  These reicpes sound great.


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## buckytom (Jan 8, 2005)

audeo, you are sorely missed around here. please take that vacation already and come out and play.
thanks for the recipes. gonna try the early grey pears as soon as i can get to the store...


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## leigh (Jan 8, 2005)

Kyles, this is an invention I threw together one night after a long stretch of no desserts.  I've begun putting these oddments into my computer for my own future reference.  For whatever it's worth, here is my recipe for

NO-SUGAR CHOCOHOLIC PANCAKES
makes 4 cakes
@75 calories each

2 T water
¼ t salt
4 T whole wheat flour
2½ T Dutch process cocoa powder
3 T + 1½ t Splenda (approx – Jnote: get an exact measurement here)
½ t double action baking powder
¼ t cream of tartar
¼ t double strength cinnamon
2 t vanilla powder
4 T nonfat dry milk powder
1½  t canola oil
Butter-flavored nonstick cooking spray

Set a cast iron skillet or griddle over medium low heat.

In a coffee mug, place the water and salt; swirl to dissolve.

Add dry ingredients and stir gently with a mini-whisk, adding more  water to make a batter of the consistency you like – thin for flat, rollable crepe-like cakes or thick to very thick for cakelike cakes.  Spray batter with butter flavored spray: hold spray can almost on top of batter and spray for 5 seconds; add oil and stir well.

Spray skillet with butter-flavored spray and pour or drop ¼ of batter onto surface.  Turn when cake is bubbly and beginning to dry on edges – takes less than a minute for thin batter.  Cook on 2nd side about half as long as 1st side.  Repeat until batter is used up, placing cakes on a folded paper towel with another folded paper towel between each 2 cakes.  

Eat hot right off the skillet, or cool and turn into a chocolate torte, using your choice of fillings: raspberry sherbet?  Orange sorbet?  Banana pudding?  Or roll hot, unroll, fill, reroll, chill and slice.

JNOTE:  This is the best hunger stopper/chocolate crave satisfier I’ve found yet – and it’s almost instant.


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## kyles (Jan 9, 2005)

Thank you so much Audeo and Leigh for your suggestions!!! I am off to the supermarket for more supplies today! I have never seen Angel Food Cake here, you used to be able to buy the Betty Crocker mix in Australia. I shall have a look at our two specialty stores that stock a small amount of American products, and beg if necessary!!!


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## wasabi (Jan 9, 2005)

*Thank you, thank you. I love lemon and that lemon pudding is so easy to make and sounds delicious.  *


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## Audeo (Jan 9, 2005)

Nice one, leigh!  Sounds really good!

You're welcome, Kyles, and hope this removes some of the doldrums with the lack of desserts in your household for a while!

If you can't find the premix stuff, you can always separate about a dozen eggs and make one yourself!  (Great practice for the folding technique!)  But angel food cake is one of a very few things I actually prefer to start from a box!

LOL, Bucky!  Not for a while yet!


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## PA Baker (Jan 10, 2005)

Kyles, I'm so sorry I missed this post up until now!  I have a ton of angel food cake recipies at home--it's a favorite of mine.  I'll be sure to post them in the next day or two.


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## wasabi (Jan 10, 2005)

*Audeo....Made the lemon pudding...LOVE IT! Gona try the choc pudding next. Mahalo.*


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## norgeskog (Jan 10, 2005)

You are on the other side of the pond, kyles, so you may not have access to this, but my best friend is a long time attendee of weight watchers and they use koolwhip (fake whipping cream) and mix with a package of diet hot cocoa mix and make a mousse.   I have had it and it is not bad.


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## PA Baker (Jan 10, 2005)

My DH has been on South Beach on and off for about the last year with really good results.  This is one of the recipies they suggest for Phase One (the strictest phase).  DH didn't like it the way the book calls for it so I doctored it up a bit and came up with some variations.  He said it reminds him of cheesecake without crust.

Base:
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp sugar-free substitute (splenda, equal)

Mix-Ins (any combination of the following):
1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp coconut extract
1/2 tsp orange extract
1/2 tsp mint extract
1 tsp Torani sugar-free flavored syrups (hubby liked raspberry, combined with the cocoa powder)
Other flavor combos--orange, chocolate-orange, chocolate, chocolate-mint, chocolate-coconut, vanilla.

Mix together all of the ingredients with an electric mixer or immersion blender (I used the immersion blender).  Mix for a good couple of minutes to make it as creamy and fluffy as possible.

Divide into two dessert glasses (I use martini glasses) and top each with 1 Tbsp low-fat Cool-whip and 5 mini chocolate chips (optional).  

Serves 2
(I'd make one for him to have then and cover the other--without the cool-whip and chips--with saran and save for the next night.  It saved on work for me that way!)


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