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Save Room For Dessert!

© Tonja Brossette

I know what you're thinking...Dessert? On a low-fat eating plan? Who says that a healthy and low-fat lifestyle means desserts are reserved for ultra-special occasions only? True, many of our favorites are laden with evils such as heavy creams, egg yolks, butter and the universally-loved chocolate, but what many people don't know is that many of these classics can be made with substitute ingredients that cut down on the fat and calories of what used be considered the after dinner culinary sin.

Take cheesecake, for example. As you probably know, cheesecake is typically made with mass quantities of cream cheese, which is high in saturated fat and calories, but what you might not know is that most cheesecake recipes can be made in a healthier fashion by substituting the cream cheese for a good quality low-fat Ricotta cheese. Ricotta has the same dense, creamy texture and flavor as regular cream cheese when prepared in the form of cheesecake, but spares us the extra fat grams and calories that its higher-fat counterpart bestows.

Keep in mind that most cake recipes that contain oil can be made tastefully by substituting the oil for the same amount of applesauce or other pureed fruit or plain or flavored non-fat yogurt. On the same level, most recipes that call for whole eggs can be healthfully altered by substituting two egg whites for each whole egg (who needs yolks anyway?). Unfortunately, these little tricks don't work with other baked goods such as cookies, but they're great fat-savers for cakes.

Following is a small collection of dessert recipes that will considerably ease the guilt of indulging after dinner.

This moist cake recipe uses vanilla yogurt and Butter Buds (a powdered butter substitute that can be found in any grocery store spice aisle) in place of the traditional high-fat ingredients.

Chocolate Mud Cake
1 cup sugar
2 cups of flour
4 tspns. of baking powder
4 tblspns. of cocoa powder
4 tblspns. of Butter Buds
½ tspn. cinnamon
4 tblspns. of vanilla nonfat yogurt
1 cup of skim milk
2 tspns. of vanilla extract
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
½ cup cocoa powder
2 cups cold strong coffee

Combine 1 cup of white sugar, flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, butter buds and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Add yogurt to the mixture. Add milk and vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Pour batter into a nonstick 9 x 11 pan. In a small mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, 1 cup of white sugar, cocoa and coffee. Mix well. Pour the mixture evenly over the batter. Bake at 250 for 25 - 30 minutes until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool to room temperature before cutting and serve with frozen yogurt if desired.

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