Let's be honest: it wouldn't be a holiday party without holiday desserts. Many holiday traditional desserts such as pies, cheesecake, and cookies are loaded with fat and sugar. There are ways to modify these recipes and save a couple hundred calories. Plain cheesecake can range from 800-1000 calories per slice! Cookies can easily be 400 calories per cookie!
You can make your holidays a little healthier this year and still enjoy dessert. Here are some tips that may help:
- Offer dessert trays with bite-size samples. For example, think about portions that are two to four bites – just enough to taste and enjoy. Use cupcake papers to hold bite-sized portions (small-sized cookies and even cake or pie can be cut into petite portions) and use mini cupcake pans to make bite-sized cupcakes, cakes, brownies and cheesecake.
- Use applesauce in cake and pie recipes as a healthier alternative to butter, margarine, or oil.
- Save the fat by using cocoa powder instead of chocolate. Substitute three tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder for each ounce of unsweetened chocolate in baked goods such as cakes or cookies.
- Replace heavy cream in puddings, cheesecakes, and cream pies with evaporated skim milk.
- Use nonfat yogurt as a substitute for sour cream.
- Substitute the frosting in a recipe by topping cakes with fresh fruit, fruit sauce, or a sprinkle of confectioner’s sugar.
- Reduce the amount of chocolate chips or nuts in a recipe by one-fourth. You can try putting these tips into action with a lower calorie pumpkin pie recipe – see recipe and labels below. A piece of pumpkin pie traditionally has 340 calories, but you can save over 100 calories with this lighter recipe.
Lighter Pumpkin Pie
| Ingredients: |
Directions: |
1 (9 inch) unbaked deep-dish pie shell
½ cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp salt
2 egg whites
1 (15 ounce) can 100% pure pumpkin
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated fat-free milk |
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Combine sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, ginger, and salt in small bowl.
3. Beat egg whites lightly in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar mixture.
4. Gradually stir in evaporated milk and then pour into pie shell.
5. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake for additional 30-40 minutes or until knife inserted near center come out clean.
6. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. Do not freeze. |
** If Lighter Pumpkin Pie is made without the shell, each slice has 110 calories, 0 g fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 23 g carbohydrate and 5 grams protein.
Rebecca
