7 Substitute Ingredients to Make Your Dessert Healthier

You can enjoy a sweet, rewarding dessert after dinner without consuming too many calories, fat, or sugar. If you like a daily dessert, it might be good to look for some ingredient switches to make it convenient to eat regularly. Desserts contain ingredients like chocolate, flour, heavy cream, eggs, fruit extracts, and sugar, so indulging in the sweetest course of a meal may not be healthy. Use some of these ingredients to substitute for a healthier dessert.

Wheat flour or nut flour instead of usual flour

Use wheat or almond flour as the additional fiber in wheat and nut flour aids digestion. If you use nut flour, you will consume more protein. This substitution is most effective in cakes, cookies, and some sweetbreads.

Coconut cream instead of heavy cream

For people who are vegans, lactose intolerant, or looking for a more tropical flavor, this is an easy substitute for whipped dairy toppings and fillings. Just chill a can of regular coconut milk and scoop off the heavy coconut cream that solidifies on top. Whip it for a few minutes with an electric mixer, just like you do with heavy dairy cream.

Substitute sugar with natural sugars like maple syrup, jaggery

Aside from flavor, sugar gives dessert tenderness. However, intaking more sugar than your body can control may raise your insulin levels and affect your health. Natural sugars, on the other hand, such as jaggery, honey, maple syrup, and agave, are less likely to increase blood sugar and are more efficiently metabolized in the body.

Flax seeds in place of eggs

Eggs aid in the binding of the ingredients. Even though eggs are considered healthy, most recipes call for four to five eggs, and some only use the yolks, which are high in cholesterol. Instead, opt for flax seeds, which are high in protein, antioxidants, and fiber. Allow 1 tbsp flaxseed to sit in 3 tbsp water for 15 minutes, or until it has the consistency of an egg. Use in place of 1 whole egg for added nutrition.

Dates instead of refined sugar

Using fruit as a sugar substitute can increase the recipe’s micronutrient content. Soak some dried dates in water before turning them into a caramel-like puree. The fruit is quite sugary naturally, but you’ll also get more nutrients like potassium and more fiber.

Instead of milk or white chocolate, use dark chocolate

The percentage denotes the amount of cacao in the chocolate. Chocolate can be beneficial due to the calcium, magnesium, and iron nutrients found in cacao. The lower the percentage of chocolate, the more sugar there is. Dark chocolate also overpowers white chocolate in terms of antioxidant perks. Also, white chocolate does not contain any cocoa solids, whereas dark chocolate does. You can use cacao nibs instead of chocolate chips for an even lower sugar option.

Avocado puree in place of butter

It is an easy baking substitute, as you can use the same measure of avocado as butter. This substitution lowers overall fat content while increasing fiber and nutrient content, providing folate, potassium, vitamin E, vitamin K, etc. Furthermore, substituting avocado for butter replaces less healthy saturated fat with anti-inflammatory monounsaturated fat.