A feeling of guilt is often evoked when eating desserts. A dessert is often a calorie bomb that contains unnecessary sugars, bad carbohydrates and unhealthy fats. Sometimes the dessert contains more calories than the meal itself. Many desserts are not only unhealthy for the body, but they also make you fat. This doesn’t have to be the case anymore. Nowadays there are various ingredients available for making a dessert, without the bad sugars and carbohydrates. With these tips for healthy desserts, you will have a responsible dessert on the table in no time!
Almond flour vs. wheat flour
Most desserts, such as cakes and cupcakes, are made from flour. Flour has a glycemic index higher than sugar. You’ve probably heard about sugars that make you dull, sleepy and fat. Flower also does this with the body. The blood sugar level rises faster with flour than with sugar. This means that you will feel even more dull and sleepier when eating flour compared to sugar.
Almond flour is nothing more than ground almonds. Like almonds, it contains many healthy unsaturated fats and a lot of protein. It is high in vitamin E and low in carbohydrates. Flour contains nearly four times as many carbohydrates as there are in almond flour. These carbohydrates are basically starches and sugars. If you choose food that consists largely of carbohydrates, such as wheat flour, your blood sugar level rises very quickly and your pancreas makes a lot of insulin. The large amount of insulin causes the blood sugar to drop again, causing peaks and troughs. This will send you a signal to your brain: WANT TO EAT! Eating fats and proteins makes your body saturated faster, in contrast to eating carbohydrates. Carbohydrates make you feel more hungry, so that you start eating more quickly and therefore the chance is greater that you will snack more.
In addition, it is also the case that when your blood sugar level peaks high, the insulin ensures that a substance in your body is blocked. This fabric is called HSL. This is a hormone that causes fats to be burned. So in other words: when consuming (a lot of) carbohydrates, no fat will be burned, so you will not lose weight. So it is better to opt for the low-carbohydrate almond flour in a dessert than for the carbohydrate-rich flour.
A dessert of egg
With some eggs, herbs such as cinnamon, extracts of vanilla, some whipped cream and possibly some fruit, you have a healthy dessert on the table. Whipping eggs will make the dessert creamy in taste. These desserts to which eggs have to be added are often easy and quick to prepare. The countless E numbers and flavor enhancers are thereby avoided. Yet it is often thought that an egg would also be bad for you.
In the past it was often said to eat no more than 1 or 2 eggs per week because this would increase your cholesterol. It was long thought that it would be unhealthy to eat an egg every day. Eating cholesterol is said to lead to cardiovascular disease. In addition, it was also thought that the egg yolk is the ?? part of the egg was because it contains a lot of cholesterol and fat. However, nothing could be further from the truth, eggs contain many building materials such as valuable vitamins and minerals and high-quality proteins. In contrast, the yolk is the healthiest part of the egg! When you remove the yolk to eat just the egg whites, you’re throwing out the most nutritious. An egg yolk contains antioxidants, vitamins, amino acids and minerals. In addition, eggs help against hunger for a longer period of time and contain only 70 calories per egg! That is why it is a responsible choice to make a dessert with eggs as an ingredient.
Is chocolate healthy?
If there is chocolate as an ingredient in a dessert, go for dark chocolate. Dark chocolate (at least 70%) is healthy because of the cocoa beans. This bean is rich in antioxidants. Antioxidants protect the body against free radicals that age us faster and make us more susceptible to disease. In addition, antioxidants support fat burning and improve metabolism and digestion. Dark chocolate has been shown to lower bad (LDL) cholesterol by about 10%.
Dark chocolate also helps to keep your blood flowing better. This has a positive effect on your heart. Blood pressure is lowered and blood clots are prevented. Good circulation also has a positive effect on the ability to think. The risk of strokes also decreases. By eating dark chocolate, your blood sugar stabilizes. A small piece of dark chocolate can stop you from craving other foods and can prevent binge eating.
Apple crumble with peel
Unlike other apple crumble recipes where the skin is removed from the fruit, it is wiser to leave the skin on properly. This is because it contains most of the nutrients, it would be a shame to remove them. The peel contains healthy substances that help the immune system to combat diseases. In addition, an apple contains 10% of the recommended daily amount of dietary fiber. Fiber ensures a good metabolism. Since most people eat too little fiber, it is ideal to add apples to a dessert. This way you can optimally enjoy a delicious dessert and still get the necessary vitamins and fiber.
Make homemade apple crumble (serves 4)
Ingredients:
- 4 small Elstar apples
- Handful of raisins
- Tablespoon of cinnamon
- gram butter
- 80 grams of almond flour
- What about Stevia
What to do?
Remove the core from the apples with an apple corer and cut into small pieces (keep the skin). Put the almond flour and some Stevia in a bowl and mix it together. Cut the butter into small pieces and knead this through the almond flour with your hands. Keep kneading until you get a crumbly dough. Grease a springform pan or oven dish and add the pieces of apple and raisins. Sprinkle some cinnamon on top. Stir this together and add a pinch of cinnamon if desired. Sprinkle the kneaded dough over it and make sure that it becomes an even layer. You don’t have to press it. Bake the Apple crumble for about 20 minutes in an oven at 180 degrees. Garnish with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Cheesecake (8 persons)
One point of this cheesecake comes in terms of ingredients quite similar to a bowl of cottage cheese, chopped nuts and fruit. These ingredients generally fit well in a healthy diet.
Ingredients:
- 175 grams of almond flour
- 1 egg
- 30 grams of butter
- Optional: some Stevia
- 500 grams of (low-fat) cottage cheese
- 250 ml of whipped cream
- 5 gelatine sheets
- Frozen fruit for garnish
What to do?
Grease a springform pan with some butter or coconut oil. Mix the almond flour, egg, butter and possibly a few drops of Stevia well together. Knead this into a ball. Divide this evenly over a springform pan. Bake the pie crust for 15 minutes in an oven at 180 degrees. The bottom should appear crispy and a little brownish. Let this cool for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, soak the gelatin in a container with cold water for 5 minutes. Beat the cottage cheese and whipped cream together. Then heat 4 tablespoons of water in a saucepan. Remove the gelatine sheets from the bowl of water and squeeze the water out well over the sink. Put the gelatin leaves in the saucepan and make sure that it is whole. Pour this mixture into the whipped cottage cheese and cream and stir well. Pour this mixture onto the cake base in the spring form and let it stiffen in the fridge for at least 4 hours. The cheesecake can be eaten when the mixture has become firm. Cut into wedges and garnish with some fruit.
Vanilla pudding (serves 4)
Ingredients:
- 500 ml (skimmed) milk
- 50 grams cornstarch
- Stevia to taste
- 6 egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon vanilla flavor
- Frozen fruit for garnish
What to do
Beat all ingredients, except the fruit, well together. Pour this mixture into a saucepan and keep stirring. The mixture should not boil. Make sure to remove the mixture just before boiling point. Pour the mixture from the pan into a bowl and beat well to form a pudding. You can choose to eat the pudding warm or to put it covered in the fridge to let it stiffen.
Chocolate fondant (4 persons)
This is a healthy variation on the chocolate fondant. The outside has a kind of muffin flavor with delicious liquid chocolate inside.
Ingredients:
- 100 grams of butter
- Stevia equal to 100 grams of sugar
- 2 whole eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
- 80 grams of almond flour
- 100 grams of dark chocolate (70% cocoa or more)
What to do
Melt the chocolate and butter together o bain marie. You do this by putting the chocolate and butter in a small pan and putting it back in a larger pan with boiling hot water. When the chocolate has melted, remove the pan from the pan with water and let it cool for 10 minutes. Meanwhile beat the eggs, yolks and Stevia until fluffy. Add the chocolate and stir it a little longer. Sift the almond flour into the mixture in parts and stir. You get some sort of batter. Put some cocoa powder in 8 small or 4 large muffin cups and divide the batter over this. Put this for 5 to 10 minutes in an oven at 180 degrees. Keep a close eye. The muffin must rise and the top must be dry, then the dish is ready. If you cut the muffin open, it should be so that the inside is still runny. Delicious with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream.
Cinnamon cake (6 persons)
This cinnamon cake is not only delicious as a dessert, but is also very tasty to take with you to work or with a coffee.
Ingredients:
- 200 grams of almond flour
- Stevia (equal to 100 grams of sugar)
- 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
- 4 eggs
- 50 ml whipped cream
- 50 grams of butter
- Pinch of salt
- Few drops of lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda (baking soda)
- Strawberries
What to do
In a bowl, mix the almond flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt together. In another bowl, beat the eggs, butter, whipped cream and lemon juice. (The lemon juice should certainly not be missing, this ensures that the baking soda is activated and the cake will rise) Add both mixtures and whisk a whole. Pour the batter into a greased cake tin. Bake the cake at 180 degrees for 40 minutes. Prick a skewer in the cake to check if it is done. Are there no residues left on the skewer? Then the cake can be removed from the oven. Let cool for a while and then remove from the cake tin. Then let the cake cool further until it feels cold. Cut into slices, spread the cake with a dollop of whipped cream or some crème fraîche and garnish with strawberries.