3 Delicious Diabetes Friendly Desserts
Managing diabetes means eating a healthy diet low in trans-fats and sugars. Which means no more snacks and desserts, right? Wrong! Giving up the things that make desserts unhealthy doesn’t mean leaving your sweet tooth behind. In fact, with a few ingredient changes, you can make delicious and diabetes friendly desserts right now!
Simple substitutions, like using naturally low-trans-fat oils instead of butter or artificial sweetner or fruits instead of sugar can turn almost any traditional dessert recipe into a diabetes friendly dessert recipe with almost no other changes. Still, some recipes are inherently better for people with diabetes. So we’ve fired up the test oven in the Timesulin experimental kitchen and after hours of exhaustive testing, followed by a nap, have found our three favorite diabetes-friendly recipes.
Four-Spice Chocolate Cake
Found on Prevention.com
This recipe caught our attention right from the beginning because first, we love chocolate, and second, this is the kind of understated desert that’s just great to have around the house. It’s sweet and spicy without being over the top, and it’s very low in added sugar. Plus who doesn’t love oranges, honey, and chocolate in one cake?
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups unbleached flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground anise seeds
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
salt
2/3 cup honey
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup orange juice + 2 tablespoons orange juice
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Coat an 8″ x 4″ no-stick loaf pan with no-stick spray and set aside.
2. Into a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, anise seeds, curry powder and salt.
3. In a large saucepan, combine the honey, cocoa powder and orange juice. Stir over low heat until well-mixed. Set aside to cool.
4. Mix the eggs into the chocolate mixture. Gradually incorporate the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture and mix well.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Unmold the bread onto a wire rack and allow to cool.
Nutrition Information (estimated)
Per serving: 152 calories; 1.6 g fat ( 0.6 g sat , 0 g mono ); 27 mg cholesterol; 34 g carbohydrates; 3.8 g protein; 2.1 g fiber; 129 mg sodium.
Cookies’n’Cream Crunch
Found on Health.com
We like simple, and we like delicious, and this recipe has both in spades. Because it uses sugar-free everything, it’s incredibly diabetes-friendly. Because it’s made of ice cream, it’s incredibly refreshing, and the nuts and cookie crunch give it a great texture. This is going to be our go-to pick for summer snacking.
Ingridients
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1 (6 1/2-ounce) package sugar-free chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed
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1/3 cup chopped pecans
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3 tablespoons reduced-calorie margarine, melted
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1 quart vanilla no-sugar-added, fat-free ice cream, softened
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Directions
Combine first 3 ingredients; reserve 1 cup mixture. Press remaining crumb mixture firmly in bottom of a 9-inch square pan. Freeze 10 minutes.
Spread ice cream over crumb mixture in pan. Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture over ice cream; gently press mixture into ice cream. Cover and freeze at least 8 hours.
To serve, let stand at room temperature 5 minutes; cut into 9 squares.
Nutrition Information
Per serving: 232 calories; 10.1 g fat ( 1.7 g sat , 0 g mono ); 0 mg cholesterol; 34.2 g carbohydrates; 6.3 g protein; 2 g fiber; 128 mg sodium.
Plum & Apple Compote with Vanilla Custard
Found on Eatingwell.com
Another great recipe to file under “summer refreshment”. This plum and apple compote has tons of delicious, and healthy, fruit. It pulls it all together with a great homemade custard that’s as sweet as it is good for you. Who says people with diabetes can’t eat well?
Ingredients
COMPOTE
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12 prune plums, or 8 red or black plums, pitted and chopped
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1/3 cup apple cider
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1/4 cup sugar, or
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1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
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4 large apples, such as Mutsu (Crispin), Fuji or Gala
CUSTARD
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1 1/2 cups 1% milk, divided
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1/4 cup sugar, or
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1 tablespoon cornstarch
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Pinch of salt
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2 large eggs, lightly beaten
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1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
To prepare compote: Combine plums, cider, 1/4 cup sugar (or Splenda) and cinnamon in a medium saucepan; bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the plums are soft and falling apart, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Peel and grate apples. Stir the grated apples into the plums. Spoon the compote into a large bowl and chill in the refrigerator.
To prepare custard: Heat 1 cup milk in a saucepan over medium heat until steaming; do not boil. Mix 1/4 cup sugar (or Splenda), cornstarch and salt in a medium bowl. Add eggs and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the remaining 1/2 cup cold milk. Add the heated milk to the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to the saucepan. Cook over low heat, whisking constantly, until thickened, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in vanilla. Transfer the custard to a clean bowl and let cool slightly or refrigerate until chilled.
To serve, spoon custard into dessert dishes and top each with compote.
Nutrition Information
Per serving: 119 calories; 1 g fat ( 0 g sat , 0 g mono ); 37 mg cholesterol; 18 g carbohydrates; 3 g protein; 2 g fiber; 37 mg sodium; 210 mg potassium.