Healthy Dessert Recipes
Ahh ... dessert! What’s not to love about dessert? Well, the calories can be a bit of a problem, not to mention the often copious amounts of fat, butter, sugar and cream that combine to make these delicious treats so memorable and addictive.
But dessert can be seen as reasonable healthy eating if you go easy on these fattening ingredients and try to think of it as a once a week treat rather than a nightly necessity!
Here are some pretty healthy dessert recipes* we think you’ll love. If you are on a weight loss plan, make sure you keep these for your one “free day” each week when you can indulge a bit.
Raspberry-ricotta tartlets with grilled pineapple and lime
Ingredients
- 4 wheat tortillas
- 2 tbsp macadamia oil
- ¼ pineapple
- 2 limes
- 500g ricotta cheese
- 100g icing sugar
- ½ cup caster sugar
- 2 punnets raspberries
Method
- Cut 15cm discs out of the tortillas and brush with macadamia oil on both sides.
- Press the tortilla circles into four coffee cups and place in the oven.
- Cut the skin off the pineapple and remove the core, then slice finely.
- Arrange the pineapple in four 15cm discs on a baking tray.
- Peel the limes and cut out the segments.
- Put the ricotta and icing sugar in the large mixing bowl and whisk until smooth.
- Sprinkle the pineapple discs with half the caster sugar then caramelise with a blow torch until dark brown. Remove the tortillas from the oven.
- Sprinkle the remaining sugar on the pineapple and caramelise again. Place a pineapple disc on each of four plates. Garnish with lime segments.
- Place a tortilla shell on each disc of pineapple and fill with the ricotta mixture.
- Arrange the raspberries on the ricotta.
Melon salad with coconut sauce and mango sorbet
Ingredients
- ½ cup caster sugar
- 150g rockmelon
- 150g honeydew melon
- 150g watermelon
- 1 cup pineapple juice
- 4 kaffir lime leaves
- 1 stick lemongrass 400ml coconut cream
- ¼ coconut
- ½ madeira cake
- 1 cup mango sorbet
Method
- Pour the caster sugar into a 3L saucepan and set over a high heat. Scrape the seeds out of the melons.
- Stir the sugar. Scoop the rockmelon using a melon baller and place in a large mixing bowl.
- Stir the sugar. Scoop the honeydew melon using a melon baller and add to the rockmelon.
- Stir the sugar. Scoop the watermelon using a melon baller and combine with the melons in a large mixing bowl.
- Pour the pineapple juice into the sugar. Roughly slice the lime leaves and lemongrass and add the juice.
- Pour the coconut cream into the saucepan.
- Prise the hard shell off the coconut, then shave strips of coconut flesh using a vegetable peeler. Combine the shaved coconut with the melons.
- Cut four discs of madeira cake and arrange these in the centre of four plates.
- Spoon the melon salad around the cake.
- Drizzle the coconut sauce through a fine sieve onto the fruits. Put a scoop of mango sorbet on top of each piece of cake.
Roman strawberries in balsamic, pepper and mint with heavy cream and orange sugar
Ingredients
- 2 punnets strawberries
- ¼ cup pure icing sugar
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- ½ bunch mint
- 2 oranges
- ¼ cup caster sugar
- 300ml double cream
- 1 tbsp good quality balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp amaretto liqueur
Method
- Cut the hulls off the strawberries.
- Place the strawberries in a large mixing bowl and sprinkle with icing sugar and black pepper.
- Pick the mint leaves and slice very finely.
- Toss the mint through the strawberries.
- Zest the organges into a mortar.
- Add the sugar to the mortar and pound until a smooth orange sugar forms.
- Put half the orange sugar and the double cream in the second large mixing bowl.
- Whisk the double cram to form still peaks. Sprinkle the strawberries with balsamic vinegar and amaretto liqueur and stir well.
- Spread the strawberries and their sauce on four plates.
- Put a large spoon of whipped cream in the centre and sprinkle with the remaining orange sugar.
These healthy dessert recipes have been taken from Ed Halmagyi’s recipe book, “Fast Ed’s Dinner in 10”.
