- May 4, 2020
- 4 min read

Healthy Sweetness: a Dessert Directory

In the last month of quarantine, I have upped my game in terms of trying out new dinner dishes, and making extravagantly time-consuming salads at lunchtime. While eating almost entirely homemade dishes and going out less frequently, I've noticed I'm not having as many sweets. I'm no longer in workplace situations where cookies lay invitingly on the break room table, and less often in line at the grocery store where I might toss a package of peanut butter cups on the conveyor belt at the last moment. Miraculously, my normally-powerful sweet tooth has quieted down for once.

That's all well and good, but with the prospect of another month or more of lockdown, I thought it would be apt to sprinkle some healthy treats into the cooking-from-home recipe rotation. So, here I've compiled an impractically long list of desserts I'd like to make. Whether you are hoping to add sweetness to your life or satisfy cravings with healthier substitutes, there will be something in this post for you. I've got:

- cookies,

- breads, cakes, and crisps,

- brownies, blondies, & fruit bars,

- muffins & scones,

- puddings & ice creams,

in that order, so scroll down and you will find what you need.

What makes a dessert "healthier"?

To answer this question, let's take a look at why it's not recommended to eat cake for every meal: simply put, [[sugars+certain oils] - [fiber+vitamins+minerals]] = Inflammation. I'm planning a whole series on inflammation and how it affects the body as a whole, but meanwhile the bottom line is: inflammation makes your body work harder to keep itself healthy, and over time, working to a counter-productive degree.

Now that question's been answered, we can answer the first one: a dessert can be healthier (aka - easier for your body to process) when it incorporates fiber, vitamins, and minerals; tones down the sugar, and uses the right oils. I collected recipes which are higher in the nutrients that protect the systems by which sugar is broken down and stored in the body, namely Zinc, Omega-3 fatty acids, flavonoids, and vitamin C.

I also chose to collect only gluten-free recipes, partially for the potential health benefits (to be discussed in future posts and videos!) but also because I enjoy the variety in flavors and textures, and the added cooking challenge. That being said, don't let the ingredient list stop you if you can't make it to the store in time. Use whichever flour you have on hand and like best.

Here are a couple of links for the alternative-flour-curious:

- about the nutritional differences between various flours

- and the culinary uses for various flours

Alright, now that you're equipped with some more nutrition knowledge, go forth and treat your physical and mental self.