Healthy Desserts don't exist! Or do they…

written by SKYE HOKLAS

Have you ever tried a healthy chocolate cake? No preservatives, no trans-fats, no sugar. Just one slice benefits your health in a myriad of ways. It is certainly not something you could buy at the local bakery alongside the custard tarts and donuts. The idea of a healthy dessert seems to be a bit of an oxymoron. What’s the point of indulging in a deliciously sinful piece of triple layer chocolate fudge cake if it’s actually good for you?

There is a new health trend making its way around the internet, where seemingly naughty desserts are transformed into something guilt-free. Cheesecakes, macaroons and cupcakes are all on the menu for this new wave of health conscious Aussies. It almost sounds too good to be true.

The butter, sugar and cream in recipes are replaced with healthy substitutions, and vitamin-rich ingredients are seamlessly snuck into the mix. Spinach in ice-cream, avocado in pudding and pumpkin in brownies are just some of the switches. It might make you cringe now but don’t knock it until you try it. Other more conventional ingredients such as whole-meal flour, natural peanut butter and apple sauce are also used.

The trend began in America and Australia have started following suit thanks to the encyclopedia of food and cooking sites online.

Chocolate-covered Katie is a blog dedicated to, you guessed it, healthy desserts. Katie’s recipe index includes everything from Cake-Batter Donuts to Chocolate-Raspberry Fudge Cake. Is your mouth watering yet? She started the blog in 2007 and regularly updates with new recipes after experiments in her kitchen.

“I love being creative, and there’s so much more creativity involved in healthy cooking,” she says.

“Anyone can make a delicious-tasting chocolate pie… just add a ton of fat and sugar, and you’re almost guaranteed to get something tasty. But a healthy chocolate pie that tastes just as delicious as its naughty counterpart? Why, then you have to get creative!”

Katie eats a healthy diet to ensure a long and fulfilling life but she doesn’t want to deny herself the foods she craves in order to be healthy.

“One can live to be 100 years old by taking proper care of one’s body, but if his or her life is spent ridden with guilt and worry (i.e. ignoring the mind and spirit facets of health by concentrating too much on the body part), can he or she really be considered ‘living’?” she says.

“This is not to say that a person should sit around consuming hot dogs and pints of ice cream all day, because that would be neglecting the body facet completely.”

“We should really listen to our bodies. If one is craving a salad, by all means HAVE THE SALAD! But if one’s body is saying, ‘Please don’t feed me another salad; I want a cookie,’ he or she shouldn’t still go with the salad solely because it’s ‘healthier’ than the cookie.”

Katie encourages her readers to substitute unhealthy treats for healthy ones because “you will FEEL better if you’re healthy.”

“You will have so much more energy, you’ll sleep better, and your future medical bills will most likely be much smaller. It’s not just about weight.”

So with those words of wisdom in mind go and indulge with one of Katie’s Genius Chocolate-Chip Blondies. But remember just because it is healthy still does not mean you should devour the whole batch in one sitting.

Enjoy.

Genius Blondies – from http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/

(makes 15-20 squares)

1 1/2 cups chickpeas (1 can, drained and rinsed) (250g)
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
heaping 1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
1-2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup ground flax (20g)
1/4 cup peanut butter
optional: 1/3 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blend all ingredients (except chips) until very smooth. Mix in chips, and scoop into a greased (or tinfoil-lined) 8×8 pan. Bake for 38-40 minutes. You want the blondies to look a little undercooked when you take them out, because they’ll firm up as they cool, and you don’t want them to get hard.

Check-out http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/ for more!