Fall can be packed with comfort foods and heavy desserts packed with empty calories. Here are the top 5 all-time favorite fall desserts with a simpler, easier and healthier twist!
Simply click on the dessert for the full recipe!
Apple Pie
Apple pies are traditionally full of butter and tons of sugar but the heart and soul of the dessert is with the apples and we should choose complementing ingredients that help them stand out. This dessert offers vegan, sugar free, fat free and gluten free options – just check the recipe for those suggestions!
Pumpkin Pie
Traditional pumpkin pie is usually packed full of sugar and requires flour and more sugar to make the pie crust. However, you don’t need all of that to make a delicious pumpkin pie! The substitutions are so easy – replace flour with ground nuts, sugar with honey, egg with flax-egg and whipped cream with coconut milk. This is super easy to make and it packed full of great nutrients you won’t have to feel guilty!
Pecan Pie
The corn syrup used in traditional pecan pies adds an unnecessary amount of sweetness. The workaround? Sugar Free Sweetened Condensed Milk. And the best part – even if your pie gets a little burnt, the condensed milk takes on a caramel flavor adding so much more to the dish. Enough said – go give it a try!
Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Sounds delicious but heavy, right? To lighten it up, use these alternate ingredient tips:
- Unsweetened applesauce to replace or reduce the butter or oil
- Dairy free cream cheese for the frosting
- Coconut sugar as a sugar replacement (1 to 1 replacement ratio)
- Whole Wheat (3/4 to 1 replacement ratio) flour or gluten free flour
Apple Cider Donuts
Who doesn’t LOVE an apple cider donut? Simple tip to cut down the empty calories – bake them! Don’t fry them! And where possible, replace coconut based ingredients for traditional (coconut oil, coconut butter, coconut sugar).
