Review: Sensible sweets you can eat for a treat
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 6, 2014
For those of us who watch our food intake, this book is a real treat in every sense of the word. You get cakes, desserts and other sweets measured out by calories, tending to the low fat and healthy side. So if you want to indulge, you can treat yourself in a responsible way. I like tiramisu, and there is a good recipe in here. However, my fave dessert in the book is trifle. 150 calories a serving? I can deal with that. My previous "diet" variant used sugar-free Jello, but I try to avoid artificial sweeteners. This version has fresh fruit and orange juice replacing the sherry and brandy you use to dip the cookies. If you want that traditional flavor, however, you can adapt the recipe.  And the other idea--don't make that trifle in the trifle bowl (yes, it is pretty when set on the table, but the trifle in individual parfait glasses means you can control your serving size and not take "just one more dip" into the dangerous creamy depths.)A lot of recipes use Greek yogurt, which is a trick I thought I "invented." (Guess not!) It works to assist pudding thickening as it's naturally thick and naturally high in protein. I myself make a quick dessert by blending Greek yogurt with some non-fat whipped topping and spoon it onto bananas for a "banana pudding." The Tiramisu is made in a similar way--Greek yogurt supplements vanilla pudding powder (you use some) and some cream for the layered, coffee-flavored treat, reducing some of the fat in that way. It's not quite 150 calories--not something you can eat every  meal or even every day, but for a special meal, yes, you can have a light dessert and not go off the rails.There are also tricks for reducing fat in cupcake treats such as using a meringue icing rather than a buttercream. If you know you are going to have a celebration at home and you want to make something that won't set your health goals back, there are plenty of good recipes in here to please the palate.