Sweet Dessert Recipes Without White Sugar

August 27, 2019
Delicious desserts are possible without using granulated sugar. Our healthy dessert recipes without white sugar are the perfect example! These alternates to white sugar shine in these healthy dessert recipes developed specifically with their unique flavor and texture in mind.Watch Video
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"Chocomole" Pudding

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Creamy avocados make this dairy-free and vegan chocolate dessert recipe super-rich. Serve as a not-so-sweet dessert or with strawberries for dipping.

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Sticky Toffee Pudding with Maple Sauce

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This is a healthier version of the gooey-rich sticky toffee pudding recipe served in the winter at Joanne Chang's Asian restaurant Myers+Chang in Boston. Lightly sweetened with maple syrup, the cake is chock-full of rich, naturally sweet dates. Adapted from Baking with Less Sugar by Joanne Chang (Chronicle Books, 2015).

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Brown Sugar Peach Shortcakes

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Brown sugar-sweetened shortcakes with fresh, ripe peaches and a lightly sweetened cream topping that's reminiscent of crème fraîche is the perfect ending to a summer meal.

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EatingWell Energy Bars

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Instead of buying pricy energy bars, fuel your fitness routine with this great-tasting homemade energy bar recipe. Whether you use these energy bars as a pre-workout snack or to refuel and recover post-workout, they'll give your body what it needs. Best of all, you can make this energy bar recipe in minutes.

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Maple-Cinnamon Applesauce

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Turn fresh fall apples into delicious maple-and-cinnamon-spiked homemade applesauce with this easy recipe.

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Pear Almond Crostata

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This flaky crostata recipe relies on fruit for its sweetness instead of a lot of added sugar, so be sure to use only ripe pears. If they're rock-hard, put them in a paper bag with an apple or banana on the kitchen counter for a few days.

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Honey- & Goat Cheese-Filled Fig Muffins

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Sweet figs and a filling of tangy goat cheese give a surprising twist to these hearty breakfast muffins. Make a batch of these on the weekend and enjoy them for breakfast all week long. If you're not a fan of goat cheese, try them with cream cheese instead.

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Nectarine & Strawberry Parfait

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The nectarines, strawberries and cream in this strawberry parfait recipe are laced with a sweet wine syrup. For a party, make the components ahead and assemble the strawberry parfaits when you're ready to serve.

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Bananas in Brown Sugar-Rum Sauce

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Bananas cooked in a delectable brown-sugar-rum sauce make for a quick yet impressive dessert.

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Blueberries with Lemon Cream

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Blending vanilla yogurt and reduced-fat cream cheese creates a topping that's as virtuous as it is delicious. Any fresh berry can be used in this recipe.

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Honey-Lavender Plum Gratin

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Infusing milk with lavender buds perfumes the honey-sweetened custard, creating an unusual, lovely backdrop for juicy plums. A quick pass under the broiler caramelizes the top. Note: Because the custard is stabilized with cornstarch, you can let it reach a gentle simmer.

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No-Bake Cookies

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Your kids will love helping you make these peanut butter-graham treats.

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Maple-Ginger Apple Pie

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In this healthy apple pie recipe, a touch of maple syrup spiked with lemon zest, cinnamon and ground ginger coats the apples while they bake. Serve this amazing homemade pie with lightly sweetened whipped cream or a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.

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Ginger Crinkle Cookies

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Cynthia Farr-Weinfeld, a hypnotherapist and writer, started improving the nutritional profile of a friend's mother's ginger cookie recipe by substituting whole-wheat pastry flour for all-purpose flour and canola oil for shortening. “Experiment with these cookies,” she advises, “as they taste great either slightly underdone or crispy.” She calls them “the quickest cookies you'll ever bake.”

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Riesling Baked Pears

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Here's an elegant yet simple twist on the autumn classic. Pears are oven-poached in Riesling wine, which is known for its floral accents and aromas and hints of honey and pear. Serve this dessert with lightly sweetened ricotta cheese. Delicious hot, room temperature or chilled.

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Date Bran Jingle Balls

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Trisha Kruse, an administrative assistant, created quick, easy, no-bake date-nut balls to fill that special niche in your holiday repertoire.

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Flourless Honey-Almond Cake

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Honey and almonds flavor this simple (and gluten-free) cake. It's lovely for afternoon tea or a spring holiday dessert. Be careful not to overbeat the egg whites--they should be white and very foamy, but not at all stiff or able to hold peaks. If you beat them too much, the cake may sink in the middle as it cools.

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Lavender-Poached Peaches & Blackberries

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Serve this colorful lavender-spiked blackberry-peach compote at a brunch or with small scoops of vanilla frozen yogurt for a glorious yet healthful dessert. If you can, choose freestone over cling peaches for this recipe: the pits will pull out more easily, which helps keep the peach halves intact. Recipe by Nancy Baggett for EatingWell.

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Maple Wild Blueberry Pie

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Pure maple syrup gives the fruit filling rich flavor in this healthy blueberry pie recipe. If you don't want to make a lattice top, simply lay the second crust on top and cut three slits into the dough to vent steam.

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