Healthy Summer Dessert Recipes

You don't have to have pumpkin pie to still enjoy pumpkin and spice in a Thanksgiving dessert. Pumpkin helps keep this cake tender and moist while, delicate spices add the classic Thanksgiving flavors.

This is a healthier version of a traditional cobbler, with canola oil in place of some of the butter and whole-wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour. Unlike more classic biscuit-topped cobblers, the peaches and blueberries are nestled into a tender batter that swells around the fruit as it bakes. Other fruits may be substituted. It's especially beautiful when baked in and served right from a cast-iron skillet.

Carrots give carrot cake a health-halo effect--people think it's health food, but it's usually very high in fat and calories. But our version has about 40 percent less calories and 50 percent less fat than most. First, we use less oil in our batter. Then we skip the butter in the frosting (don't worry, it's still light and smooth). To ensure the cake is moist, we add nonfat buttermilk and crushed pineapple.

This oatmeal-meets-muffin-tin cake recipe is perfect for having a healthy breakfast available on busy weekdays. Make a batch on the weekend and keep them in your freezer. For a grab-and-go breakfast, reheat the oatmeal cakes in the microwave for about 40 seconds.

These easy cookies are a real snap to make--just stir and bake.

While pumpkin pie deserves respect as a Thanksgiving icon, it's fun to shake up tradition. Surprise your family and friends with a frozen pie this year--it just might become one of their holiday favorites. No need to let them know how easy it is.

With all that delicious fruit an apple pie should be healthy, but the truth is a slice can have as much as 750 calories and 30 grams of fat. For the most part, the culprit is the crust. We use whole-wheat pastry flour to add fiber and lower the saturated fat by replacing some of the butter with canola oil. The brown sugar-sweetened filling in this pie is made with two kinds of apples for the perfect balance. A slice has half the calories of a typical version and only 10 grams of fat--sweet!

Tart raspberry filling is swirled into a low-fat cream filling in these beautiful bars. They're a festive treat for a summer picnic or party.

A new take on a favorite veggie dessert–this recipe includes unsweetened cocoa, walnuts and whole wheat flour. The result: rich, chocolatey, and dairy-free zucchini bread.

For this tart a few tablespoons of maple syrup sweeten the blueberry topping and round out the flavor of the cream filling.

Sturdy apples are flavored with cinnamon and vanilla in this slow-cooker apple compote. Top with low-fat vanilla ice cream and a sprinkling of toasted walnuts for dessert.

Sweet caramelized pears are the highlight of this comforting, custardy, raisin-studded bread pudding. When turned out of its baking dish, the flanlike pudding sits in a pool of intense caramel syrup, making it worthy of any holiday table. Serve warm or chilled.

A little low fat dairy and some vitamin-rich fruit and you've just started your day right, nutritionally speaking.

This chocolate raspberry tofu pie gets an amazing smooth, rich, creamy texture from pureed tofu. But no need to reveal that tofu is the secret ingredient--we're sure no one will guess.

Shredded apple replaces some of the oil and keeps the cake moist in these cinnamon-spiked cupcakes. There is a generous amount of fluffy marshmallow frosting to mound or pipe on top for a festive look. Be sure to frost them right after you make the frosting--it stiffens as it stands and becomes more difficult to spread.

You can quickly make the crust for this tart in the food processor and then press it into the pan--no need to dig out a rolling pin and struggle to transfer a tender pastry dough from pin to pan. Extra crust dough doubles as a crumbly topping.

This healthy pound cake recipe isn't just delicious--it also only requires one bowl to make. For the best cake texture, be sure to beat the sugar and butter together long enough in Step 2 to look creamy--the time it takes to get there varies according to the type of electric mixer you have. Serve with brunch or alongside a cup of coffee in the afternoon.

We like to use chopped frozen peaches, but you can use frozen berries or whatever frozen fruit you have on hand in this ultra-quick frozen yogurt that is made without an ice cream maker.

These raspberry-lemon cupcakes are topped with an easy cream cheese frosting tinted pink with a little raspberry puree. For those unaccustomed to the mildly nutty flavor of whole-wheat flour (used in these cupcakes), the flavor of the raspberry puree swirled into the lemony cake makes the wheat flavor undetectable.

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.