Healthy Picnic Dessert Recipes

Find healthy, delicious picnic dessert recipes, from the food and nutrition experts at EatingWell.

Staff Picks

Blueberry-Lemon Ricotta Pound Cake

Rating: 4.39 stars
30
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.
By Stacy Fraser

Fresh Fruit Salad

Rating: 5 stars
2
This refreshing fruit salad is a classic combination that will be the favorite at any potluck or cookout. Serve with a creamy yogurt dressing to take this side (or dessert) to the next level.
By Carolyn Casner

Bev's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Rating: 4.65 stars
61
EatingWell reader Beverley Sharpe of Santa Barbara, California, contributed this healthy chocolate chip cookie recipe. She gave chocolate chip cookies a healthy update by cutting back on sugar and incorporating whole grains. To increase protein, Sharpe replaces the rolled oats with 1 cup almond meal.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Lemon Squares

Rating: 2.5 stars
2
Lemon squares are so delicious, but classic lemon square recipes tip the scales with their calories and saturated fat. Our healthy lemon squares recipe shaves almost 200 calories and more than 5 grams of saturated fat per lemon square. For a variation, use lime juice in place of the lemon juice.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Mini Angel Food Strawberry Shortcakes

Rating: 4 stars
1
These adorable strawberry shortcakes are made with mini angel food cakes. These single-serve desserts are perfect for a picnic or party on a warm summer day.
By Carolyn Casner

Chocolate Zucchini Brownies

Rating: 4.25 stars
3
The batter for this healthy one-bowl brownie recipe is stirred together right in the saucepan used to melt the butter and chocolate--no mixing bowl needed and less cleanup for you. Using shredded zucchini in this healthy dessert recipe creates a tender, moist brownie with about half the amount of butter and sugar found in a classic recipe--and it's virtually undetectable in the baked brownies.
By Stacy Fraser

Mini Blueberry-Lemon Cheesecakes

This muffin-tin mini cheesecake recipe is an adorable, healthy dessert that's the perfect cute size. If making 2 dozen seems like overkill, the recipe can easily be cut in half. If you avoid gluten, use gluten-free graham crackers to make the crust.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Fresh Apple Squares

Rating: 3.5 stars
4
One batch of dough does double duty as both the crust and streusel topping to make one of the easiest desserts around.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Meringues

Rating: 4.4 stars
1
Perfect meringues depend on totally yolk-free whites. The seemingly fussy step of separating each egg into a small bowl before combining them guarantees yolk-free whites for bakeshop-quality meringues every time. These crispy little morsels travel well and make great gifts too.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Lemon Thins

Rating: 3.54 stars
5
These lemon cookies are made healthier with whole-wheat pastry flour and they get their zippy flavor from fresh lemon zest and juice rather than lemon extract. This lemon cookie recipe would be the perfect accompaniment to afternoon tea.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Purple Fruit Salad

Rating: 5 stars
2
Serve this refreshing fruit salad featuring juicy plums, grapes and berries on its own or with other colorblock fruit salads (like red, green and orange) for a fun, crowd-pleasing rainbow side dish.
By Carolyn Casner

Chocolate-Cherry Snack Bars

Rating: 3.4 stars
4
These cereal bars are chewy, crunchy and delicious with good-for-you seeds, nuts, fruit and little explosions of chocolate. We like the flavor of dried cherries or cranberries, but any coarsely chopped dried fruit will work.
By Alice Medrich
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Inspiration and Ideas

Lemon Pound Cake

Lemon Pound Cake
Rating: Unrated
1
This wonderful rich, sweet lemon pound cake is downright zingy and the candied lemon slices are a beautiful bittersweet topping that's better than frosting. The best part, though: when you taste it you won't miss all the butter we cut out compared with a traditional pound cake recipe.
Almond Butter-Quinoa Blondies

Almond Butter-Quinoa Blondies
Rating: Unrated
10
People likely won't even notice that these delicately nutty, just a little chocolaty, blondies are gluten-free. They use quinoa flour, which you can find in well-stocked supermarkets and natural-foods stores, in place of all-purpose flour. To make your own quinoa flour, grind raw quinoa into a powder in a clean coffee grinder. (Adapted from Quinoa Revolution by Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming.)
Key Lime Mason Jar Cheesecakes

Key Lime Mason Jar Cheesecakes
EatingWell's Died-and-Went-to-Heaven Chocolate Cake

EatingWell's Died-and-Went-to-Heaven Chocolate Cake
Rating: Unrated
6
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Rating: Unrated
10
Apple-Cinnamon Fruit Bars

Apple-Cinnamon Fruit Bars
Rating: Unrated
4

Chocolate Decadence

Rating: 4.62 stars
11

Inspired by the old-school, ultra-rich, mousselike chocolate cake that usually called for a whole pound of chocolate, half a dozen eggs and lots of butter, this enlightened rendition has deep bittersweet chocolate flavor and dense melt-in-your-mouth texture. No one will guess it's healthier. The secret is excellent natural cocoa powder and good-quality bittersweet chocolate, preferably with 70% cacao. Although the cake can be eaten once it's completely cool, it comes out of the pan much easier and even tastes better if it has been chilled at least overnight.

All Healthy Picnic Dessert Recipes

Red Fruit Salad

Serve this refreshing fruit salad featuring juicy watermelon, grapes and berries on its own or with other colorblock fruit salads (like green, purple and orange) for a fun, crowd-pleasing rainbow side dish.
By Carolyn Casner

No-Bake Mason Jar Strawberry Cheesecakes

These no-bake portable cheesecakes are rich and creamy and swirled with fresh strawberries and honey for sweetness--perfect for a picnic or a backyard barbecue! We've used some Greek yogurt to lighten up this healthy dessert.
By Katie Webster

Peach & Blueberry Cobbler

Rating: 3.64 stars
14
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.
By Virginia Willis

Banana-Nut-Chocolate Chip Quick Bread

Rating: 3.65 stars
7
This banana quick bread is full of chocolate chips and toasted heart-healthy walnuts so you get a taste of nuts and chocolate in each bite. This version reduces the fat substantially and uses nonfat buttermilk to make the results extremely moist and tender.
By Stacy Fraser

Fresh Strawberry Pie

Rating: 5 stars
1
Fresh strawberries top a lightly sweet cream cheese filling in this lightened-up pie recipe. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream for a delicious and photo-worthy finish.
By Devon O'Brien

Pecan-Berry Coffee Cake

Rating: 4.33 stars
2
This scrumptious coffee cake recipe has a crumbly pecan topping and is speckled with blueberries or raspberries. You'll never guess there's apple in the berry coffee cake: it replaces some of the butter found in most coffee cakes and adds a decidedly sweet taste and moist crumb. This is a great recipe to serve at brunch and can be made the day before.
By Julee Rosso

Coconut-Dark Chocolate Truffles

Rating: 3.75 stars
4
Coconut macaroons meet dark chocolate truffles in these little treats. Inside the snap of the dark chocolate shell lies the tender coconut-cocoa filling: a mix of naturally sweet dates, cocoa and coconut flour. Coconut flour is a healthy way to add decadent coconut flavor to this coconut-dark chocolate truffle recipe and other baked goods. It packs a whopping 5 grams of fiber per 2 tablespoons (with only 2 grams of total and saturated fat). Look for coconut flour near other gluten-free flours.
By Katie Webster

EatingWell Chocolate Chip Cookies

This awesome lacy chocolate chip cookie is given a healthful makeover with oats and whole-wheat flour, and canola oil to replace some of the butter.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Rating: 5 stars
2
Rhubarb and strawberries go hand in hand, and what better way to honor the combination than in this classic summer pie. The lattice top looks fancy but the technique is super-easy to master.
By Hilary Meyer

Dried-Fruit Bars

Rating: 5 stars
1
Make a batch of these easy homemade dried-fruit bars to tuck into your kid's lunchbox all week.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Banoffee Pie

Rating: 3 stars
2
Love bananas, toffee and whipped cream? Then you've got to try this healthy Banoffee Pie recipe--a healthier version of one of Great Britain's sweetest desserts. It is made with layers of toffee, bananas and whipped cream. Our healthier Banoffee Pie recipe has half the calories, over 65 percent less saturated fat and 40 percent less sugar than the original--but all of the amazing flavor.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

EatingWell Zucchini Bread

Rating: 4.38 stars
4
This simple zucchini bread recipe is a great way to use up your summer bumper crop of zucchini. Try it with toasted walnuts or raisins, or add chocolate chips for a more dessertlike bread. Freeze 2-cup portions of shredded zucchini so you can make zucchini bread all year long.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Chocolate Raspberry Tofu Pie

Rating: 4.87 stars
7
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.
By Elisabeth Redman

Mini Berry Cream Pies

Rating: 4.67 stars
3
Try this Mini Berry Cream Pies recipe the next time you want to whip up a quick healthy dessert. For this red-white-and-blue dessert, frozen mini phyllo cups work the best. Keep them nestled in their tray for easy transport to a picnic or potluck.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Green Fruit Salad

Rating: 5 stars
1
Serve this refreshing fruit salad featuring juicy melon, grapes and kiwi on its own or with other colorblock fruit salads (like red, purple and orange) for a fun crowd-pleasing rainbow side dish.
By Carolyn Casner

Muffin-Tin Strawberry Shortcakes

Skip rolling and cutting dough and use your muffin tin in this healthy strawberry shortcake recipe. Look for lemon curd in the store near jams and jellies or skip it and combine the berries with 2 tablespoons sugar in Step 4.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Strawberry-Rhubarb Squares

Rating: 2.67 stars
2
Inspired by our love of lemon squares, we developed this healthy strawberry-rhubarb squares recipe. We slashed the butter in the shortbread crust for these strawberry-rhubarb bars, but kept the crust light and crisp with heart-healthy canola oil and a little cornstarch. A judicious amount of sugar in the filling lets the natural sweetness of the fruit shine and keeps calories in check.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Dark Fudgy Brownies

Rating: 3.5 stars
9
We like to use chocolate with 60-72% cacao content in these rich, fudgelike brownies, as it imparts a deeper, fuller flavor than less-chocolaty choices. Recipe by Nancy Baggett for EatingWell.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Mango-Strawberry Jello

Rating: 4 stars
1
Tropical mango and sweet strawberries are the perfect marriage in this pretty, crowd-pleasing jello recipe. We like the subtle tang the orange juice provides in this strawberry jello recipe, but using all mango juice works well too.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

No-Bake Cherry Cheesecake

Rating: 4 stars
3
This no-bake cherry cheesecake is an easy summertime treat. This no-bake cheesecake recipe has omega-3-rich walnuts in the graham cracker crust and uses nonfat Greek yogurt and reduced-fat cream cheese in the filling to keep saturated fat in check. If you want a bright red topping, use sour cherries. Sweet cherries give it a more purple hue. To make gluten-free no-bake cherry cheesecake, use gluten-free graham crackers.
By Carolyn Malcoun

Berry-Lemon Ice Pops

Fresh squeezed lemons blended with sweet berries creates a perfectly refreshing treat.
By Diabetic Living Magazine

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Rating: 3 stars
6
This rich, chocolaty Southern favorite has its own culinary mythology: a couple at the Waldorf-Astoria, a shared slice of bright red chocolate cake, a request for the recipe, and the surprise of later finding a $100 charge on their room bill. Maybe all desserts this good deserve a legend.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Raspberry-Almond Crumb Tart

Rating: 4.47 stars
2
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.
By Marie Simmons

Carrot Cake Cheese Ball

Rating: 5 stars
3
This sweet carrot-shaped cheese ball recipe is a clever take on an Easter dessert favorite: carrot cake. Serve with graham crackers, vanilla wafers, gingersnaps or apple slices for dipping fun that both kids and adults will love.
By Breana Killeen
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