Turning Not So Healthy Recipes, Healthy!

The most difficult part of eating clean? The lack of desserts! I have a HUGE sweet tooth! Growing up we always had dessert after dinner. This is probably because my mom loved baking, and she still does. Living at home and denying all these sweet treats was just becoming way too hard for me. Well, after about a month of clean eating without dessert, I began having withdrawals. This lead me to search the trusty Internet for some healthy alternatives. What I found was game changing. Take a look: 

(Source: Beachbody.com) 

That's right my fellow dessert lovers, tons of healthy substitutions for baking ingredients to make those not so healthy treats, healthy! Now, this doesn't mean that you can just over indulge on these baked goods now that they're healthier. You still need to practice portion control. (ugh, I know!) To show you just how easy it is, I took my mom's granola recipe and tweaked it a bit. 

Original Recipe:

2 cups old fashion oats
1 cup flour 
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup honey

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 egg

Healthy Version:

2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup oat flour 
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
1 cup dairy/soy/gluten-free chocolate chips
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup honey

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 egg whites

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees; line a 9 x 9 baking pan with parchment paper, long enough to go up and over the sides for easy removal.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together oat flour, backing powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
• In a separate bowl, mix the egg followed by honey, applesauce and vanilla extract.
• Working by hand, stir in the flour mixture and the oats until just combined and no streaks of flour remain; stir in the additional ingredients. 
• Spoon oats onto prepared baking pan, flattening to make even. Bake for about 23-25 minutes, or until light brown at edges. They will seem soft and undercooked, but once they cool they will set completely.
• Cool completely on a wire rack. Once cool, you can either cut into bars or crumble the mixture and create some loose granola (my favorite!).

The Result:

I have bolded the changes in each recipe to make it easier to see the differences. Even though the example in the chart I posted suggested to use whole wheat flour or nut flour, I improvised a little more and simply ground up some of the oats to make oat flour. Either would work fine, I just wanted to save some money and keep it simple. I decided to cut out the brown sugar all together since I didn't feel it was necessary. In its place, I used a little bit of cinnamon for flavor. If you wanted to keep your's a little sweeter, I'd just substitute more applesauce in its place. I swapped the regular chocolate chips for some dairy, soy and gluten-free ones because they have far less additives and sugar. The next change was substituting unsweetened applesauce for the oil. Since the original recipe didn't call for a full cup of oil, I just did an even substituted amount. Lastly, I exchanged one egg for two egg whites. Voila! A healthy and delicious version of a granola bar with far less sugar, fat, and additives! 

These substitutions can be used on just about any recipe to make your favorite dessert a little less guilty. Eating clean doesn't have to mean you have to sacrifice your sweet tooth! Just remember, dessert is only okay in moderation.

(source: kelseybyersfitness.wix.com)

What sweet treat are you going to try it out on? 

Share your healthy recipe version below in the comments. I'd love to try them out! 

Keep going, you got this!