Sugarless desserts
- rosemary
- Jul 21
- 3 min read
My sister and her husband have regular lunch dates with friends. They take it in turns. However, the male half of the other couple is a diabetic and so she is beginning to be somewhat overwhelmed by what to provide for dessert.
Of course, one could just seek out the perfect peach - well any kind of fruit, either alone or mixed together. Indeed dessert, in the French houses of my youth, would be just that. A perfect peach, or a slice of melon. You could take it a step further though couldn't you by baking them? This one had a bit of sugar on it to caramelize it, but you could substitute maple syrup, or honey - any other non-sugar based syrup. Sprinkle with nuts, and serve with cream - voilà.
But I promised my sister I would see what I could find. And I have to say - not a lot.
To begin, I noted that instead of sugar, the recipes I found often substituted coconut sugar - which is made from the sap in the flower of the coconut palm and has a slightly - let me repeat - slightly - lower number on the glycemic index scale. It also contains the same number of carbohydrates and calories, so to be honest I'm not sure about this. Particularly when I read this:
"As a sugar substitute, coconut palm sugar has a low glycemic index. However, an article by the British Dietic Association notes that you should treat it the same as regular sugar because it contains the same number of calories and carbs." Abbott
Nevertheless I have included some recipes that use it.
Dates were another favourite substitute - and I have to say I'd go with this. Rice malt syrup was another sugar substitute favourite.
So what did I find?
Interestingly there were lots of slices, so here are four: Chocolate, peanut butter and date slab - Clare Ptak/The Guardian; Raspberry, lemon and coconut slice - Shannon Harley/delicious.; Gluten-free coconut and cherry brownie slice - Matt Moran/delicious. and Passionfruit bliss bars - Katrina Woodman/Taste
Similarly there were various mini cakes: Chocolate almond cakes - Valli Little/delicious. and Cardamom and carrot cakes with maple icing - Anna Jone/The Guardian
Cheesecakes and puddings: Sugar-free chocolate and sticky date pudding - Elena Duggan/delicious.; Blackberry cheesecake - Giovanna Torico/delicious.; Ricotta cheesecake with roasted blueberries - Shannon Harley/delicious.
And finally a grand selection of more dessert like things I guess, some of which - the pancakes, could be varied: Coffee bean pannacotta - Brian Levy; Sesame pannacotta with maple toffee crisp - Kerrie Ray/Taste; Chocolate avocado mousse - Clare Ptak/The Guardian; Sugar-free vegan stracciatello gelato - Shannon Harley/delicious.; Coconut crepes with maple ricotta and strawberries - delicious.; Date and nut beach balls - Jill Dupleix/delicious.;
Mascarpone stuffed dates with pomegranate and honey - Foolproof Living
I don't know why but I get an overall feeling of seeds and nuts and grains. And yet some of them look pretty good. Good luck Sis. There are lots more suggestions on the net of course although some of them look far too 'health foodie' for me. Fruit and something are still possibly the best idea.
YEARS GONE BY
July 21
2024 - Rambling around osso bucco
2023 - Slivers
2022 - Artisan - how do you know?
2020 - Deleted
2019 - Cassoulet
2016 - To market, to market
Happy to try any of these! 👍 🤪