Healthy, Low Sugar Desserts and Treats

Midweek desserts are always a bit of a tricky one for me. Like many parents, I’m conscious of my children’s sugar intake and so have limited sweets, chocolate, cakes and biscuits to Friday night and the weekend, leaving only fruit, yogurt or homemade flapjacks for midweek desserts. During our recent mini heatwave, we experimented with making our own fruit lollies. The results were great, prompting me to ask around for some more healthy, low sugar options for the kids to enjoy as a dessert or healthy sweet treat.

Our Smoothie Pops

These have been aptly named by the children and are (as the name suggests) fruit smoothie ice lollies. They are so simple to make, using the moulds available to buy from all good ‘pound shops’! If you have a NutriBullet or similar high speed blender, you can use frozen fruit, straight from the freezer, giving the mix a head start when it comes to freezing. I also find that frozen berries are generally more full of flavour (and sweeter) than fresh, as they’ve been picked and frozen immediately, locking in those natural sugars. Over-ripe bananas are perfect to add sweetness and a creamy texture and it’s the perfect way to use up any fruit that’s a little past it’s best! We’ve made these using the smallest NutriBullet cup:

• Blueberry & banana x4-5 lollies: 1 over-ripe banana, handful frozen blueberries and 150ml water
• Strawberry & mango x4-5 lollies: Handful of each fruit (frozen is best) with 150ml water
• Creamy spinach & mango x4-5 lollies: Handful fresh spinach or a frozen cube, handful of frozen mango, 4 heaped dessert spoons of natural yogurt (full fat is best), 100ml water

You can make these using any smoothie mix, just fill up the lollies moulds with left over smoothie, any time you have some! For more smoothie recipe idea’s click here.

Frozen Fruit Treats

Here are some more really simple and easy ideas from Kerry at ‘Blissful Domestication’ to keep the kids cool with sugar free, fruity treats this summer.

Peanut Butter Energy Balls

These are super simple, quick and yummy! Victoria from ‘Lylia Rose’ decided to have a go at making her own rather than buying, with fab results. Just chuck everything in a bowl, mix and shape- my sort of cooking!! We rolled ours in coconut and sesame seeds, it’s such a versatile recipe!

Fig & Nut Energy Bars

Andrea from ‘Topsy Turvy Tribe’ recommends this tasty tray bake recipe, to make a healthy treat that her boys love. The perfect alternative to flapjacks!

Apple & Cinnamon Muffins

Though not completely sugar free, these muffins have a significantly reduced sugar content. They can be adjusted to include different fruit to suit any taste.

Lemon Drizzle Cake (sugar & gluten free)

Nicola from ‘Mummy to Dex’ has shared this fabulous lemon cake recipe. She devised it while weaning her son, so that he could enjoy one of their favourite treats, with out all the sugar. The recipe eliminates added sugar altogether in the cake itself, just using the natural sugar in the lemons for sweetness. As an added bonus, Nicola has made it gluten free too (alternative quantities of wheat flour also provided). The optional drizzle is made with icing sugar but can be added or not- a naughty extra for mummy, when the kids aren’t looking!

Green Bars!

They are green because they contain a lot of kale but I’m assured by Neil from ‘Progressive Family Food’ that his kids love them, despite refusing kale in it’s natural form! They are another non-cook recipe, requiring a whizz in the food processor followed by setting in the freezer, cutting into bars and then storing back in the freezer. Ours didn’t come out quite so green, but they are indeed yummy!!

Have you got any healthy, low sugar dessert, snack or treat recipes that your kids love? I’d love to try them! Just pop your recipe in the comments below and I’ll feature my kids favourites over the next few weeks. xx