Four Healthy Desserts for Spring

Ignore those last stray dustings of snow on the ground; it’s Spring! And while that means many things, like going to the park, wearing white, baseball season, digging out strappy sandals, and opening the windows come to mind. One of the most important things that spring brings? Spring desserts! Warmer weather and sunnier days call for their own special desserts.

Say goodbye (or at least “see you later”) to the savory spices and filling warmth of winter desserts. Desserts for spring are light, bright, and (often) citrusy! Is your mouth watering yet? If it isn’t, it will be soon. We’ve rounded up a few of our favorite healthy desserts for spring.

Banana Mousse

This recipe comes approved by Health.gov. If you’ve never made mousse before, you might associate it with two things: one, chocolate, and two, sounding difficult to make. This recipe is neither. You’ll only need five ingredients:

• 2 tbsp milk
• 4 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 medium banana, cut into quarters (and 8 additional quarter inch banana slices for garnish)
• 1 cup plain yogurt, low fat

If you liked there only being five ingredients, you’ll love that there are only two steps.

Blend the milk, sugar, vanilla, and banana for about 15 seconds or until smooth.

More the blended ingredients into a bowl and fold in yogurt. Chill, garnish with banana slices, and serve!

(And if “mousse” has you thinking chocolate anyway, a few chocolate sprinkles or chocolate chips would go perfectly as a topping to this creamy treat.)

Grapefruit Brulee

Another great part about spring is that there are new, delicious fruits that are in season for use. And as long as you’re making desserts for spring … why not have desserts for breakfast? Making a simple grapefruit brulee can let you do just that.

Grapefruit is an amazing food that keeps you fuller longer, can lower cholesterol, and is full of fiber. For these reasons, it’s frequently considered one of the best foods to eat for breakfast. If you’re already a grapefruit fan, it’s easy to cut one in half and enjoy it for breakfast. But if grapefruit is a little sour for you, if you want a way to mix up your breakfast, or if you want to serve it as a full dessert, grapefruit brulee is the way to go.

Bon Appetit recommends cutting the grapefruit in half, letting it dry for five minutes on a paper towel, sprinkling a tablespoon of sugar over the flesh of each grapefruit half, and then either:

1. Using a kitchen torch to melt and caramelize the sugar, or 
2. If you don’t have a kitchen torch, using your oven’s broiler for about eight minutes to caramelize the sugar.

Pineapple and Coconut Frozen Yogurt

Have a frozen yogurt craving, but don’t want to shell out the money at one of those (amazing, but sometimes pricey) frozen yogurt chains? Enter the pineapple and coconut frozen yogurt. This is another easy “toss it all in the blender and it’s practically finished” recipe.

You’ll add two cups of frozen pineapples, 2 tablespoons of honey or agave nectar, ¼ cup plain yogurt (any variety), and a ½ tablespoon of lemon juice to your blender or food processor and blend until creamy and smooth (about 2-3 minutes). Once you’ve reached the right texture, stir in 2 tablespoons of toasted coconut, transfer to an airtight container, and freeze overnight (or for at least 6 hours). Voila! Instant (well, almost) frozen yogurt.

One Bowl Upside Down Cake

This one might be stretching the limits on “healthy,” but if you’re craving an easy cake to add to your “desserts for spring” list, this one is easy and delicious. You’ll need:

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 lemon
• 2 10-ounce bags frozen sweet cherries or blueberries (no need to thaw)
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 cup sugar; plus more for serving
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 cups sour cream or whole plain yogurt, room temperature, divided

For easy step-by-step instructions for this recipe, head over to Bon Appetit.

What’s on your list for healthy desserts for spring? Did you try any of these recipes? Tell us about it!

Creative Ways to Prepare Fruit for Healthy Desserts

Healthy desserts sounds like an oxymoron, but it doesn’t have to! There are so many ways to indulge your sweet tooth, meet a craving, or cap off a long day with a delicious treat that doesn’t have to be unhealthy. In fact, there is a whole range of dessert options that range from (slightly more) healthy desserts to great-tasting treats that pack a good nutritional punch.

Portions

If you aren’t quite ready to branch out into new, more nutritious desserts, then the place to start is with portion control. If you’re wondering about what a healthy portion of dessert might look like, start with the USDA’s MyPlate.

The USDA has replaced the formerly ubiquitous Food Pyramid with the MyPlate, but the idea is the same: MyPlate is a visual representation of what a balanced meal should look like. The reason?

As the USDA explains, “today, about half of all American adults have one or more chronic diseases, often related to poor diet. The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans emphasizes the importance of creating a healthy eating pattern to maintain health and reduce the risk of disease. Everything we eat and drink — the food and beverage choices we make day to day and over our lifetime — matters.”

The basic idea behind MyPlate is that half of your plate should contain fruits and vegetables; half of your grains should be whole grains; low-fat or fat-free yogurt and milk should be prioritized; proteins should vary; and you should aim to eat and drink less sodium, saturated fat, and added sugars.

Nature’s Healthy Desserts - Fruit

There were a few important hints about an easy way to utilize healthy desserts in that last paragraph. Did you catch them? The first was the recommendation to eat fewer added sugars (emphasis on added). The second was that at each meal, your plate should be composed of half fruits and vegetables.

What does this mean? Simple: the easiest way to turn desserts into healthy desserts is simply to eat fruit for dessert. And while fruits on their own will work just fine, you can also have fun with it. Some easy ways to elevate fruit to something that feels like a genuine dessert are:

Make Banana Swirl

Made famous (among preschoolers) on the PBS show Daniel Tiger, Banana Swirl is an amazing ice cream substitute with only one ingredient: bananas. To make banana swirl, peel and slice a few ripe (or overripe) bananas, throw them in the freezer until they are completely frozen, and then place the frozen banana slices in a blender until smooth. The result: a sweet, frozen treat that tastes exactly like banana ice cream - minus the ice cream.

Try Grilled Pineapples

Pineapples are delicious as they are, but if you want to experience a different version (with new flavors, temperatures, colors, and textures), then grilled pineapple slices is the way to go. Throw some pineapple slices on the grill for a few minutes on each side, and then take them off to either eat as they are, coat with honey, or serve on top of some frozen yogurt, and your taste buds will thank you.

Elevate the Fruit Salad

Fruit salads are a delicious way to enjoy a variety of fruits altogether. One way to get the variety of flavors and nutrients offered by a fruit salad, but with a twist, is to make a fruit shish-kabob. Simply use the wooden or bamboo skewers you would use to make a typical, savory shishkabob, and instead of grilled meats and vegetables, use fruits. A strawberry-cantaloupe-pineapple-kiwi-blueberry-grape shishkabob is not only delicious, but it also creates a rainbow -- a really fun healthy dessert for kids (and, let’s face it, adults).

For a sweet and savory mix, try this American Heart Association recipe for fruit kabobs with balsamic drizzle.

Experiment

If you’re making your desserts healthy by eating fruits, use the time to experiment. Try that strange, tropical fruit you’ve also wondered about in the grocery store. Ask around for recommendations of other people’s favorite unusual fruit. Make dessert a time for experimentation, or, if you’re a family who loves apples and bananas, go for that too! (And maybe experiment with dips, like peanut butter or honey).

Health.gov provides even more healthy desserts recipes (with and without fruit).

What are your favorite fruits? Do you have a creative way to prepare them for dessert?