Did you know that your teeth do not need to hurt or fall off just because you indulge in something sweet? For many years, I didn’t either! But now I know, you can eat your sweets, keep your teeth, your health and maintain a healthy weight! I’ve been making many healthier treats this year and I wanted to round up a few of my favorite healthy dessert ideas that you can make during Christmas time and even in January! These easy dessert recipes are great snacks as they’re low in calories, most of them are kid-friendly, some are no-bake and all of them nutritious!
Easy No-Bake Dessert Ideas
5-Ingredient Chocolate Rice Cake Bars
If you’re a big fan of the peanut butter and chocolate combo, like I am, this is probably going to become one of your go-to snacks. It’s made with 6 ingredients (if we count salt) – brown rice cakes, peanut butter, dark chocolate, almond flour, salt and coconut oil. Recipe here.
Easy Peanut Butter Cookies
Got some honey, peanut butter, almond and coconut flour? Then you can make these absolutely delicious no bake peanut butter cookies. They’re currently my favorite treat! Recipe here.
Amazing Healthy Pumpkin Pancake Cake
I know this doesn’t look impressive, it doesn’t look like anything really, but it’s so, so delicious. This is a pancake cake – which means there’s no baking, but you’ll need to make some pancakes, rip them apart and then layer with some delicious cream cheese frosting. This particular cake is made with pumpkin pancakes and it’s just amazing.
10-Minute Chocolate Cookies
Another very easy peanut butter chocolate recipe! These cookies are made with oats, peanut butter, dark chocolate and nuts and you can make them in 10 minutes! Recipe here.
Easy Mini Cheesecakes
If you’re craving cheesecake, you can easily make a healthier version using cream cheese, honey and vanilla for the filling and some nuts and seeds for the crust. Less sugar and more nutrients…To make this one lower in fat and higher in protein I actually used cottage cheese instead of Philadelphia, but the regular cream cheese would be creamier. Recipe here.\
Almond Butter Chocolate Bites
And one more variation of nut butter with chocolate. Can never get enough of those. The recipe for these chocolate bites is here.
Healthy Butternut Squash Pie
If baking a pie is not your thing, you can make this easy butternut squash pie without baking! It’s creamy, delicious but also vegan and gluten-free. You can use butternut squash or pumpkin puree to make the filling. The crust is made with nuts and coconut, all you need to do is blend the ingredients, layer and put in the fridge! Recipe here.
Easy Yogurt Bark
The final option to make a no bake dessert is this simple, light and delicious yogurt bark with vanilla and berries. The recipe is here.
Flourless Healthy Desserts
Banana Oatmeal Bread
Super easy, super quick and delicious banana bread made with no flour, but quick oats. Recipe here.
Easy Apple Crumble Pie
If you’re craving apple pie and apple crisp all in one, but with a healthier twist – you’ll love this oatmeal crust apple crumble pie. It’s perfect on its own, but even a bit better with some ice cream on top. The recipe is here.
Oatmeal Chocolate Cake
This oatmeal chocolate cake is super easy to make and absolutely delicious! You can even have it for breakfast! Recipe is here.
Pumpkin Muffins With Cream Cheese
Another super delicious flourless pumpkin dessert made with quick oats and no flour! Recipe here.
Peanut Butter Chickpea Blondies
I know everyone says the same, but these really don’t taste like chickpeas. Super easy to make and really good. Recipe here.
Oatmeal Crumble Plum Pie
The crust for this pie is made with oats, nuts, dates, coconut oil and cinnamon. The filling – ripe plums and coconut oil. So simple, yet so delicious! The recipe is here.
Almond Flour Chocolate Muffins
If you’re needing a delicious grain-free muffin recipe – go with these vanilla and chocolate almond flour muffins. They’re fluffy, sweet and just perfect make ahead treat! Recipe here.
KID-FRIENDLY HEALTHY TREATS With Oats
Pretty much all of the recipes on this list are kid-friendly – as they’re not loaded with sugar, nutritious and good sources of fiber! If your child is younger and can’t eat nuts yet, you might want to try these easy toddler approved recipes.
- Easy Oatmeal Apple Muffins
- Oatmeal Blueberry Cake
- Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins
- Healthy Banana Oatmeal Muffins
4 Tips To Make Healthier Desserts
If you want to make your own healthier dessert recipe like the ones above, here are my top 4 tips for doing so:
- Make them flourless. You don’t need white flour to make a healthy treat…there are so many other options these days. For example, you can use almond flour, coconut flour, oats, flax meal or even chickpeas. And, I promise you, you won’t find much of a difference.
- Use a nut or seed butter and dark chocolate. Once you get used to eating dark chocolate, you will never want to go back to the sugary type. It took me less than a month to switch to eating 85% chocolate and adding in some almond butter or peanut butter really takes it over the top. If you’re a fan of chocolate and are trying to reduce your sugar intake, you need to try this.
- Sweeten with fruit, honey, maple syrup or coconut sugar. Now is it true that these ingredients also affect your blood sugar levels, but they are more nutritious than white sugar. It’s even better if you go for fruit like bananas or dates to sweeten your desserts.
- Add fruit or a vegetable. To bulk up your desserts, but keep them low in calories add a fruit or a vegetable to your recipe! Perfect examples here would be bananas, zucchini, pumpkin or butternut squash, pears or apples. This way you could eat dessert while getting your daily serving of fruits and vegetables in!
Easy And Healthy Dessert Ideas
18 easy healthy dessert ideas perfect for snacks as they're low in calories, nourishing and all delicious! These easy dessert recipes include no-bake desserts, flourless desserts and kid-approved treats!
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Rice Cake Bars
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 cup chopped chocolate
- 6 rice cakes
- 1 tsp almond flour
- 1 tsp coconut oil
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Melt the chocolate with the coconut oil in the microwave in 20-30s intervals, until completely melted. Stir in between to speed this process up. It actually took me one interval of microwaving to melt the chocolate.
- Stir in the peanut butter until well combined.
- Break/Crumble the rice cakes and add them to the mixture.
- Add a tsp of almond flour and mix it all together until all the rice cakes are covered with the chocolate.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the mixture evenly.
- Refrigerate for 1-2 hours or until completely firm.
- Slice in pieces and enjoy! Keep refrigerated as these bars melt pretty quickly at room temperature.
Nutrition Information
Yield 12 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 123Total Fat 8gSaturated Fat 3gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 4gCholesterol 2mgSodium 82mgCarbohydrates 10gFiber 1gSugar 4gProtein 3g