The Dessert Dilemma: Everyday Indulgence or Sometimes Splurge? [Plus: Simple, healthy fruit desserts]

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Love Natalie Dee! The mouse-over text says “I’m just a pig”

People are of two minds when it comes to dessert. The first group eats it and loves it. The second group eats it, feels guilty about it and punishes themselves for it. There is a third group, who I’m told exists, that doesn’t eat sweets ever but they summer with Mr. Yeti and the Amazon Women. The takeaway message from this completely scientific assertion I just made is that the vast majority of us eat a little somethin’-somethin’ on occasion which means the only question left is “how?”

I’m bad a moderation. Whether it’s due to my addictive personality or the fact that modern junk food is chemically designed to prevail over the 1-bite rule, I am not one of those people who can eat one really good bite of truffle and walk away feeling happy with my metabolic lot and life. At the very least I eat the whole truffle. More likely I eat one and then obsess about the box wherever I’ve “hidden” it from myself. All of which usually leads people to advise me to just abstain from sweets. Like, forever. (Which I totally would if I had a unicorn on speed dial upon which to ride to the Himalayas for the annual meeting of mythical creatures. I think the critter blocked me after I tried to eat his rainbow poop thinking it was Skittles.)

Unfortunately I’m also bad at deprivation. Years of disordered eating (okay, decades) have given me a serious last-dinner mentality which incites me to eat all of whatever treat is placed before me just in case someone (namely, myself) decides to yank it away indefinitely again. This eating of the ALL of it has lead to some pretty severe sugar comas which always makes me regret my over-indulgence. It’s sad that I’m most own worst enemy but I’m working on that and – proof that even really neurotic people can change – I am getting better at it.

This is my compromise: I eat dessert every day. Sometimes more than once a day. And that dessert is something I can eat a whole portion (or two) of without feeling really sick or guilty. My kids also like this compromise. (I’d blame myself for their ridiculous sweet tooths (teeth?)- Remember the candycandycandy Seinfeld episode? Truest sociological study I’ve ever seen – but there’s scientific evidence we come from the womb with a built-in sugar jones.) Call it cultural conditioning or weak willpower or a Pinterest addiction (I swear 80% of that site is dessert recipes), but it just doesn’t feel like dinner is finished without a little something sweet.

This also happens to work perfectly with our new French style of eating. (Sidenote: Which is still going amazingly well. The kids actually ask for their vegetable course now and the one night I felt too tired to bother, the eldest went and cut up carrot sticks for everyone. Blew my mind. And not just because he knew how to use my big knife without adding finger sticks to the pile.) The basic premise is you still eat your same food (with the emphasis on whole home-cooked meals) but you just serve it in small courses giving everyone the chance to try everything and check in with both their palates and their satiety. And the last course is always dessert.

Now, according to this one tiny book that I read (which wasn’t even about French food in general, but about French parenting and was written by an American so is clearly the most trusted authority on these matters) the French generally serve some simple dish involving fruit and cheese. While sometimes I do just put sliced oranges on a plate in the shape of a flower and call it decent, I often like to do a little more which has led to me rediscovering the art of simple fruit desserts. I’m not talking mini almond tartlets of poached pears with raspberry glaze and creme fraiche (although that would be awesome I’d totally eat it) but by that point I’m just done with the cooking. I don’t love cooking anyhow – I only do it because it’s better than the alternative – and so whatever I make can only have at most 3 ingredients and only require one pan, if that.

Here’s a list of some that have been big hits with my family and I’m hoping (read: begging) that you guys will give me some new options in the comments!

– Baked apple slices. The simplest is everyone’s favorite (maybe because Minnesota makes the best apples ever?) but all I do is take one of those IKEA apple slicer/corer thingies and lay waste to four apples. I throw the dismembered fruit in a glass pan, sprinkle with cinnamon and lemon (I use the True Lemon crystals – I still love that stuff so hard.). Then I either bake it (if the oven’s still on) for 10 ish minutes or microwave it for five, or less since we like our apples in the not-mushy state. That’s it. I don’t know what it is about heating up fruit but it does make it taste sweeter. Plus? Cinnamon is one of the best natural means we have for  increasing insulin sensitivity (a good thing) and regulating blood sugar.

– Frozen berries on top of mascarpone cheese. It’s too expensive this time of year to buy fresh berries here and frozen berries are surprisingly tasty. My kids love a mix of blue- and black-berries, microwaved so they get some “sauce” and poured over the top of a dollop of the soft, slightly sweet cheese. Sometimes I’ll mix in a packet of Stevia into the juice but often the berries are sweet enough on their own.

– Watermelon sorbet. Remember that watermelon I in-advisedly purchased? In the middle of winter? In a land that doesn’t grow watermelons even when the sun does shine? Well when I cracked it open it was sweet-ish but disgustingly mushy and mealy. So I cut it up into chunks and froze them. Then I took the frozen chunks, added a splash of lime juice and just enough water so my blender didn’t start wheezing and smoking and blended it all up. It came out in a sorbet-like consistency and no extra sugar was needed. This was the kids’ favorite.

– Frozen yogurt. I didn’t make this one up. Aw heck, I didn’t make any of these up. But you’ve probably seen this somewhere on the internets before: Take an equal measure of yogurt and frozen fruit and blend, blend, blend. Since I use plain yogurt sometimes I’ll add vanilla stevia.

– Chocolate covered banana slices. The trick with this tried-and-true fave is to add a blop (I’m very precise) of coconut oil to the chocolate as you’re melting it. It will make the chocolate harden up like your very own Magic Shell! But without the scary trans fats! Also, the other trick I learned the hard way: do not under any circumstances add water to your chocolate to make it easier to dip. Water, like Mariah Carey music, makes sweet things seize and curdle.

Pineapple sticks. I give one of my kids a can of cubed pineapple in its own juice (I’ll use fresh when it’s in season) and a jar of maraschino cherries (yeah I know those aren’t remotely good for you, or even cherries for that matter) and let them stick 3 pieces of pineapple and a cherry on a toothpick.

– Frozen grapes. Just like baking apples makes some kind of magic happen, freezing grapes makes them sweeter. I have no idea why. Just be careful with this one if you have tiny kids as they take a choking hazard and amp it up by like a hundred.

– The one fruit dessert I hate: That frozen banana “soft serve” stuff that was making the health blog rounds for awhile. You freeze a banana in chunks and then whip it in a blender until it reaches “soft serve ice cream” consistency. While it does actually reach an approximation of the right texture (I was surprised but if you blend long enough it will really happen), it still tastes like bananas no matter what toppings you put on it. If you love bananas then you’ll be thrilled. But there’s a reason you never see banana ice cream at the store. Just saying. I think this stuff is vile. But I’m throwing this out there in case any of you enjoy it – just because I think something tastes nasty doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it!

So what kind of dessert person are you? Do you feel like you need to end dinner with something sweet? Or are you one that can just completely avoid sweets except for the occasional birthday party or dragon-and-fairy conference? Do you have any favorite simple dessert ideas for me??

40 Comments

  1. Must try the frozen watermelon. I’m one of the people who loves the frozen banana trick. But then my Dad used to make shakes out of bananas, ice, milk, and peanut butter, so the taste may be somewhat nostalgic. It’s not ice cream, not even close, but it is sweet and can help when the late night cravings hit.

    I can’t do moderation on sweets either. I avoid having junk food or desserts in the house because late in the evening my willpower crumbles. Things are rather trying at the moment as my daughter joined the girl scouts, and a supportive parent orders cookies. Samoas…my personal crack.

  2. I like things on the grill, even in the winter. (I’m from South Dakota so can relate to the cold weather.) Grilled pineapple or peaches make a great dessert. Even wintertime pineapple seems to taste good on the grill. We can our own peaches in just water, not syrup. Those taste good grilled as well.( I served some of our home canned peaches to my mother in law and she thought they were spoiled because they weren’t in a heavy sugary sauce.) I am also a big fan of peaches and cream.

  3. YES to all the above, particularly the watermelon sorbet. Going to have to try me some of that. When it comes to easy desserts, I’m a sucker for the old avocado-in-a-blender-and-call-it-mousse trick. Last time I fancied it up with cocoa powder and mint extract: http://thingsmybellylikes.com/2012/07/02/mint-chocolate-mousse/

  4. Unfortunately, I’m a chocolate craving kind of person. I also hate moderation; my favorite dessert in the world is the enormous piece of chocolate cake with chocolate frosting garnished with chocolate chips (and some whipped cream) that Red Lobster, Cheesecake Factory, and other major chains sometimes serve. This thing has like 1200 calories in a single piece, but it is basically heaven in a slice. I don’t get tired of it. I could eat one like every week.

    I also don’t get sugar crashes. I think after years of having a sweet tooth, my body just decided screw it, clearly it’s a good idea. So there is really no downside for me here except that my metabolism thinks this cake has all the calories I’ll need in an entire day.

    So basically, this fruit thing is…wimpy dessert, to me. 😉 Real dessert, unless it’s like midsummer and you must have something light and cold, is heavy, thick, full of chocolate, and will leave you in a pleasant haze for the entire rest of the day. ^^;

  5. Another that avoids having too many sweets in the house because moderation is not my forte. I’ve been known to polish of whole pound boxes of chocolates in an afternoon. After swearing to myself that I would have one now and save the rest for tomorrow. It always ends up being have one now, save the rest for five minutes from now.
    I do love to bake and candy make so one trick I have is to make it, put aside enough for my family that evening, and then package the rest up and give it away. Immediately. Because if it’s there in the morning, I will nibble.

  6. It really depends on what it is. If I have a bag of Oreos, or home made chocolate chip cookies in the house, I will eat them until they are gone. However, I can keep a stash of Lindt chocolate bars in the house and be quite content with eating one or two squares after dinner.

    With you on the banana hate. I get so frustrated every time I see a healthy recipe that uses banana as the sweetener. If you don’t like bananas, that just doesn’t work.

  7. I love fruit for dessert (grilled peaches with yogurt and honey is awesome) and baked apples, but I don’t like overly sweet stuff and my husband isn’t really into desserts either unless they’re fruity or baked in a crust so we just have them occasionally. I tend to save up my desserts and have something awesome like rice pudding (my all time fave), tapioca pudding or fruit crisp or some pie on the weekend. Occasionally I’ll make lava cake or sticky toffee pudding if we feel all decadent, but usually we have pancakes or crepes on the weekend and to me that beats dessert any time 🙂

  8. I keep trying to imagine what a “mealy” watermelon is. My mind’s eye thinks this would be something with worms, but my brain disagrees.

  9. Chocolate covered banana slices………..yummy! mmmmmmm

  10. I’m not a huge dessert person. I used to love chocolate (ate it every day for years!). Now, I would rather eat potato chips for dessert!
    Your recipes all look really good – my family would love it if I would make some!

  11. I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE dessert! I like it so much I sometimes have it in a cup, with some coffee thrown in so it’s socially acceptable at 7 AM. (Thank you, Starbucks, for that!)
    Unfortunately I can’t eat fruit with or right after a meal (digestion issues: I have to eat it either 1 hour before or many hours after), so dessert is often a chocolatey-type thing. I know, poor me.
    I have, however, discovered chocolate chia pudding in Brendan Frasier’s book “Thrive.” It’s not regular pudding, and it uses cacao. It’s healthy AND yummy. But it can be an acquired taste if you’re used to the stuff in pre-made cups. The best part is that it is actually a BREAKFAST pudding. Dessert for breakfast?!?!?! Sign me up!

  12. We like peaches with some vanilla pudding layered on top with graham crackers crumbled over the top.

  13. I’m the same way! I have heathy(er) substitutions for dessert that I eat at least once a day. Many of mine include frozen fruit, Greek yogurt, or marshmallows. Okay, I guess that last one is not QUITE as healthy…

  14. Oh man, that watermelon sorbet sounds amazing (and easy).

    I’m trying to abstain from sugar/deserts/etc, however, I would go nuts without a little somethin’ somethin’ too. My rule is that if I would eat it as part of breakfast, and it doesn’t have sugar as the first or second ingredient, I can eat it for desert. Enter greek yogurt + frozen pineapple + a dash of coconut + stevia drops. So, so, so good.

    I am a banana hater too. I can do it in a smoothie if there are enough other flavors, but I noticed that a wee bit of half and half does the same thing for the texture…

  15. Great ideas! Think this could translate to more mindfulness with satiety in general–maybe even with the truffle? Sounds like perhaps it could!; 😉

  16. Charlotte! I can’t believe you’re still dissing banana soft serve! I honestly think it’s really delicious-the texture is exactly like ice cream and I only taste a slight banana flavor-especially if you use a lot of cocoa powder! I totally get that not everyone is going to like everything but I would encourage everyone who hasn’t tried banana soft serve yet to do so. Grilled pineapple, however, is also delicious. Or frozen berries-a little bit softened in the microwave-with almond butter and cocoa powder is good too. I’ll have to try your idea of fruit desserts more often, myself. I LOVE sweets but moderation is hard for me.

    Also-I know Mormons don’t observe Lent, but I was wondering, are you going to give up or add something this year?

  17. LOVE THESE!!!! How long do you bake the apples slices for? I want to do that for a mini meal & dunk in greek yogurt! 🙂

    I treat myself as you know every weekend to REAL cookies.

    I like a crunch do during the week I portion out some low fat & low calories cookies from Trader Joes! 🙂 I eat them every night as a snack after dinner!

    Nope – no guilt! I plan for them! 🙂

  18. I’m not sure how it works, but I’m not a sugar person really. I can take it or leave it and most desserts are too sweet and rich for me. I never eat candy that is gifted to me (it stays in my drawer until it is old and my husband finds it). I crave salt instead. Chips, salsa, Chex Mix, Baked Lays. I can eat the whole bowl. Am I abnormal? 🙂

  19. I love frozen grapes. Not only do they taste sweeter but when they’re frozen, you simply don’t eat nearly as many.

    Thank you for the great post.

  20. That banana soft serve crap was a whole lotta baloney, if you ask me. Freezing and then whipping a banana does not turn it into ice cream. It’s still a banana. IT is still gross.

    I eat dessert every day. Mulitple times a day. my trick? I make small cookies. So I eat one for breakfsast dessert (its true, but my breakfast is usually dinner leftovers, not some whuge bowl of oatmeal covered in chocolate and peanut butter), one for lunch dessert and one after dinner. Plus a few more for snacks. But they really add up to about one of those big cookies that you get at the store. Or I’ll nibble on little handfuls of chocolate chips. Or a square of dark chocolate here and there. Or….you get it.

    Fruit with yogurrt is my favorite summertime dessert. And I echo the grilling thing too – grilled peaches and pineapple are heaven.

  21. Strawberries with balsamic vinegar! Just sprinkle cut up strawberries with a small amount of sugar (or any sweetener) and balsamic, and let marinate for half an hr or so. Or if you can find it, a chocolate balsamic sauce.

    Fruit salad with mint or mint sugar

    mango with coconut and pistachio

    grilled peaches/plums/pluots

    peaches with blueberry sauce (blend blueberries, maple syrup, and some lemon zest together)

  22. Since I’m trying to cut down on sugar and have problems with portion control, I like Fiber One brownie bars for my after dinner snack. I think there are only 90 calories or something per bar, and (usually) I can keep myself from eating more than one.

  23. I’m so on the same wavelength as your Charlotte! I wish I could be those everyday indulgence and eat only a bit, but I’m not. Although my creations have helped immensely with me ‘having something sweet’ but not getting the sugar rush and binge/addictive nature that usually follows. It basically just involves chobani 0%, oats, cut up fruit, and some chocolate (I might add some cereal or a biscuit if I’ve been craving it- that way I get it without the need to have more more more). I heard a neat trick of sprinkling your frozen grapes in jelly crystals!

  24. I’m an addictive person and I definitely can’t just have a single bite! If there’s something sweet in the house, I can’t leave it alone until it’s gone. I like to have dessert, but normally we don’t keep anything in so I will go months without sweet things until my other half buys a treat for me! Normally then I’ll have natural yoghurt with jam in 🙂

  25. Dessert is not in my culture. I grew up in Vietnam and even though we do have our sweet dishes, the concept of a dessert after every meal is completely foreign. It’s a special occasion treat.

    Of course that was then and after my family moved to the US I discovered sweets and the resultant sweet tooth. It was a miracle that I remained a stick thin child, because I used to eat boxes and boxes of American snack cakes daily because they were such a novelty to me. And I loved those disgusting Chips Ahoy because I didn’t know any better.

    These days I no longer have a young metabolism so I rarely eat sweets. I follow Mark’s Daily Apple and shun sweets (sadly). Given a chance I can and will eat an entire bag of chocolates, my willpower is nonexistent when it comes to sweets.

  26. I once read about how Hershey was having trouble with selling chocolate and candy to the Chinese market because they traditionally enjoyed fruit as a desert. Maybe it wasn’t true but since then I’ve found a lot of refreshement after a meal from a tart apple.

    Fruit salad is also my #1 favorite. I would take that over cake and cookies any day.

  27. My husband’s mother was a wonderful baker so his sweet tooth comes from growing up on something “sweet” after a meal.( I guess I ‘m not always that sweet so has to have sugar) Here’s a few things that we have discovered that fill his need w/o me having to bake a batch of brownies that call my name very loudly until they are gone and go straight to my waist.

    Rhubarb crunch – I put 1-2 cups diced rhubarb (fresh or frozen) into a microwave pot w/ just a little sugar 1-2 tsp. Cook and stir about 4 minutes until it makes a nice sauce. We serve over ice cream and a couple graham crackers broken up over. It has been served to surprise guests one evening. They thought it was better than a baked crisp. So easy. no eggs, no flour, no baking!

    Baked apples are easy I agree, just coring and stuffing w/ cinnamon, nuts and raisins,

    Now that kids are gone he settles on ice cream topped w/ chocolate sauce sprinkled with whole flaxseeds. So crunchy, much better than nuts! I love them on peanut butter toast!

    Banana-peanut bars- I raised 3 kids on these and one has a college roommate who thinks they are amazing. Mix equal amount of PB and Ripe Banana to a whipped state and liberally spread between 2 graham crackers. Freeze in a container. Tastes like an ice cream bar, but much better for them. These were an easy way to get rid of ripe bananas when it was too hot to bake banana bread. I always had these around for an afternoon ready made snack.

    Currently I’m going Dr Mike’s 17 Diet so my sugar tooth is being tame at the moment. But with Valentine chocolate creeping around I have to remind myself of that workout I did this am could be wiped out by a few bites.

    Thanks for always being so open and honest when sharing. I look forward to you daily visits! Keep it up!

  28. ps. one of my friends told me FROZEN BLUEBERRIES were her go to sweet I’ve tried a few times. It does take your mind of sweets and does leave you with a purple tongue!

  29. Jamie Oliver has great ideas for fruit desserts that make it seems like you’re not just eating fruit. Here are some of my favorite fruit desserts:
    -Plate some pineapple and kiwis in a pretty way (can be done with other fruits too, but I especially like those for this), sprinkle with mint sugar (just a little coarse sugar mashed up with a few fresh mint leaves), and then drizzle a bit of drippy yogurt on top (really good with coconut or vanilla yogurt)
    -Blend up fruits/juices/herbs/whatever sounds good, and then freeze in popsicle molds (which you can find for cheap on Amazon)…basically you’re just making a thin smoothie and then freezing it as a popsicle
    -Put fruit at the bottom of a cup (works really well with berries) with some chopped mint, then add a scoop of granita or sorbet on top (especially good if you contrast the flavors…so don’t do strawberries with strawberry sorbet, do like strawberries and basil with lemon sorbet, or blueberries and mint and peach with lime sorbet)
    -Crumble half a shortbread cookie at the bottom of a cup (the tiny shortbread cookies you get at the store, preferably scottish shortbread), top with canned dark cherries and a little juice (just the cherries in juice, not the syrupy pie stuff), a tiny dollop of whipped cream, a sprinkling of grated chocolate, and then crumble the other half of the shortbread cookie on top

  30. I like to bake pears and put Marscapone cheese (mixed w/ a little sugar) on top. They are decadently good! And fancy enough for company.

    What did you think of the study about people who ate baked goods for breakfast & lost weight? That would be a good topic for discussion!

  31. I am the all or nothing type when it comes to junk food…especially ice cream. And unless I absolutely love the dessert, I won’t bother wasting the calories by eating it. My daughter and I have got into the habit now of going to our local ice cream shop every Sunday…even though were in the dead of winter here in Maine. Of course, I can’t just order a small dish of ice cream…I order the triple (the biggest size) and eat every bit of it regardless of the nausea that usually sets in about 3/4 of the way through the very filling ice cream! I justify this by not eating sweets during the week so I end up going to town at the end of the week (even though I would probably eat this way even if I ate it everyday!)….This type of eating never really works out for me however…I always feel fat, full, and guilty that I ate this much and I workout twice as hard as I need to on Monday!

  32. I’m right there with you. And I too have a history of disordered eating. I’ve actually found that spreading out a few small peices of chocolate thoughout the day is the healthiest choice for me. And I’ll usually end the day with a real dessert – lately its been a package of Justins Dark Chocolate peanut butter cups (two cups). No guilt. If I don’t allow myself that, I eventually go crazy and binge.

  33. On the whole can’t-eat-just-one-truffle thing, this is what I do. Go to a fancy chocolate shop, ideally with a friend. Spend a little while picking out the one or two chocolates that appeal the absolute most. Buy those and only those. Then you eat them and really appreciate them. There’s no giant box to finish or resist finishing because, apart from anything else, fancy chocolate is super expensive in bulk. It seems like this might fit well with your philosophy of eating mindfully so I wanted to share!

  34. Thanks for posting these, I’m going to try some of these starting today 🙂

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  36. I have such a sweet tooth it is ridiculous! There is nothing better than a sweet dessert after a meal! Im a chocolate lover, but i love fruit so i will try these!