Decadent desserts: these guiltless holiday treats won't leave a mark on your physique

Muscle & Fitness/Hers, Dec, 2002 by Devin Alexander

As you dust off your favorite holiday cocktail dress and prepare to deck the halls, you may be secretly worried that all of the season's buffet tables could bust out every seam. Well, not this year, and not with these simple yet sinfully good recipes. With flavors to please every palate, including dairy-free selections, these desserts will satisfy your sweet tooth without adding any padding. Make them for your own fetes, or take them along to gatherings of family and friends. Not only are you sure to keep your waistline in check, but you're also bound to impress hostesses and partygoers alike. You'll find all the recipes on page 94.

Decadent Desserts

THE RECIPES

RUM BALLS

  3 cups Grape Nuts cereal
  2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened
    cocoa powder
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup rum
  1 Tbsp. granulated sugar
    (optional)
  2 Tbsp. very finely chopped
    walnuts (optional)

In a large mixing bowl, combine Grape Nuts, powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Add corn syrup and rum, mixing until ingredients are bound together. The mixture will be slightly sticky. Using a 1 1/4-inch-diameter mini ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, form 1 1/4-inch balls. Place bails on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper.

If using sugar and walnuts, mix them in a small bowl. Roll each ball in walnut mixture, then return it to cookie sheet. Store balls in a cookie tin until ready to serve. Makes approximately 50 rum balls.

Per ball, with walnuts and sugar:

62 calories, 1 g protein, 14 g carbohydrate, .5 g fat, 1 g fiber.

Original version, per serving:

79 calories, 1 g protein, 12 g carbohydrate, 3 g fat, tr fiber.

RUM BALLS

CHEF'S TIPS

* Chop walnuts extremely fine. You'll still get the same nutty taste, appearance and texture, but you won t need to use as many.

* Light corn syrup is an excellent substitution to bind ingredients such as rum balls and crumbs for pie crusts. It has no fat, yet because it's a syrup instead of a liquid, it's easier to keep your desserts from becoming soggy.

Photos by Mark Robert Halper Food slyling by Janet Miller

FUDGY MINT BROWNIES

    1 Tbsp. instant
      espresso powder
  1/2 cup boiling water
  3/4 cup light silken tofu,
      drained
  1/2 cup light corn syrup
  1/2 cup unsweetened
      cocoa powder
    2 Tbsp. almond oil
    1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
    1 tsp. peppermint extract
1 1/4 cups cake flour
    1 cup sugar
  1/2 tsp. salt
  1/4 tsp. baking powder
  Powdered sugar
  Butter-flavored
      cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8x 8x 11.5x2-inch cake pan with cooking spray. Add espresso powder to boiling water and stir until dissolved. in a food processor, blend tofu, corn syrup, cocoa powder, oil, extracts and brewed espresso until smooth, in a large mixing bowl, stir flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Add batter from food processor and stir well to remove lumps. Pour into prepared cake pan and bake 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, Cool brownies in pan, then dust with powdered sugar, or serve warm with a scoop of dairy-free, reduced-fat ice cream. Makes 12 brownies.

Per brownie (without ice cream): 183 calories, 3 g protein, 38 g carbohydrate, 3 g fat, 2 g fiber.

Original version, per serving: 266 calories, 3 g protein, 32 g carbohydrate, 14 g fat, 1 g fiber.

CHEF'S TIPS

* Add espresso powder to chocolate baked goods. It increases the rich chocolate flavor without adding fat or calories.

* Use your favorite extract, such as mint or almond, in baked goods or even protein shakes. They minimize the aftertaste of ingredients like tofu or protein powders.

CHOCOLATE-PEANUT BUTTER FROZEN YOGURT PIE

    6 cups fat-free vanilla or chocolate frozen yogurt
      (approximately three-quarters of a 1/2-gallon container)
    1 cup finely crushed reduced-fat vanilla wafers
      or low-fat honey graham crackers
  1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  1/4 cup powdered sugar
    2 Tbsp. light butter, melted
    2 Tbsp. light corn syrup
  1/4 cup chocolate syrup
1 1/2 Tbsp. reduced-fat peanut butter
    1 tsp. fat-free milk
    Nonstick cooking spray

Spray a 9-inch pie plate with nonstick cooking spray. Remove frozen yogurt from freezer to soften. Allow it to become slightly soft, but not melted or souplike. In a medium bowl, mix wafer/cracker crumbs with cocoa powder and powdered sugar. Add melted butter and corn syrup and stir. The crumbs should be just sticky, but not soggy. Spoon into pieplate. Using a piece of waxed paper, press the crumbs to evenly cover bottom and sides of pieplate.

In a small bowl, stir chocolate syrup into peanut butter until all lumps are removed; the mixture should resemble a paste. Spread about two-thirds of mixture evenly over bottom of crust. Set the other one-third aside.

Spoon softened frozen yogurt on top of peanut butter mixture in pie plate in an even mound. When pie plate is full and heaping, smooth top with a spatula. If yogurt seems soft or at all runny, return pie to freezer to harden before the next step.

Finally, add milk to reserved chocolate-peanut butter mixture and stir until smooth. Using a spoon, drizzle mixture over top of pie in a swirling motion. If the mixture is too thick to drizzle, add more milk a drop at a time, stirring until it reaches a smooth but not separated consistency. Makes eight servings.