5 low-fat desserts to sweeten the holidays

IF you are anything like me, you are no renowned baking boffin, have a rather restrictive piggy bank for the holidays and wish for an occasional delicious sweet treat without it sinking straight to the derrière during bathing suit season.

So I set out to make five easy, budget-friendly and low-fat desserts fit for the whole family.
Berry Blast Cheesecake
With all the promise of a full cream cheesecake, this recipe is a cool favourite for a hot Christmas and can be prepared the day before, so you don’t have to go into a tailspin preparing everything on the day.

Ingredients:
Half a box of ginger biscuits (75g)
70g unsalted butter
230g plain cream cheese
250g plain fat-free yogurt
2 lemons
Half a can condensed milk
Three sachets sweetener (without aspartame)
Six strawberries and a handful of blueberries
One sachet of gelatine

Method:
Pound ginger biscuits into crumbs and mix in melted butter. Coat the dish or cake pan with cooking spray. Press mixture into the bottom of the dish evenly using a metal spoon and set in fridge for five minutes.
In a bowl, mix cream cheese, yogurt, lemons, condensed milk and sweetener and stir into an even consistency.
Stir the packet of gelatine into half a cup of warm water. Once dissolved, pour a third of it into cheesecake mixture and stir. Reserve the rest for berries later. Spoon the cheesecake mixture over the chilled biscuit base, smooth the top and place back into the fridge.
Leave it to set for about 15 minutes.
Puree berries in blender and add the rest of the gelatine into the berry mix. Pour the berry and gelatine mixture over cheesecake.
Decorate with berries, optional.

Strawberry frozen yogurt
It’s simple, creamy and with a whole tub of it, you can enjoy this throughout the holidays. For the kids, try blending a few scoops for instant strawberry milkshakes.
Ingredients:
140g strawberries
Half a can of condensed milk
500g fat-free plain yogurt
Method:
Roughly chop half the strawberries and puree the rest in a blender.
In a bowl, stir the condensed milk into the puréed strawberries, then stir in the yogurt until well mixed. Fold through chopped strawberries.
Scrape the mixture into a metal mixer bowl, cover with plastic wrap and freeze.
After 2 hours, or until firm at the edges and semi-soft in the center, remove and beat with electric mixer on medium-high speed (or mix in food processor) until soft but not melted significantly.
Repeat freezing and beating one or two more times to avoid yogurt crystallising.

One bowl chocolate cake
This is a winner for any chocoholic with distaste for dishwashing. It’s also rich, moist and can be served as a slice of cake or heated up and plated as a hot choc pud with a dollop of ice cream. The choice is yours.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
6 sachets sweetener (no aspartame)
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup hot strong black coffee
Half a small slab of dark chocolate for icing

Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Spray round cake pan with cooking spray. Line the pan with a circle of wax paper.
In a bowl, stir in flour, sweetener, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb of soda and salt. Then add buttermilk, brown sugar, egg, oil and vanilla. Whisk until the batter is consistent. Add hot coffee and blend. The mixture will be quite thin. Pour batter into the pan.
Bake the cake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and peel off the wax paper.
Melt chocolate in a dash of skim milk until smooth and glossy.
Pour melted chocolate over the cake. You can decorate it more with chocolate shavings or blanched almonds.

Sticky Toffee Puddings
They are guilt-free offerings ending any occasion on a happy note.
Ingredients:
175g pitted dried dates
150ml maple syrup
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs, separated
85g self-raising flour
Fat-free plain yogurt and extra maple syrup as optional for serving
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Put the dates and 175ml water in a pan and simmer for five minutes. Pour into a food processor, then add 6 tablespoons maple syrup and the vanilla extract, and blend until smooth.
Transfer to a bowl and mix in the egg yolks, then the flour. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff, and fold into the date mixture.
Coat muffin tray moulds with cooking spray. Put one tablespoon maple syrup into each mould and add the mixture. Cover tray with foil (shiny side down), place in an ovenproof dish and pour in hot water to halfway up the sides of the moulds. Bake for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Uncover, run a knife around the edges, remove onto plates. You can drizzle over yogurt and maple syrup to serve, or just serve with ice cream.

Chocolate Ice Lollies
These are great low-fat replacements for chocolate ice cream fanatics. I chose to simply coat them with dark chocolate and blanched almonds, but you can mix in Oreo biscuit chunks or cover with white chocolate and sprinkles for a more colourful effect for the kids.
Ingredients:
100g brown sugar
2 tbsp cornflour
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
600ml skim milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Method:
Combine sugar, cornflour, cocoa powder and milk in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, and stir for about two minutes until thick. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Transfer to a heatproof bowl, and refrigerate until cool, approximately 15 minutes. If you want to add cookie chunks, fold them in now.
Pour into lolly moulds and freeze until firm, about 4 hours.
For coatings, melt blocks of chocolate by stirring in a saucepan held above a pot of simmering water.
Remove lolly and dip it in the melted chocolate, then cover with almonds or sprinkles and place back in freezer until ready to enjoy.