You’ve been lied to. I’ve been lied to. We’ve all been lied to about healthy desserts. I have had many desserts that were healthy. They may have been healthy, but they were no longer desserts.

I’ve had cakes that cut my mouth like sandpaper, brownies that became a mess of coconut oil the moment I took a bite and desserts that tasted so bad I’d rather have wrapped up the meal with the entree.

Personally, I’m an enemy of the “healthy dessert.” These “healthy desserts” are bad. Eating them feels like an act of austerity. Between God creating good food in Genesis and an outline of mandated feasts in Leviticus, I don’t think we are called to food austerity. Enjoying food is our birthright. But I still need to keep an eye on my blood sugar levels. So what’s a guy to do when when he’s still a lover of desserts?

I have fallen in love with the concept of “better for you” desserts. When I bake a confection, my goal isn’t to make something healthy, and I have reasons for that. For one, it would be bad and I’m not interested in firing up the oven for something bad. Additionally, it’s foolish to rely on a dessert to be a star player of my plan to get all my nutrients.

Instead of trying to create a healthy food and call it a dessert, I think about how a dessert might hurt my health and focus on lessening the impact to my health without ruining the dessert. For me, that’s the goal of “better for you.” 

 I’m sure you’ve noticed that according to most advice, sugar is the enemy. But why aren’t apples the enemy? Why are beets so healthy while processed beet sugar isn’t? Fiber is a super relevant component in our food. Fiber is the fuel of the gut microbiome and changes the way our food gets processed. It slows down the release of simple carbs, which means it slows down the absorption of sugar.

When you eat an apple, you do get a lot of sugar.  But the apple is in its whole food form, so it includes fiber that helps blunt blood sugar spikes. I like to add soluble fiber to a recipe with ground psyllium husks and add insoluble fiber with flaxseed meal. In baked goods, psyllium husks are indiscernible, and the flaxseed will give it some texture in a very non-offensive way. Adding fiber to a recipe doesn’t make it healthy, but it does blunt the blood sugar spike it can cause.

Fiber can reduce the impact of sugar, but it’s also a wise strategy to reduce the sugar. I’m going to say it: A lot of recipes can still be sweet with ⅔ the sugar. Don’t get me wrong; if  you remove too much, it will stop being yummy. I love the joke that Kool-Aid can either taste like diabetes or battery acid. I’m not advocating that you make your confections tasteless, but surely there’s a nice place between diabetes and battery acid. I encourage you to experiment with where the line is for you.

Adding fiber has been a way that I’ve been keeping quality of life foods in my life while reducing negative impacts on my health. Another strategy for maintaining sweetness and increasing fiber is incorporating fruit. Over the last few months I’ve been experimenting with a subtly sweet apple cake to share with friends. It’s seasonal. It’s yummy. And it’s an opportunity to celebrate the blessing of good food while respecting the blessing of good health.

Better-For-You Apple Cake

Ingredients

Dry ingredients

1 ½ cups flour
⅓ cup ground flaxseed       
⅓ cup ground psyllium husks      
½ cup sugar                                        
⅔ cup brown sugar                           
2 teaspoons baking soda                            
1 tablespoon corn starch                            
1 teaspoon table salt                               
1 teaspoon potassium salt                        
ground clove, to taste
ground ginger, to taste
ground cinnamon, to taste

Wet ingredients

4 Eggs                        
½ cup vegetable oil                         
2 tablespoons vanilla                                     
¼ cup oat or dairy milk  
1 large apple, or two small apples

Instructions
1. Mix dry ingredients.
2. In a separate bowl, whip eggs.
3. Mix wet ingredients into eggs.
4. Shred apple and mix with wet ingredients.
5. Mix dry and wet ingredients.
6. Place into a greased 9 x 13 pan.
7. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes.