Healthifying Desserts & Beans in Desserts

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After I posted the Vanilla Banana Avocado Ice Cream recipe

Vanilla Banana Avocado Ice Cream recipe

…I got to thinking about “healthifying” desserts.  You know, calling something “ice cream” when really it’s blended bananas and avocado.  

Did I just healthify something by making “ice cream” out of bananas and avocado?

If so, I take no great pleasure in that.

Why not?

Most people love it when they find out a dessert is healthy.  I do to, but I don’t care if it isn’t healthy, either.

I believe that desserts are desserts; they don’t need to be healthy: they’re dessert.  Which is inherently not really “healthy” and that’s okay with me.

I posted recently that I believe one can eat desserts (daily) and still live a “healthy” lifestyle and be healthy and balanced.

I know that’s it’s common among many food bloggers to put bananas into a food processor and call that “ice cream”.  I’ve done it.  Gena’s to blame. In the best possible way, of course. She called frozen bananas banana softserve way back when.

And I’ve done a whole series of softserve variations (all in my dessert recipes)

Vegan Peanut Butter Softserve anyone?

Vegan Peanut Butter Softserve in blender held upside down

It’s sure thick like ice cream

Vegan Peanut Butter Softserve overhead in blender

And it does taste wonderful! Not sure it’s “ice cream” but it’s a frozen treat.  I like treats.

And then there’s the other trend of beans in desserts.

Some people put garbanzo beans into chickpeas and call them “blondies”.

I like my White Chocolate Blondies with Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting a whole lot. 

White Chocolate Blondies with Chocolate Peanut Butter FrostingFull fat, fully decadent, fully amazing.  No beans in sight.

Katie has a recipe for Chocolate Chip Blondies They look awesome, but I’m scared they’ll taste bean-ey!

Some bloggers put black beans into brownies and call them “black bean brownies”.

I like my Fudgy Nutella Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Fudgy Nutella Brownies with Cream Cheese FrostingNo beans.  Just pure, unadulterated dense, sweet, fudgey-ness.  The best and richest brownies I’ve ever eaten.

Lately I’ve seen hummus or chickpeas in cookie dough all over the place.

Christin has a recipe for Baked Dessert Hummus Balls in case you’re curious.

And Spabettie made Christin’s recipe

And Evan has Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Dessert Hummus

All that sounds great…

But…

…I’ll stick with my Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough in clear containerStill “healthy” and vegan and gluten free, but no beans.

Why haven’t I tried these “healthy” or “healthified” desserts?

Frankly I am scared!

I’m scared to waste good cocoa powder, sugar, agave, or other ingredients if the recipe doesn’t live up to my expectations.  And they’re high.

Not to mention, time and energy are precious commodities and I haven’t those to waste, either.

I hate throwing away food from recipes that I am not pleased with and I hate wasting cooking time, energy, and money on ingredients only to wind up with a meh result.

So, I’m on the fence about the adding beans to desserts.  Like I mentioned, I believe one can eat desserts and be healthy and balanced.

But everyone’s recipes who I linked look so good! So when I get back to San Diego, maybe some beans in desserts will happen.  You never know.

I also believe that healthy desserts can and do taste amazing and can be totally decadent!  My raw vegan chocolate mousse comes to mind.   Healthy doesn’t have to “taste healthy”.

I have the utmost respect for everyone’s recipes, creations, and food choices; whether they’re “healthy” or not, bean-ey or not, and where he or she falls on the spectrum of what he or she chooses to eat.  We all have our own path and preferences in life and food and I have respect for everyone’s ability to choose what’s best for her.

From my last post, it was interesting hearing what wild animals are in your area.  But it was a whole lot more fun reading about if you consider yourself a wild child or not.

Questions

1. What are your thoughts on beans in desserts?  Have you tried any bean-ey desserts?

As I said, I’m scared to waste time, money, and energy because I don’t want to “taste the beans”.

Twist my arm.  Tell me you’ve made something with beans in it that’s dessert-ey and you love it!

2. What are your thoughts on “healthifying” desserts?  Do you try?  Do you care?

No, I don’t try or care.

I actually almost go over the top the other direction to make things as sinfully rich and decadent as possible.

Desserts are treats, extras, and should be treated as such.  It’s just not worth my chew to have something less than 100% decadent.  I’d rather not have it at all and don’t care if it’s not considered healthy.  Life is short, enjoy dessert is my motto.

Anyone want a piece of fudge?

Close up of Vegan Fudge with sprinkles

It’s vegan & GF, though!

3. Yay or nay:  “Beans, beans, the magical fruit, the more you eat, the more you toot?”

Yay!

With that happy thought, I hope to enjoy the beach for one more day!

Beach with blue water and lone boatI’m savoring the last bits of Aruba before we head home.

About the Author

Welcome to AverieCooks! Here you’ll find fast and easy recipes that taste amazing and are geared for real life. Nothing fussy or complicated, just awesome tasting dishes everyone loves!

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Comments

  1. Just found your blog and have fallen in love with it :) Adding you to the blogroll now! I don’t really healthify recipes as much as take out excess. I have been vegan and when I am baking vegan or making vegan dessert I always feel like taking animal products out IS healthifying. I don’t think fat is unhealthy nor do I think dessert is. But I also don’t want to eat an entire cake (most of the time) so a slice of cake or some cookie dough doesn’t = unhealthy in my book. It’s my call when I’m cooking to take out what I find unneccessary and I regularly find myself putting in half as much oil, half the sugar called for and omitting the salt. But I don’t know how much that affects the “healthy-ness” of it except that there is less of that stuff, and so I’m less likely to consume too much of it. funny, never thought about it before reading your post! can’t wait to try out your recipe for vegan cookie dough balls!!!

  2. I just made Katie’s Deep Dish Cookie Pie tonight (blog post coming soon lol) and although I was very TENTATIVE, it was DELICIOUS! SO decadent and you really would have never thought that it was “healthy”. I was nervous to waste time and money as well, so I wanted to first make a mini batch just to see how it would turn out, but then my boyfriend decided we should just go for it and make the whole pie, and I’m glad we did!
    I can’t wait to trick my dad into eating it ;)

  3. I agree with this post!! I just tried a recipe with beans and it was terrible! Everyone has their own style of cooking and different taste buds. Unfortunately, this did not appeal to mine!

  4. I never thought I’d try Katie’s chickpea Blondie recipe but the pictures keep coming up on sites I read and they look delicious… plus it’s that time of the month and canned goods were on sale at the grocery store. I went home last night and made a batch. O M G delicious. I’ve tried a bunch of your dessert recipes and have loved them all so I’m assuming we may have similar taste buds :) You will NOT be disappointed with her chocolate chip blondie recipe.

  5. Black bean brownies were delicious! I’ll have to try chickpeas next :-) Delicious dessert round-up!

  6. I think the healthified desserts are awesome. My daughter really just prefers pigging out on fresh fruit most of the time but this week we had special events (my husband adopted her!) so she requested your Nutella Brownies with Cream Cheese and I also made the Avocado Banana Ice Cream too for a surprise! Both are delish!

    1. thanks for lmk you made nutella brownies AND the avo ice cream…Im honored! :)

  7. I have never had beans in dessert before, and I don’t care to healthify desserts … but I am not opposed to eating them!

  8. wow, you’re outlook on desserts and philosophy is really refreshing to read. especially coming from a) a woman b) one who does stay so fit and look amazing and c) you live in the good old US or A…haha. no, but really, i completely agree with you, though not gonna lie i wish i could fully walk the walk. i’d more than happily tell people that this is the healthiest kind of relationship with food, want them to follow suit, though i only wish i could do the same! those are my own mental hang-ups and so when i see a person who REALLY embraces this attitude i think it’s admirable. honestly though, i think what the best thing is that you are setting this kind of example for your daughter.

    as a person who didn’t have such a healthy role model to look to growing up, i know how big of an impact that can make. now i’m at a point where i love food, love to eat, but if i see a knock-off that has less calories or such i’ll take the offer because: 1) my taste buds really suck, aren’t all too sensitive, and probably won’t taste a difference and 2) i’m a volume person, so if there are less cal’s then i can eat more of it. :P

    so in truth i’ll probably jump on the bean wagon and toot myself up some desserts, but i really enjoyed reading this post! keep on rocking those full fat desserts!

  9. Personally, I hate beans in desserts. I tried making black bean brownies once and I ended up tossing the whole batch, and I made chocolate chip cookie dough “hummus” this week, and again chucked the whole thing out. I can taste the beans, and I can’t stand the beany texture in my desserts. Yuck.
    I like real desserts, but I have a massive sweet tooth. I don’t know if I should rein in my sugar habits or try to healthify desserts, but then I probably won’t be as satisfied, then I’ll eat more…it’s a dilemma. I’ve been having decent luck swapping xylitol for sugar lately, or using whole wheat flour in cookies though, but I still tend to overdo it.

    1. thanks for the honest reviews and TWO flops (sorry!!) about the beans…that is very good to know. Not just about the rave reviews, but the flops. Taste AND texture both. Sorry girl that you werent a fan.

  10. Hi Averie,
    As promised, I made your cheesy taco casserole tonight and it is delicious! To make it a little bigger/taller, I doubled the rice (used brown short grain and basmati from bulk bins – good money-saver). I also subbed “We Can’t Say It’s Cheese” Cheddar Sauce (http://wayfarefoods.com/content/products) in place of sour cream, which I HIGHLY recommend! Unfortunately, unbeknownst to me, Trader Joe’s taco seasoning packet is suuuper spicy, so it’s a little hot, but it is still absolutely dee-licious and a major treat for someone who avoids cheese. My family will love it tomorrow night (of course, I sampled it ahead of time). Love those one-dish casseroles/meals. THANK YOU! :)

    1. thanks for lmk you made it and that it’s a winner…and yay for pre-cooked dinners, and/or planned leftovers. the best!