Focussing on health and staying fit has become a way of life these days. But squeezing in a cheat day to indulge in the creamiest and richest desserts is an allowable deviation. While the strong hearted can stay away from temptation, not everyone has the willpower to give up desserts.
In order to fulfil these cravings, the restaurants are encouraging the health conscious to enjoy healthy desserts. This way, they can remain guilt-free and still satisfy their palate.
Trishala Ashok, the founder of ‘Fitbakes’, recently started this venture as she wanted to stay fit and enjoy desserts once in a while too. With her alternative sweet recipes, she encourages her customers to continue their diet and workout while enjoying a bite of goodness.
“I believe it is important for one to stay healthy, so I make only flourless, sugarless and butterless cakes and brownies. The blueberry and peanut butter muffins are big sellers. The banana muffin is also a great way to start the day as it is high in protein. With these healthy desserts, you not only get all the nutrition you need in a day but also enjoy the luxury a dessert usually offers, she explains.
When Trishala makes banana walnut muffins, she uses ripe bananas, honey or maple syrup for the fitness quotient. She also uses Greek yoghurt in her recipes.
A cafe that says health is its primary importance is ‘Fresh Pressery Cafe’. It offers a wide range of healthy desserts for one to choose from.
Aditi Shetty, the head of operations, says, “Our latest addition is the ‘Chai seed pudding’ which is making the rounds these days. The ‘Overnight oats’, ‘Granola Parfait’ and ‘Gluten-free brownies’ are also a huge hit. We make ‘Chocolate quinoa cake’ with organic coconut sugar and quinoa.”
Thanks to the sedentary lifestyle that we all lead these days, people are becoming aware of the benefits of maintaining a balanced diet and want to know what goes into their food.
Aditi says, “People today prefer to know about the ingredients used in the dish. If one is a health conscious person, they will also ask for health benefits of these. It can be sweet and simple but taste just as good if you know what is going in it.”
From the last few months in Parvathy Ranjive’s house, everyone has been going dairy-free. Parvathy has substituted whole milk with soy milk and whenever she cooks or bakes, she uses healthier substitutes in the recipe.
She explains, “The new fad is to avoid saturated fats, so I use coconut oil for butter and palm sugar and palm jaggery for sugar. Dates are the best substitutes when making desserts but it will require double the amount of all the other ingredients to give the texture you are looking for. Applesauce is also a good replacement for eggs.”
Ask her if making these healthier desserts require more time and she says, “It’s about the same process as a regular bake. You need to get the butter and the eggs to come to room temperature for baking anyway, so planning ahead is still very important while opting for healthier alternatives.”
