Yogurt is tangy, creamy and delicious. Why then do we think of it for breakfast and maybe a quick snack but rarely for dessert?
It’s time to change that narrow read and serve up some healthy probiotic sweets.
Yogurt is produced using a culture of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus bacteria. Probiotics will bolster your gut against fancy new foods and pathogens picked up at holiday parties and buffet tables.
Get started with yogurt swaps
First, think of recipes that call for sour cream or milk. Pies, cakes and puddings will adapt nicely to substitutions of plain yogurt—whole or low-fat—for fatty dairy ingredients.
For example:
- Pumpkin pie with yogurt instead of half of the evaporated milk
- Chocolate pudding pie with yogurt
- Banana cream pie with yogurt
- Chocolate yogurt cake
Invent your own yogurt desserts
- Chocolate yogurt mousse
- Greek yogurt with drizzled honey and toasted pistachios
- Date pudding with vanilla yogurt topping
- Lemon yogurt pie with nut crust
- Grilled Medjool dates with yogurt, honey and toasted walnuts
Pro tip:
When recipes call for heavy cream, swap in equal parts whole milk and Greek yogurt. Lower in fat (much lower and high in protein), this bestows similar thickening with a big dollop of healthy.
And don’t forget frozen yogurt, a dessert that hides among full-fat ice creams in the frozen dessert aisle. Churn your own, using a blender or ice cream maker or scoop up a yummy flavor at the supermarket. Go nuts with toppings.
Presentation is everything
Importantly, present these inventions as beautifully as those traditional calorie-laden desserts like pecan pie or cheesecake. Break out the cake pedestal, the doilies and the antique porcelain platters. Use parfait dishes and long silver spoons.
Takeaway
Your guests will thank you. After all, are you really hungry after a special holiday dinner? Practice hara hachi bu, the Japanese practice of eating until “belly 80 percent full”. (For proof of concept, note that Okinawa has the world’s highest proportion of centenarians.)
Enjoy!