dessert

Makes 24 mini cupcakes

Don't get me wrong. I adore chocolate (especially dark chocolate), and I love nothing more than occasionally treating my kids to gooey, chocolaty goodies. But what I don't love are the saturated fat and calories found in most cupcakes.

No disrespect to Martha Stewart, but when I crunched the nutrition numbers on one of her frosted chocolate cupcake recipes, I found that each cupcake had 500 calories, 16 grams of saturated fat and more 14 teaspoons of added sugar (thanks, in part, to the three sticks of butter and four cups of sugar in the recipe). Even if Martha made mini cupcakes like we did, the numbers would still be pretty high.

But these cupcakes have only 148 calories and only 1 gram of saturated fat.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
3/4 cup frozen wild blueberries, thawed (but not drained)
1/2 cup 1% low-fat milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Frosting Ingredients:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
2 tablespoons buttery "spread" (we used Smart Balance Buttery Spread with Flax)
2 tablespoons 1% low-fat milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly oil or coat 24 mini muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

2. Place the sugar and oil in a large bowl and beat at medium speed until well blended, about 1 minute. Add the eggs, blueberries (and their juice), milk, and vanilla extract, and continue to beat on medium until the blueberries are broken up a bit and well incorporated, 1 more minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. At low speed, gradually beat the flour mixture into the liquid mixture until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

4. Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups, filling almost to the top. Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes. Remove the cupcakes and cool completely before frosting. (Note: Depending on the size of your muffin cups, you may have some batter left over. Feel free to bake up a second small batch of cupcakes with any leftover batter).

5. To make the frosting, place the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, buttery spread, milk, and vanilla extract in a bowl and beat at low speed until blended. Raise the speed to medium once the sugar is incorporated and continue to beat until creamy. Spread the frosting over the cupcakes, and garnish as desired with a red candy or conversation heart.

*If you use a 12-cup muffin tin, you'll want to bake the cupcakes for about 20 minutes.

Nutrition:
140 calories, 7g fat (1g saturated, 4g monounsaturated, 0.5g omega-3), 65mg sodium, 19g carbohydrate, 1g fiber, 13g sugar, 2g protein

Makes 3 dozen; serving size 1 meringue

Whether you're hosting a cookie swap party or looking for a low-calorie cookie to leave for Santa (he could certainly lose a few pounds), these light and airy cookies should hit the spot. I first created this recipe with the holidays in mind, but as far as I'm concerned, they're amazing any time of the year. The main ingredients in meringues are egg whites and sugar; they don't contain flour, so if you're on a gluten or wheat-free diet you can eat them without worry.

Ingredients:
4 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract, optional *
1/4 cup finely crushed candy canes or peppermint candy

Instructions:
1. Line two large baking sheets with aluminum foil and set aside.

2. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until frothy. Gradually add the sugar, one tablespoon at a time, beating until whites stand in stiff, glossy peaks. This will take about 10 minutes. Beat in the peppermint extract as desired.

3. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Drop meringue by rounded tablespoon onto the baking sheets, leaving a 1-inch space in between. Sprinkle tops with crushed candy.

4. Bake for 1 1/2 hours. Turn oven off and leave meringues in the oven for an additional 30 minutes.

5. Let meringues cool completely before removing from foil. Store in an airtight container.

* Do not use peppermint extract containing peppermint oil (the meringues will deflate). For best results, use imitation peppermint extract.

Nutrition:
30 calories, 0g fat (0g saturated), 5mg sodium, 7g carbohydrate, 0g fiber, 0.5g protein

One of the best--and worst--parts of holidays are the desserts. I love a slice of pecan pie or an apple crisp topped with vanilla ice cream. Unfortunately, most holiday desserts are loaded with saturated fat and sugar.

But holiday desserts don't have to be dietary disasters. For a simple dessert, we like to take raspberries, blueberries and walnuts and mix them with whipped cream. Sugar free whipped heavy cream has as few as 20 calories a serving and only 2 grams of fat. We also whip vanilla flavored Greek yogurt with melted dark chocolate, nuts and strawberries for another low-fat, low-cal treat.

Here are some other tasty holiday dessert recipes that won't stuff you with extra fat and sugar:

Our chocolate caramel pie recipe doesn’t just taste amazing—it’s low in fat and calories. Registered Dietitian Liz Weiss uses an unexpected ingredient—dark chocolate silken tofu—to lighten this dessert.

Want to make this at home? Download this recipe now. (PDF)