Desserts: Healthier indulgences

Recently, a heart patient at Thibodaux Regional Medical Center in Louisiana complained about the bananas Foster that she had been served. Reportedly, the dessert was so delicious the patient assumed it must have been loaded with butter, an ingredient that she didn’t think the hospital should have been serving her, given her health condition.

In fact, the dessert was completely fat-free—and free of added sugars, too. The fruit was grilled in a pan using nonstick spray; the sauce got its rich, creamy mouthfeel from an orange juice reduction thickened with arrowroot powder and the sweetness came from Splenda, plus a splash of rum.

“Being able to make food taste real when you’ve taken out most of the fat and most of the sugar is an art,” says Thibodaux’s foodservice director, Richard Curtis. “Many times, people don’t even know that we’re serving a healthier dessert.”

In addition to the bananas Foster, Curtis and his team serve up Splenda-sweetened strawberry shortcake and light-as-air angel food cookies made with angel food cake mix, eggs and
sugar-free Sprite Zero. “People will actually buy a dozen or two to take home,” says Curtis.

While some operators add healthier treats to their menus quietly, others showcase their offerings. Neal Plazio, executive chef at the University at Buffalo, in Buffalo, N.Y., serves vegan desserts such as chocolate chip cookies, applesauce pound cake and chocolate cake daily in the school’s largest dining hall. Because they’re free of butter and eggs, the sweets tend to contain much less saturated fat than their traditional counterparts. Still, they manage to taste rich and indulgent, thanks to the addition of canola oil, soy milk and pureed banana. “The banana helps the product ‘fluff’ when it bakes, and gives it an incredible flavor,” Plazio says.

Rather than trying to make a rich dessert lighter, Central Michigan University’s executive catering chef, David Miller, will often opt to serve an indulgent-tasting dessert that’s inherently healthier. His Raspberry Sabayon Brulee is a naturally lower-calorie take on creme brulee, featuring custard made with eggs rather than cream.

Other times, he’ll make a slight modification: To improve on a traditional fruit trifle, Miller skips the usual pastry cream in favor of strawberry yogurt, which he mixes with whipped cream for the trifle’s custard layer. “It really doesn’t taste like you’re missing anything,” says Marketing Manager Nikki Smith.

Due to recent changes in the USDA’s school meal guidelines, schools also are working to improve the nutrition of their desserts without sacrificing taste. In the Houston Independent School District, that means Sweet Potato Spice Cake, made with whole wheat flour and canola oil instead of butter. The cake boasts just 212 calories, 9.5 grams of fat and 16 grams of sugar, yet is more popular than the less-healthy brownies that students used to gobble up.

Even so, the cake can only be offered occasionally: “It’s served only twice a week to stay in compliance with the USDA requirement that, of the weekly total lunch, up to two ounces of grains per week may be in the form of a grain-based dessert,” says Community Outreach Dietitian Nan Cramer, R.D.