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When you’re mindful of your calorie intake, dessert can feel like a dilemma—do you indulge or skip it altogether? But the good news is, you don’t have to choose between your health goals and your sweet tooth.

As a middle-aged woman who values both balance and flavor, I’ve found that having a go-to list of low-calorie desserts makes it easier to satisfy cravings without derailing progress.

A little sweetness at the end of the day can actually help curb cravings and prevent overindulging later. The key is choosing healthier desserts that taste delicious while keeping calories in check.

That’s why I’ve rounded up some of my favorite low-calorie dessert recipes—so you can enjoy a guilt-free treat and stay on track!

My Favorite Low-Calorie Desserts

These low-calorie desserts are proof that you don’t have to sacrifice flavor to stay on track with your health goals. From lightened-up classics to naturally sweet treats, these options will satisfy your sweet tooth without the extra calories!

If you are looking for something different for pizza night, try these Vegan Calzones! They are portable and filling just like pizza, but a bit less messy.

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These Vegan Calzones have all the flavors of pizza, but in a portable package.

They are not only fun to eat, but fun to make as well. You can use your favorite pizza dough from your local pizza restaurant or use a pizza mix like I did.

And if you find yourself with extra pizza dough, you can make it into Vegan Stuffed Breadsticks.

Other recipes to try are my Vegan Pizza Grilled Cheese recipe and Pizza Popcorn recipe.

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Here’s the tofu ricotta you’ll be using for this recipe:

🔪 Instructions

Step 1: Prepare pizza dough according to directions. Mix basil and oregano into the dough. Set aside to rise.

Heat olive oil in a pan. Cook on medium until translucent. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds more.

Step 2: Add garlic and green pepper. Cook until the green pepper is slightly tender.

Step 3: Add mushrooms and spinach.

Step 4: Cook until spinach is wilted. Add salt. Stir to combine.

Step 5: Spread plastic wrap onto cutting board (gluten free dough is very sticky). Sprinkle cornmeal or flour onto the plastic wrap. Then place pizza dough on cutting board. Place more plastic wrap on top of dough. Roll out pizza dough. Using a bowl, cut out a circle.

Step 6: Lift off the plastic wrap.

Step 7: Spread tofu ricotta on half the dough.

Step 8: Spread mushroom mixture on half of the pizza dough.

Step 9: With the plastic, fold over the dough.

Step 10: With a fork, seal the edges.

Step 11: Place calzone on an oiled parchment paper lined baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Step 12: Bake until golden brown.

💭 Tips

• Divide dough into ¼s or in ½, depending upon how large you want calzones.
• Use parchment paper or plastic wrap for rolling and to fold dough over. It’s very sticky.
• Sprinkle cornmeal or flour on the cutting board to add flavor and crunch.
• Seal the edges with floured or slightly wet fingers. The filling will come out otherwise.
• Brush with olive oil for a shiny crust.
• Let sit after baking. They’re extremely hot!

👩🏻‍🍳 Recipe FAQs

What is the difference between a calzone and a stromboli recipe?

Calzones have ricotta (alongside mozzarella or parmesan) and stromboli has mozzarella so that there is less moisture. This vegan calzone has homemade tofu ricotta.

Can a calzone have sauce?

Usually, calzones do not have sauce inside. The sauce is served on the side for dipping.

*Note: Nutrition information should be considered an estimate only. Different nutrition calculators give you different results.

This sunny spring weekend I attended my nephew’s third birthday party. “I’m three!” He shouted. So cute.

Black & White Cookies: NYC Treat. As an auxiliary cupcake option for the kids and adults at the party, I made “Black & White Cookie” Vegan Cupcakes. These cupcakes taste like a slice of NYC foodie style! NYC is famous for B&W cookies. My recipe combines a rich double chocolate cupcake with a ‘graham cracker cookie crust’ cupcake bottom. Then a black and white sprinkled white glaze frosting. I packed up the cupcakes and trekked them to the party, where not to my surprise… the vegan cupcakes were a big hit! And since there is no dairy in the cupcakes, I don’t have to worry as much about the non-refrigeration transport time. Just one benefit of non-butter cream/vegan frosting.

“VEGAN” Cupcakes. I love how everyone calls them the ‘vegan’ cupcakes, while all the traditional cupcakes are just ‘cupcakes’. Both the adults and a few kids were shocked to taste ‘vegan’ cupcakes that tasted so decadent and yummy. My sister’s fresh strawberry frosted cupcakes were quite a hit too, but not vegan, so that kills it for me.


Here is the recipe:

Black & White Cookie Cupcakes


vegan, makes 12 cupcakes

Cupcakes


1 package Cherrybrook Kitchen Chocolate Cake mix or another brand or from scratch


1 vegan graham cracker crust pie crust or crushed graham crackers


1 cup chocolate chips, vegan


¼ cup canola oil


1 cup soy milk


3 tablespoon Vital Wheat Gluten or another ‘egg replacer’


¼ cup whole wheat flour


1 tablespoon white vinegar


1 teaspoon vanilla extract


1 teaspoon cinnamon


1 dash cayenne

White Glaze Frosting


⅓ cup vegan cream cheese, softened*


*optional, makes for a creamier, whiter frosting.


1 ⅓ cups white powdered sugar, vegan


½ cup softened vegan buttery spread


1 ½ teaspoon salt


1 teaspoon vanilla extract


1 tablespoon canola oil


½-3/4 cups soy milk, until desired consistency is attained


2 teaspoon cornstarch or arrowroot powder

Toppings: Vanilla Flavored Sugar, thick cut (or raw sugar) and Vegan Chocolate Sprinkles.

Directions:


In a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, vital wheat gluten, whole wheat flour, cinnamon and cayenne.


Add in liquids: soy milk, vinegar, and canola oil.


Stir well until batter is smooth.


Fold in ¼ cup of chocolate chips.

Prep your muffin baking pan. Gather your unbleached baking cups and line pan. I actually like to use a round cake pan, so that I get odd-ball shaped cupcakes. They come in trapezoid and cube-ish shapes instead of traditional round. But you can do either way!

Spray muffin liners with high-heat canola oil.

Drop in about 5 chocolate chips into the bottom of each muffin cup. Then crumble in about 1 tablespoon of graham cracker crust or crushed graham crackers into the bottom of the cups. This will be the ‘cookie’ part of the muffins!

Then spoon about 2 tablespoon of muffin batter into each muffin cup. Use all the batter.

BAKE muffins at 350 degrees for 16-18 minutes. Until tops are firm and nicely crusted.

While the muffins are baking, lets do the frosting:


In a food mixer or processor, or with a beater, add all the frosting ingredients-except only half the amount of sugar. Once the frosting puree is mixed, add in the rest of the sugar slowly until a desired consistency is achieved. Remember, the frosting will harden slightly when cooled in fridge. Spoon the frosting into a container and stick it in the fridge until it is needed.

Remove muffins from the oven and allow to cool. This should be about 20-30 minutes. In a huge rush? Place them in the fridge.

Frosting and decorating the cupcakes:


Make a sprinkle dipping plate by adding about ¼ cup thick cut sugar and 2 tablespoon chocolate sprinkle to a plate. Try to keep the toppings separated ½ and ½ – it depends how perfectly you want to ½ and ½ top your black and white cupcakes.

Spoon about 1 tablespoon of frosting onto each cupcake.

Dip the top of the cupcake into the sprinkle plate, in a rolling motion. Coat the frosting in black and white sprinkles. and sugar. Place the cupcake on a serving tray or in a Tupperware container to be transported.

Refill the sprinkle plate when it gets low and continue frosting and dipping the cupcakes.

Place the cupcakes in the fridge until they are ready to be served! Or eat immediately. Allow the cupcakes to ‘warm up’ for at least ten minutes before serving.





SERVE! Proudly, tell your cupcake customers that these Black & White Cookie Cupcakes are vegan cupcakes, a slice of NYC foodies style and delicious!!

Mint chocolate chip has been transformed into a healthy breakfast with these Mint Chocolate Chip Muffins. Naturally colored green, these muffins are a fun and healthy St. Patrick’s Day breakfast too!

Have you ever had a mint chocolate chip muffin before?

Talk about flavor bomb. When you say mint chocolate chip most people think of ice cream, but I like to eat breakfasts that taste like dessert so I was inspired to make Mint Chocolate Chip Muffins 🙂

I also wanted to make a green, healthy breakfast for my kids to enjoy this St. Patrick’s Day, and since I’ll already be making gluten-free Matcha Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert my breakfast couldn’t be green with the help of matcha this time. So… how did I get that beautiful, natural green hue?

By adding spinach into the batter!

I hope after reading that you just thought that I was borderline genius instead of borderline crazy 😉

No, I don’t normally blend vegetables up into my muffins… well, I did make gluten-free Chocolate Banana Oat Muffins with hidden veggies, and gluten-free Orange Carrot Oat Muffins… Okay, so I have a THING for putting veggies into my breakfasts!

When you eat baked goods for breakfast routinely (which I do, and LOVE!) in a grab-and-go situation you end up eating a daily meal without any veggies or fruits. So, yes, I like to add some veggies to my muffins sometimes for a healthier breakfaast. I hope you’re on board with it too!

The strong flavor of the mint extract entirely hides the spinach, so believe me when I say you don’t feel like you’re eating a salad muffin. Far from it – you’re eating a moist, mint muffin filled with pockets of chocolate chips that sing together.

My favorite part about these Mint Chocolate Chip Muffins: You can make them all in a food processor.

To start, preheat your oven to 350 and line a muffin tin with liners (green to be festive if you’d like!) or spray with non-stick spray.

In a food processor, add your spinach and blend till pureed. Next, add the rest of your wet ingredients: coconut oil, applesauce, mint extract. Lightly blend together until smooth. Add your eggs (or flax eggs) in and briefly blend again.

At this point you may smell the mint together with the pureed spinach and applesauce and maybe you’re really thinking that I’m crazy.

I’ll admit it, I was a little worried myself that I went overboard on the spinach. The smell of the spinach bakes out though! No salad muffins here 🙂

Now, add in your oat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Again, briefly mix till all is well combined. Be careful not to over mix your muffin batter.

Remove your food processor bowl and fold your chocolate chips in by hand.

Scoop the batter into your muffin tin till each muffin cavity is about 2/3 way full. Bake in the oven for about 15-17 minutes, or till the tops are set and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

TIP: For the sake of ease and to ensure your baked goods turn out and aren’t a crumbly mess, I recommend buying oat flour for muffins. Unless you have a high powered blender and can get your oats blended up as fine as the oat flour you can buy in a store. For example, my blender does a great job blending up oats, but my food processor does not blend my oats up fine enough.

See how beautifully fluffy these Mint Chocolate Chip Muffins are?

Thanks to the food processor, these muffins get whipped into fluffy perfection!

I hope everyone has a fantastic St. Patrick’s Day this year (and any year to come!) and I hope you try this recipe and come back to tell me that these Mint Chocolate Chip Muffins are unbelievably tasty! 🙂

More healthy breakfast recipes that aren’t so green that I’d highly recommend are my gluten-free Cinnamon Applesauce Oat Bread or easy gluten-free, vegan Banana Pancakes (always a winner in our house!).

This Creamy Asparagus Orzo with Garlic Parmesan is entirely vegan and gluten free and perfect for lunch or dinner. Insanely delicious, easy to make, and out-of-this world tasty.

I have a thing for creamy dishes. Just take a look at my Vegetarian White Chili. It is plant based, super easy to make, and so delicious.

If you haven’t already try this, please do. The chili got rave reviews on Pinterest and is a big reader favorite.

Spring and summer are farmers’ market times for me. I have yo admit I absolutely love farmers’ markets. Even if I don’t need anything, there is always something to find.

Actually, I was never a big fan of asparagus. I honestly don’t know why. But that must be the reason why you find only one dish with asparagus on my blog.

So I used it sparely. But only recently at a farmers’ market, I got a package of fresh asparagus. Now is about time time to try this again. Maybe I can convince myself that this is something excellent.

Of course, there are also some great asparagus benefits. It’s high in nutrients like fiber, and folate, which is a mood booster. Say goodbye to bad days.

Asparagus is also rich in antioxidants like vitamins A, C, E, and K. It’s low in calories, and has anti-inflammatory benefits.

But now, let me show you how I turned from non-fan to asparagus fan with this Creamy Asparagus Orzo with Garlic Parmesan.

It turned out so amazing, that since my first try I made it three times. Could probably eat it every day.

That must mean something. So you can be sure if you serve this Creamy Asparagus Orzo to someone like me who wasn’t on board with this vegetable, everyone will love it.

What is Orzo

It’s a small flat and oval pasta traditionally made from wheat which isn’t gluten free. But I found a gluten free orzo before so that’s a winner. For suggestions, see my post about Greek Baked Ziti.

So everyone can enjoy this recipe. If eating gluten free isn’t a concern for you, just use your favorite orzo.

Ready to pull off this Creamy Asparagus Orzo with Garlic Parmesan. Let’s get excited and do this together.

On a stove top, use a sauce pan and combine the cooked orzo, garlic, plant based cream or 3 ingredient vegan cheese sauce.

Stir in the cooked asparagus, and season with salt and pepper according to your taste. Mix in the vegan Parmesan, but reserve a tablespoon or two for topping. Bring to a simmer and reduce to low heat. After about 5 minutes, the dish is done.

Divide on plates and enjoy. This will impress everyone for sure even meat eaters, or asparagus dis-likers. It makes an satisfying dinner, lunch, and is also meant for date night.

You can also serve this on it’s own but it’s also really delicious with these Vegetarian Swedish Meatballs.

If you can’t find a plain oat or soy milk cream, I recommend you use my 3 Ingredient Vegan Cheese Sauce.

You wouldn’t believe me but it’s just vegetable broth, tahini, and cashews. All blended into a smooth and creamy sauce.

I also tried the Creamy Asparagus Orzo with coconut milk as well, but I find the coconut flavor too overwhelming. So I wouldn’t recommend that, even though it will work.

If you only find a plant milk, you can also use that. But milk is not as rich and thick as a cream. So you will need a thickener like tapioca or potato starch.

Try this Creamy Asparagus Orzo with Garlic Parmesan for yourself and wow all your guests.

Capture and picture it with a tag on Instagram and Facebook.

Happy spring and see you soon, Florian.

Gluten free edible cookie dough, perfect for eating by the spoon, topping brownies, or putting in ice cream.

I don’t know about you, but I LOVE cookie dough.

Like, I think I might actually prefer eating cookie dough to eating actual baked cookies.

I know, my love affair with cookies is no secret.

I mean, I wrote a whole cookbook filled with cookie recipes.

Because I just love cookies.

I have been dying to bake cookies in a skillet, like this Low Carb Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie from All Day I Dream About Food. YUM! It even has a paleo option.

Now I am not one to not lick the bowl after making a batch of cookies.

Heck! I normally leave a little extra in the bottom with that in mind.

I haven’t died of salmonella yet!

All the same… if I am planning on just eating the dough, I don’t want to make it with egg.

I took my favorite gluten free chocolate chip cookie recipe  and made just a few changes to it to make it and egg-less gluten free edible cookie dough recipe.

Basically I just took the egg out and added in a little bit of milk or water.

I opted to use mini chocolate chips instead of the regular ones because I used my cookie dough in some gluten free cookie dough brownie ice cream and didn’t want the huge chunks of frozen chocolate to chip someones teeth. It could happen…

Be sure that the butter is cooled before you mix in the other ingredients.

If the batter is even slightly warm those mini chocolate chips will melt and streak in the cookie dough.

Still delicious, just not as pretty.

If you plan to use your gluten free edible cookie dough in ice cream like I did, just roll it into small balls.

I’d actually roll them even smaller than the ones that I made. It helps if you have someone with little fingers to help with the rolling.

Yes, their little balls of cookie dough won’t be as round and smooth, but it is so much fun!

how do you make cookie dough that you can eat?

Making edible gluten free cookie dough can be a challenge because you eat it raw.

Any funky flour after-tastes don’t get a chance to bake out. So no bean flours here!

I use my gluten-free rice flour (cookie/cake) blend. the gluten-free edible cookie dough tastes great uncooked!

Because of its higher starch content it helps the dough to be nice and smooth, not gritty or sandy.

For an even better taste, and to kill any bacteria in your flour, you can lightly toast it before making your edible gluten free cookie dough.

Spread your flour on a baking sheet and bake it in a preheated 350°f oven for 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes so it doesn’t burn.

It is really simple to make this gluten free edible cookie dough recipe. You don’t need a mixer, just a bowl and a spatula and you are set!

How do you use edible gluten free cookie dough?

• Add a scoop to a bowl of ice cream to make a gluten free cookie dough sundae. (What I did instead of birthday cake one year. So good!)
• Make copy cat gluten free half baked ice cream with brownie chunks and cookie dough.
• Add to your favorite ice cream, or make no churn gluten free cookie dough ice cream.
• Spread on top of brownies. (Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies)
• Use instead of a baked cookie to make gluten free cookie dough ice cream sandwiches.
• Dip in chocolate to make cookie dough truffles. (Even better if you add brownie too. Gluten Free Cookie Dough Brownie Truffles)
• Use gluten free cookie dough as the filling in between 2 layers of cake.
• Grab a spoon and dig in! Pretend you are at a trendy cookie dough cafe in NYC for bonus points.

📖 Recipe

Gluten Free Edible Cookie Dough (egg-less)

Yield:
approx 1 ¼ cups

Prep Time:
15 minutes

Total Time:
15 minutes

Gluten free edible cookie dough, perfect for eating by the spoon, topping brownies, or putting in ice cream. Dairy-free and vegan option.

Instructions

1. Mix together the melted butter and brown sugar. Add a Tablespoon of milk (or water), vanilla extract, and stir until combined.
2. Add the gluten-free flour and stir until combined. If it is too dry for your purposes add a little more milk and stir until smooth.
3. Stir in the mini chocolate chips and then dig in!

Notes

For better flavor, and to kill off any bacteria in your flour, toast it before using. Preheat your oven to 350°f and spread your flour on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool before using.

Nutrition Information

Yield 9

Serving Size 2 Tablespoons

Amount Per Serving

Calories 202Total Fat 12gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 5gCholesterol 16mgSodium 91mgCarbohydrates 23gFiber 1gSugar 11gProtein 3g

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About Michele

Michele Rosen is the author of Paleo baking at Home and the creator of Paleo Running Momma, a website dedicated to bringing you the most delicious paleo friendly meals and desserts. She’s a mom of 3 kids ages 17, 15 and 13, a paleo eater, runner and yogi.

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