On the Menu
- Vanilla Chia Pudding with Berries (no-bake)
- Dark Chocolate Avocado Mousse (no-bake)
- Greek Yogurt Berry Parfait (five minutes)
- Baked Cinnamon Apple with Walnuts (baked)
- Almond Flour Shortbread (baked)
- Paneer Sandesh (Indian sweet)
- Coconut Almond Ladoo (Indian sweet)
- Frozen Berry Yogurt Bark (freezer)
1. Vanilla Chia Pudding with Berries
Make it before bed, eat it cold with a spoon.
~150 kcalper jar
~15 gcarbs
Very low GIfat and fiber
5 min+ 4 hr chill
2jars
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp chia seeds
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk (or whole milk)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract, pinch of cinnamon
- ½ cup raspberries or blueberries
- Sweetener to taste (optional)
Steps
- Whisk the chia, milk, vanilla, cinnamon and any sweetener in a jar.
- Let it sit 10 minutes, then whisk hard a second time.
- Cover and chill at least 4 hours, or overnight.
- Top with berries just before eating so they stay firm.
Tip: That second whisk is the whole recipe. Skip it and the seeds settle into a solid lump at the bottom while the top stays watery.
2. Dark Chocolate Avocado Mousse
Rich enough that nobody guesses what's in it.
~220 kcalper serving
~10 gcarbs
Very low GImostly fat
10 min+ 30 min chill
3servings
Ingredients
- 1 large ripe avocado
- 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 30 g dark chocolate, 85% or higher, melted
- 3 tbsp unsweetened milk, ½ tsp vanilla
- Sweetener to taste, generous pinch of salt
Steps
- Blend the avocado alone first, until completely smooth with no green flecks.
- Add the cocoa, melted chocolate, milk, vanilla, sweetener and salt. Blend again.
- Loosen with another spoon of milk if it is too stiff to pipe or scoop.
- Chill 30 minutes before serving.
Tip: The salt is not optional. A good pinch is the difference between chocolate mousse and cold avocado.
3. Greek Yogurt Berry Parfait
The one you can build without a recipe once you've made it twice.
~275 kcalper glass
~11 gcarbs
GI ~25Very low
5 mintotal
2servings
Ingredients
- 1 cup full-fat Greek yogurt
- ½ cup raspberries, blueberries or strawberries
- 2 tbsp walnuts or almonds, toasted and chopped
- 1 tbsp chia or ground flaxseed
- Cinnamon, a few drops of vanilla, sweetener if needed
Steps
- Stir the vanilla, cinnamon and any sweetener through the yogurt.
- Layer yogurt, berries and nuts twice in a glass.
- Finish with the chia or flax and eat straight away, while the nuts are still crunchy.
Tip: Use full-fat, not low-fat. Low-fat yogurts usually put sugar back in where the fat came out, which is exactly backwards for this.
4. Baked Cinnamon Apple with Walnuts
Warm fruit and butter, which is most of what apple pie was doing anyway.
~160 kcalper apple
~21 gcarbs
GI ~36Low
35 mintotal
2servings
Ingredients
- 2 small firm apples (Granny Smith or Honeycrisp)
- 2 tbsp walnuts, chopped
- 1 tsp cinnamon, pinch of nutmeg
- 1 tsp butter, split between the two
- A squeeze of lemon
Steps
- Heat the oven to 180 C (350 F). Halve the apples and scoop out the cores.
- Squeeze lemon over the cut faces so they don't brown.
- Fill the hollows with walnuts, cinnamon and nutmeg, dot with butter.
- Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until a knife slides in with no resistance.
Tip: Leave the skin on. Most of the apple's fiber is in it, and that fiber is what slows the sugar underneath.
5. Almond Flour Shortbread
Buttery, crumbly, and no eggs to work around.
~115 kcalper cookie
~2 gcarbs
Low GIalmond flour
25 min+ 15 min chill
Makes 12cookies
Ingredients
- 1½ cups fine almond flour
- 4 tbsp butter, softened
- 3 tbsp powdered erythritol or monk fruit
- ½ tsp vanilla, pinch of salt
Steps
- Cream the butter and sweetener until pale.
- Work in the almond flour, vanilla and salt until it comes together as a soft dough.
- Roll into a log, wrap, and chill 15 minutes.
- Slice into rounds about 1 cm thick and bake at 165 C (325 F) for 12 to 14 minutes, until the edges are golden.
- Cool completely on the tray.
Tip: They come out of the oven soft and crisp up as they cool. Moving them early is the only way to break them.
6. Paneer Sandesh
A Bengali sweet that is mostly fresh cheese, so it was always halfway there.
~85 kcaleach
~2 gcarbs
Low GIprotein and fat
20 mintotal
Makes 8pieces
Ingredients
- 200 g fresh paneer or chhena, crumbled
- 2 tbsp powdered erythritol
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom
- A few saffron strands, soaked in 1 tsp warm milk
- Chopped pistachio to finish
Steps
- Knead the crumbled paneer on a board with the heel of your hand for about 5 minutes, until the grain disappears and it turns smooth.
- Cook it in a non-stick pan on low with the sweetener for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring, until it stops sticking to the pan.
- Take it off the heat, mix in the cardamom and saffron milk, and let it cool enough to handle.
- Shape into small discs and press a piece of pistachio into each.
Tip: Knead longer than feels necessary. Sandesh is judged on texture before flavor, and the difference is about two extra minutes of work.
7. Coconut Almond Ladoo
Fifteen minutes, no cooking, keeps a week in the fridge.
~90 kcaleach
~3 gcarbs
Low GIcoconut and nuts
15 mintotal
Makes 10ladoo
Ingredients
- 1 cup desiccated coconut, plus extra for rolling
- ½ cup almond flour
- 2 tbsp powdered erythritol
- ¼ tsp cardamom, 1 tsp ghee
- 3 to 4 tbsp warm unsweetened milk
Steps
- Toast the coconut dry in a pan for 2 minutes, just until it smells nutty. Don't let it color.
- Mix in the almond flour, sweetener, cardamom and ghee.
- Add the warm milk one spoon at a time, until the mixture holds together when pressed.
- Roll into balls, roll those in extra coconut, and chill 20 minutes to firm up.
Tip: Add the milk a spoon at a time and stop the moment it holds. One spoon too many and they will not keep a round shape.
8. Frozen Berry Yogurt Bark
Break off a piece when you want something cold and sweet.
~75 kcalper piece
~4 gcarbs
Very low GIyogurt and berries
10 min+ 3 hr freeze
Makes 8pieces
Ingredients
- 1½ cups full-fat Greek yogurt
- ½ cup berries, halved if large
- 2 tbsp almonds or pistachios, chopped
- ½ tsp vanilla, sweetener to taste
Steps
- Stir the vanilla and sweetener through the yogurt.
- Spread it about 1 cm thick on a parchment-lined tray.
- Scatter the berries and nuts over the top and press them in lightly.
- Freeze 3 hours, then break into shards. Keep in a bag in the freezer.
Tip: Line the tray with parchment, not foil. Frozen yogurt welds itself to foil and you will spend longer picking it off than you did making it.
A quick note: Calorie counts and glycemic index (GI) values are estimates. Actual values vary with ingredients, portions, and preparation. GI under 55 is considered low, 56 to 69 medium. This page is for general guidance only and isn't medical advice; please follow your doctor's or dietitian's recommendations. Where a recipe offers a choice of milk, the calories and carbs assume whole milk; unsweetened almond milk is lower on both.
About the sweeteners: Where a recipe calls for a sweetener, erythritol, monk fruit and stevia are the safe default, because they add no glycemic load at all. Honey is fine in moderation. It sits a little lower on the index than table sugar, roughly 45 to 64 against 65, and some trials show a slightly gentler rise after eating, but it is still concentrated sugar and that difference is small next to how much of it you use. So treat a teaspoon of honey as a teaspoon of sugar, count it, and enjoy it. Either way, start with less than you think you need, since the substitutes read sweeter than sugar to most people.
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