Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth Without Sacrificing Your Smile

Too much sugar can be the enemy of good oral health. When you eat sugary foods like candy and soda, the bacteria in your mouth feed on the sugar and convert it to acids. These acids build plaque and tartar that attack your enamel, thus beginning the tooth decay process. If you’re one of the many people out there with a sweet tooth, you don’t have to sacrifice your smile to satisfy it. These recipes are chock-full of flavor, without a high sugar content.

Sweet and Savory Baked Apples

From: American Diabetes Association 

This recipe is not only low in sugar – it also contains apples, meaning it has a high water content that helps dilute the sugars  contained in the dish, according to WebMD.

Serves six

Ingredients:

• 2 granny smith apples (medium size), peeled, seeded, and diced
• 2 honey crisp apples (medium size), peeled, seeded, and diced
• 2 Tbsp. melted Smart Balance Light (or other margarine)
• 2 Tbsp. Splenda brown sugar
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. salt (optional)
• Cooking spray
• Slivered almonds to use as topping, if desired

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Place six five-ounce ramekins on a baking sheet and coat each with cooking spray.
3. In a mixing bowl, combine apples, melted Smart Balance, Splenda brown sugar, ground nutmeg and salt. Mix well.
4. Fill each ramekin about half full of apples. Place one cheese wedge on top of apples and press to spread. Fill the ramekins with the remaining apples, mounding them over the rim of the ramekin.
5. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove and top each ramekin with 1 tbsp. of slivered almonds. Return to oven.
6. Bake for 15 more minutes, or until apples are bubbling and almonds are toasted. Remove from oven and let cool to just warmer than room temperature, then serve. Can also be eaten cold or heated up in the microwave the next day.

Sugar-Free Impossible Cheesecake

From: Recipe4Living.com

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup Splenda
• 1/2 cup Bisquick
• 2 eggs
• 2 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened, cubed

Topping ingredients:

• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 Tbsp. Splenda
• 2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease pie plate.
3. Put milk, vanilla, eggs, Splenda and Bisquick in blender and blend for 15 seconds.
4. Add cream cheese and blend on high for additional two minutes.
5. Pour into pie plate and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until center is firm.
6. Mix topping and keep cool.
7. Let cheesecake cool and spread topping.
8. Refrigerate.

Chocolate Mousse

From: MyRecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cold water
• 2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
• 6 Tbsp. sugar-free chocolate syrup
• 2 3/4 cup frozen reduced-calorie whipped topping, thawed and divided

Directions:

1. Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in a small saucepan; let stand for one minute. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for about three minutes or until gelatin dissolves. Remove from heat; cool.
2. Add cocoa and chocolate syrup to gelatin mixture, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Fold in two cups whipped topping. Spoon evenly into six individual dessert dishes. Cover and chill two hours or until firm.