Dessert recipes to help you give up sugar

Cutting refined sugar out of your diet can help you wean yourself off the substance

Try a Key lime pie made sweet with honey (vm2002)

Guilty of erroding teeth and raising the risk of obesity and Type 2 diabetes, sugar is currently in the spotlight as the substance we should cut out of our diets.

As a type of carbohydrate, sugar can be found in many foods from honey to apples and milk. But it is refined sugar that is under most intense fire, prompting the Government to recently announce a tax on soft drink companies after pressure from campaigners.

Concerns surrounding sugar mean that cutting back on the white stuff is at the forefront of people's minds, with a recent survey showing that 60 per cent of people in the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Sweden monitor how much sugar they with, while a quarter actively seek out low-sugar products, New Food Magazine reported.

But sugar is not just in cakes and chocolate, as it lurks in savoury bottles of sauce, bread and even crisps.

Carly Tierney, a personal trainer at DW Fitness Clubs, suggests making small changes to you diet to slowly wean yourself off sugar. Below are three desert recipes which swap out refined sugars for less harmful forms.

Key Lime Pie

This recipe uses lime, honey and vanilla to give the dish some sweetness. Refined sugar is 50 per cent glucose and 50 per cent fructose - which is usually found in fruits - and is broken down easily by the body, causing a spike in blood glucose and making you feel satiated for a shorter period of time.

However, honey is 30 per cent glucose, 40 per cent fructose, and is also made of more complex sugars that are harder to break down, according to The Huffington Post.

Ingredients

10 sugar-free cinnamon Graham crackers (stocked in most large UK supermarkets and online)

3 tablespoons of honey

1 ½ cups of almond milk

½ cup of lime juice

Lime zest

½ cup of fat-free Greek yoghurt

2 tablespoons of butter/low-fat margarine

3 medium egg yolks

Optional: Fresh vanilla pods, instead of vanilla extract which contains 13g of sugar per 100g on average

Method

• Blend your crackers into fine crumbs using a food processor. Mix in the melted butter, honey and a tiny pinch of salt. Press the mixture into the bottom of a baking tin.

• Bake this in the oven at 160°C for around 10 minutes.

• Mix together the almond milk, yogurt, eggs, lime juice, vanilla pods and zest into a bowl.

• Pour this mixture on top of the crumbly base and heat in the oven for a further 15 minutes.

• Allow the pie to cool before placing it in the fridge for at least four hours. For best results, leave to set overnight.

Apple and cinnamon pancakes

(DW Fitness Clubs)

Pancakes don't have to be drenched in high-fat and high-sugar chocolate spreads to be delicious. This version gains it sweetness and flavour from the apples and spices.

Ingredients

• 110g of plain flour, sifted

• Pinch of salt

• 1 whole egg

• 2 egg whites

• 275ml of skimmed milk

• 2 apples

• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon of powdered nutmeg

• Low-fat Greek yoghurt

Method

• Crack your eggs into a bowl and gradually add the milk and flour. Mix until you have a lovely smooth batter.

• Heat up a splash of olive oil in a pan before pouring your pancake mixture in.

• Slice your apples and stew them in a small amount of boiling water for a couple of minutes.

• Add your cinnamon and nutmeg and continue to heat through until the apples are soft.

• Scoop your mixture on to your pancakes and add the Greek yogurt to the mix.

Nutmeg, raisin and coconut cookies

(Es75)

This is easy recipe harnesses the sweetness of honey and coconut.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups of hot water

• 1 cup of oats or almonds

• 1 teaspoon of baking powder

• 1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon

• 50g desiccated coconut

• 2 teaspoons of honey

• ½ cup of butter

• 2 eggs

Method

• Add your raisins, nutmeg and cinnamon into hot water and leave to soak for around five minutes.

• Meanwhile, mix your oats or almonds, coconut, butter, eggs, baking powder and honey in a bowl.

• Add your nutmeg and cinnamon mixture to the bowl and work into a dough. Add water if it is not smooth and supple enough to separate into cookies.

• Separate the dough with your hands or a cookie cutter to create 15 to 20 separate biscuits. Place them on a greased tray.

• Bake in the oven at 160C for 10 to 15 minutes.