10 Healthy Dessert Recipes To Try This Easter

Living in a diverse country like Canada, we get to celebrate and take part in all of the holidays and festivities that occur, from Easter to Christmas, Eid, Diwali, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and many more. Growing up in Toronto, I’ve come to discover that it doesn’t matter what culture or religion you are, you have the ability to partake in these recognized holidays and events, like Easter!

I’m almost sure that everyone at some point (whether they do or don’t celebrate Easter religiously) has eaten Easter chocolates or candies, participated in or hosted an Easter egg hunt, or had their children come home from school with painted Easter eggs and other crafts.

Which brings us to the treats that we indulge in at Easter time. Easter chocolates and candy hit the store shelves by the end of March until April's Easter Sunday, and for an entire month, we’re tempted by the middle aisle of stores stocked with chocolate eggs, bunnies, jelly beans, and all sorts of flavoured and colourful candy.

The problem is that we easily overeat these festive treats (I mean, who can really eat just five Cadbury mini eggs in one sitting and then put the bag away?!?!) We’re also aware that we’re over-indulging, which after gorging on a bag full of Cadbury mini eggs can make us feel crappy and worse about it - physically, mentally, and emotionally. What about the affect that these foods have on us and our children’s health, weight, nutrition, and our environment?

Buying ourselves Easter chocolates and giving the kids candies seems like the normal thing to do but where do you draw the line or know what to give them and what to avoid? Better yet, what about the fun and healthy recipes that you see online but are scared to try and make because you worry that you’ll spend time and money on “special” ingredients, for a recipe that just ends up looking and tasting like poop?

Today, you'll find out:

What are the unhealthiest Easter treats that you should avoid
Nutrition tips for what to do if you want to indulge or buy treats for your kids
How you can easily make healthy Easter desserts at home that are natural, low sugar, less calories, and also gluten-free and/or dairy-free to prevent any allergies or inflammation

THE WORST OFFENDERS (FOR BEING UNHEALTHY) + NUTRITION TIPS:

Milk Chocolate Bunny

One bunny (for example: Russell Stover’s) equals a lot of calories, 14 grams of unhealthy fat, and a whopping 23 grams of sugar (which exceeds our daily intake of added sugar)

Nutrition Tip: if you’re going to buy a chocolate bunny, choose to buy a HOLLOW one instead of a SOLID one. This will prevent you or your child from consuming a lot of additional calories that aren’t necessary.:

Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs

1 egg is 170 calories (that’s a lot for one small chocolate), and 16 grams of sugar! Let’s look at the ingredient list:

Peanuts, sugar, dextrose, vegetable oil (cocoa butter, palm, shea, sunflower and/or safflower oil),chocolate, nonfat milk, contains 2% or less of milk fat, lactose, salt, whey, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, corn syrup, soy lecithin, cornstarch, glycerin, TBHQ & PGPR, vanillin.

Many people now have developed a peanut allergy, the second ingredient is sugar (meaning after peanuts, the highest ingredient is sugar), the third ingredient is dextrose (a corn-derived filler, which is more sugar), vegetable oil (chemically derived and processed, probably GMO), followed by corn syrup and cornstarch (more sugar), and WTF is “TBHQ & PGPR”?

Nutrition Tip: There are two easy options here, which is combining real dark chocolate and natural peanut butter together at home or making a homemade peanut butter egg recipe.

Jelly Beans

14 jelly beans contain 150 calories and 30 grams of sugar! Yikes. Jelly beans seem like an innocent treat but they pack a punch with sugar and artificial colours.

Nutrition Tip: If you can live a fulfilled and happy life without jelly beans, then you already know the tip here is to avoid them. Otherwise, opt for organic and natural brands that offer jelly beans that are naturally coloured and flavoured.

Cadbury Crème Egg

1 egg is 170 calories, 25 grams of sugar, and filled with multiple colours. It’s safe to say that the creaminess and richness of a Cadbury crème egg isn’t the healthiest of Easter treats, if not, one of the worst offenders.

Nutrition Tip: If Cadbury Crème Eggs are your love and passion at Easter, the best suggestion is to find a recipe where you can replicate chocolate cream-filled egg at home with natural ingredients and not nearly the amount of sugar. Check out the cool recipe below by food blogger, 40 Aprons.

Most of these Easter treats are marketed toward children so you can already guarantee that the amount of calories, saturated fat, and sugar exceeds what should be consumed in a child’s daily intake. The recommended added sugar intake for a child is no more than 25 grams but most children are eating double or triple this amount. It may be stating the obvious but children aren’t born with the knowledge of what to eat and how much to eat (unless we, as adults educate ourselves and them), so giving them an entire pack of flavoured sugar candies just easily feeds an addiction that we all have for sweet foods. Not to mention the artificial ingredients and colours that lurk in these packaged sweets (to learn more about the dangers of artificial colours, click here).

In terms of the environmental impact, generic manufacturing of white and milk chocolate has a high carbon footprint. There’s the production of cocoa beans, sugar, and palm oil, all of which are huge causes of deforestation. Then add all of the “fun size” wrappers to the equation and we have a lot of waste that is being created.

Cacao beans create pure chocolate, and none of the other sugar and additives are necessary for a rich chocolate taste. Dark chocolate made from craft producers are more environmentally friendly and healthy, especially if they’re Fair-Trade certified, non-GMO verified, and organic. These small brands promote direct trade with farmers, in small batches, and support those farms where the cacao beans are grown, leading to a sustainable choice for the people and planet. If you’re thinking “so what?”, well … we live on the planet and so will our future offspring and generations to come.

10 HEALTHY EASTER DESSERT RECIPES TO TRY:

Now, to the good stuff! Here’s my roundup of 10 healthy Easter dessert recipes to try this year from some of the best food bloggers to follow for naturally healthy recipes.

All photos and credit go to the respective owner/blogger. Click on the image to be directed to their recipe page.

Once you buy the ingredients for these feel-good recipes (which tend to avoid refined flour, sugar, conventional dairy products) you’ll have your pantry stocked with awesome ingredients (like almond flour, coconut oil, raw honey, and coconut sugar to name a few) to use all the time for new healthy recipes.

NO-BAKE GREEK YOGURT TART

by: COOKIE + KATE