Diabetic-Friendly Holiday Baking Recipes

You should­n’t feel guilty for indulging around the hol­i­days, espe­cial­ly if you stock the dessert table with health-con­scious treats.

This hol­i­day sea­son, try sub­sti­tut­ing bak­ing recipes that are high in refined sug­ar and heavy creams with recipes that use nat­ur­al ingre­di­ents such as fresh fruit, Greek yogurt, hon­ey and spices. Your desserts will be just as deli­cious and have a healthy, hol­i­day sweet­ness that won’t upset the gut.

Reg­is­tered dietit­ian and cer­ti­fied dia­betes edu­ca­tor, Lara Hamil­ton, shares some of her favorite hol­i­day dessert recipes that every­one can enjoy.

PUMP­KIN PUD­DING PARFAIT

This no-cook dessert is a great sub­sti­tute for pump­kin pie — and it’s only 100 calo­ries! For a quick, healthy and deli­cious pump­kin dessert, look no fur­ther — this pud­ding par­fait is amaz­ing and ready in min­utes. You can sub­sti­tute light whipped cream for the Greek yogurt here if desired.

CHOCO­LATE AVO­CA­DO MOUSSE

Every­one loves dessert and mak­ing sweet treats from nat­ur­al foods is great. You will be sur­prised how creamy this mousse is from the avo­ca­do, and it’s a nice dessert to serve a guest who has a dairy allergy.

SAUTEED CIN­NA­MON APPLES

Fast, nutri­tious and it smells like apple pie — what’s not to like? Make this sliced fruit with cin­na­mon, vanil­la and hon­ey for your next quick dessert. For even more fla­vor, top with toast­ed, chopped walnuts.

For more infor­ma­tion on our Dia­betes Edu­ca­tion and Nutri­tion Ser­vices depart­ments, please vis­it the depart­ment pages or call your pre­ferred location.

Reprint­ed with per­mis­sion from The Amer­i­can Dia­betes Asso­ci­a­tion. Copy­right 2019 by The Amer­i­can Dia­betes Association.