After I posted the Vanilla Banana Avocado Ice Cream recipe…
…I got to thinking about “healthifying” desserts. You know, calling something “ice cream” when really it’s blended bananas and avocado.
Did I just healthify something by making “ice cream” out of bananas and avocado?
If so, I take no great pleasure in that.
Why not?
Most people love it when they find out a dessert is healthy. I do to, but I don’t care if it isn’t healthy, either.
I believe that desserts are desserts; they don’t need to be healthy: they’re dessert. Which is inherently not really “healthy” and that’s okay with me.
I posted recently that I believe one can eat desserts (daily) and still live a “healthy” lifestyle and be healthy and balanced.
I know that’s it’s common among many food bloggers to put bananas into a food processor and call that “ice cream”. I’ve done it. Gena’s to blame. In the best possible way, of course. She called frozen bananas banana softserve way back when.
And I’ve done a whole series of softserve variations (all in my dessert recipes)
Vegan Peanut Butter Softserve anyone?
It’s sure thick like ice cream
And it does taste wonderful! Not sure it’s “ice cream” but it’s a frozen treat. I like treats.
And then there’s the other trend of beans in desserts.
Some people put garbanzo beans into chickpeas and call them “blondies”.
I like my White Chocolate Blondies with Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting a whole lot.
Full fat, fully decadent, fully amazing. No beans in sight.
Katie has a recipe for Chocolate Chip Blondies. They look awesome, but I’m scared they’ll taste bean-ey!
Some bloggers put black beans into brownies and call them “black bean brownies”.
I like my Fudgy Nutella Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting
No beans. Just pure, unadulterated dense, sweet, fudgey-ness. The best and richest brownies I’ve ever eaten.
Lately I’ve seen hummus or chickpeas in cookie dough all over the place.
Christin has a recipe for Baked Dessert Hummus Balls in case you’re curious.
And Spabettie made Christin’s recipe
And Evan has Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Dessert Hummus
All that sounds great…
But…
…I’ll stick with my Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Still “healthy” and vegan and gluten free, but no beans.
Why haven’t I tried these “healthy” or “healthified” desserts?
Frankly I am scared!
I’m scared to waste good cocoa powder, sugar, agave, or other ingredients if the recipe doesn’t live up to my expectations. And they’re high.
Not to mention, time and energy are precious commodities and I haven’t those to waste, either.
I hate throwing away food from recipes that I am not pleased with and I hate wasting cooking time, energy, and money on ingredients only to wind up with a meh result.
So, I’m on the fence about the adding beans to desserts. Like I mentioned, I believe one can eat desserts and be healthy and balanced.
But everyone’s recipes who I linked look so good! So when I get back to San Diego, maybe some beans in desserts will happen. You never know.
I also believe that healthy desserts can and do taste amazing and can be totally decadent! My raw vegan chocolate mousse comes to mind. Healthy doesn’t have to “taste healthy”.
I have the utmost respect for everyone’s recipes, creations, and food choices; whether they’re “healthy” or not, bean-ey or not, and where he or she falls on the spectrum of what he or she chooses to eat. We all have our own path and preferences in life and food and I have respect for everyone’s ability to choose what’s best for her.
From my last post, it was interesting hearing what wild animals are in your area. But it was a whole lot more fun reading about if you consider yourself a wild child or not.
Questions
1. What are your thoughts on beans in desserts? Have you tried any bean-ey desserts?
As I said, I’m scared to waste time, money, and energy because I don’t want to “taste the beans”.
Twist my arm. Tell me you’ve made something with beans in it that’s dessert-ey and you love it!
2. What are your thoughts on “healthifying” desserts? Do you try? Do you care?
No, I don’t try or care.
I actually almost go over the top the other direction to make things as sinfully rich and decadent as possible.
Desserts are treats, extras, and should be treated as such. It’s just not worth my chew to have something less than 100% decadent. I’d rather not have it at all and don’t care if it’s not considered healthy. Life is short, enjoy dessert is my motto.
Anyone want a piece of fudge?
It’s vegan & GF, though!
3. Yay or nay: “Beans, beans, the magical fruit, the more you eat, the more you toot?”
Yay!
With that happy thought, I hope to enjoy the beach for one more day!
I’m savoring the last bits of Aruba before we head home.
Hi!
I just want to say that I’ve made Katie’s blondies weekly since she posted the recipe! I love it, and beans aren’t that expensive…so def don’t hesitate to try it :)
True on desserts, I don’t mind a splurge occasionally. But if it can be healthier and still great tasting, sweet! I’m not scared to try healthy desserts, I’ll try a black bean brownie recipe because if it doesn’t come out good, I’ll make it good instead of wasting the ingredients.
1. I haven’t yet, but I will and have no problems with it.
2. I think it’s a good thing overall as long as it tastes good. That’s what I appreciate about raw desserts so much is simple, non-processed ingredients can make a great desserts. Maybe a cake of solid nuts and dates isn’t lower calorie than a traditional flour cake, but it’s in a form the body can use more efficiently and that’s important for any recipe.
3. Not so much anymore, think I’m building a tolerance. :-)
I havent tried beans in desserts either. Im sceptical.. However, I think Katies Chocolate Chip Cookes Pie looks amazing!! And your avocado ice cream too!
Im all for healthifying desserts. But for me this doesnt mean putting beans in them. For me, this means using high quality ingredients like maple sugar and sirup, nuts seeds, coconut oil, cacao ect.. I dont use white sugar or whote flour, but i feel like the stuff I do use, just makes the desserts even better!
And I agree, desserts are desserts! Healthy or not, they are best served in dessert-portions. And i believe I get way more satisfied by eating a real dessert instead of a healthy/low cal/low carb or whatever dessert. But I want it to be REAL food, anyway :)
So guilty of eating desserts for “meals”. Frozen Bananas, plain bananas, dried cherries & Brazil nuts.
In the past it used to be tofu cheezecakes & puddings. It is my unintentional mission to eat whatever the f**k I want and pretend it’s healthy. :)
The cat & I are “stress” eaters. :)
I’m mixed on this topic. Sometimes I health-ify; sometimes not. It honestly depends on what else I’ve been eating recently. If I’ve been eating lots of decadent stuff and want dessert, I might health-ify a bit. But if it has to taste good. That’s my rule.
Beans in dessert hold no interest for me, because I get pretty good amounts of protein and fiber as it stands. And I like beans as beans, so no need to “sneak” them into something. Though I can appreciate how this might be a useful and desirable thing for some people to do.
100% agree on the fear of wasting valuable baking products! I can appreciate some beany desserts (I tried some black bean brownies that were tasty), but usually, when I want a dessert, I want a dessert. I heard a great quote a few years ago that has really stuck with me: “We gain weight by eating what we want after eating what we think we should.” Give me the real deal for dessert!
brilliant : “We gain weight by eating what we want after eating what we think we should.”
I totally agree with you about healthifying desserts. I get my healthy stuff in the rest of the time so I can enjoy the real thing when it comes to desserts. It’s not that I’m against making treats a little more nutritious, I’m just not willing to sacrifice flavor. I’ve tried recipes where people swear it taste like the real thing and well it doesn’t. People will say how all their friends loved and no one knew it was healthy….umm maybe there friends are just more polite than mine because I have yet to have that experience! I really want to try one of Katie’s bean recipes, but I’m afraid I’ll be able to tell!
“People will say how all their friends loved and no one knew it was healthy….umm maybe there friends are just more polite than mine because I have yet to have that experience! ”
I totally understand! I use my mother as my judge and jury and if I can imagine her liking it, then it’s fine. And she’s a very tough critic!
Haha I’m uber scared to add beans into desserts too! My neighbor used to used lots of substitutions in her desserts and they tasted like poo. her spinach brownies made me sick to my stomach and it scarred me! eep! Christin’s bean balls look awesome and so do Kristina’s black bean brownies but i’m not a huge dessert girl…so i’m still eating my beans regular. though if there was any beany-business going down i’d holler at them for tips! <3
spinach brownies making you sick..yeah, i’d have reservations going fwd if i were you too!
Your banana-avocado ice cream recipe just made my day. I’m trying it at my earliest convenience!
report back if you make it :)
Lately I’ve been caring more about the healthiness of desserts, such as Ben & Jerry’s and Hagen Daas. I just don’t think it’s worth 230 calories at so much fat for a 1/2 cup of ice cream; I’d rather just go with a different brand. Beans in a dessert? Never heard of that before… interesting
Love this post, Averie! I think there’s room for healthified recipes and regular recipes…I would never try to replace the “real deal” cupcakes (generally my dessert of choice) with bean garbanzo cupcakes or anything, but I also think it’s really fun to experiment in the kitchen and see what I can come up with. And funny that you posted this today, because I made Chocolate Covered Katie’s cookie dough blondie batter today! But here’s the deal — I like dessert-type-stuff for breakfast, and this is where these more healthified recipes come in handy for me. I topped my baked oatmeal with this chickpea-containing cookie dough batter, and I had the most amazing breakfast! No added sugar (just a banana for sweetness), protein, chocolate…I’m not arguing with that. I feel energized after my breakfast, and I feel like I treated myself, so I think it’s cool to experiment!
good info and how you use it, i.e. brekkie topper, and that you love it.
I’m all about healthifying desserts. I have such a sweet tooth and if it has fruit in it people always think it’s healthier. I want my chocolate so if that means I have to add avocado sign me up!
Yeah, I tried bean fudge last year. Or was it bean brownies? I can’t remember which because it didn’t really taste like either one. It wasn’t gag-me-with-a-spoon terrible, but it wasn’t great, either. It was one of those blog recipes where dozens of people swore up and down about how wonderful it was. Eh. I guess I’m picky.
i vaguely remember your flop or flop-like occurrence.
we can be picky together. and go out for brownies and coffee and wine next time youre in SD!
I actually made Katie´s recipe (Blondie Batter Dip) including chickpeas (shocker! :D) and it turned out sooooooooooooooooooooo delicious!! Sure, it helps when you like hummus, because the texture of the dip is kinda alike, but you would not taste them! Even my mum with super strong taste buds couldn´t figure out the ingredients.
I totally understand your fears, though, I absolutely hate wasting food, too, but you could always make just a quarter of the recipe or so, then it wouldn´t be too bad.
Just go for it :) You will not regret it!
thanks for lmk you had great results
Enjoy Aruba! and thanks for leaving me drooling over those desserts :D
YOUR food makes me drool!
I LOVE “healthifying” desserts! I have been wanting to try the black bean brownies but I totally get where you are coming from too with the just enjoying a basic rich and decadent dessert as well!
thanks for lmk!
and a few of your comments recently went into spam. weird! i think my setup has it in for you but hopefully you are now marked as “good” so they wont head to spam :)