I often substitute honey for the granulated sugar

There are always baked apples or better yet, an angelfood cake dribbled with a chocolate glaze.

This serves 10 so the amount of cream & sugar isn't that bad & egg whites don't have fat. You could probably cut back the amount of cream if you really MUST:
PAVLOVA (serves 10)
4 egg whites, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1tsp white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 TBL cornstarch

Topping:
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
2 cups sliced or chopped fresh fruit

Preheat oven to 400. Line a baking sheet w/aluminum foil. Lightly butter the foil. In a bowl, beat the whites until stuff but not dry. Add the sugar gradually, beating constantly. Add the vinegar & vanilla; beat for 5 minutes. Add the cornstarch; beat 1 minute. Mound the meringue onto the prepared baking sheet into a disk about 2" high. Imprint the edge of the disk with the back of a spoon with an upward motion. Place in the oven; reduce the heat to 250°. Bake 1 1/2 hours, remove from the oven & cool. (Watch to make sure the meringe doesn't brown - oven temps vary.)
Beat the cream until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, beating until stiff peaks are formed. Fold in the fruit. Mound the fruited cream in the center of the Pavlova. Cut into wedges & serve.~~Nuggets

COLD LEMON CUSTARD SOUFFLES (serves 8)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/8 tsp salt
2 TBL butter, melted
5 TBL lemon juice
Grated zest of 1 lemon
3 egg yolks, well beaten
1 1/2 cups milk, scalded
3 egg whites

Preheat oven to 325°. Generously butter 8 custard cups.
Combine the sugar, flour, salt & butter. Stir in the lemon juice & zest. Whisk a little of the hot milk into the beaten yolks; whisk all the yolks back into the milk. Stir the yolk mixture into the lemon mixture until well blended. Beat teh whites until firm but not dry. Fold the lemon mixture into the egg whites. Spoon into the prepared custard cups. Place the filled cups in a baking pan to come halfway up the sides of the cups. Bake 45 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until chilled, about 4 hours. Serve cold.~~San Francisco Encore

FRUIT WITH CANNOLI CREAM (4 servings)

1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1/3 cup sugar
3/ 4 tsp. orange zest
3 Tbs. orange juice
2 Tbs. mini chocolate chips
1 apple, cored and cut into 8 wedges
1 pear, cored and cut into 8 wedges
1 plum, pitted and cut into 8 wedges
1 pint strawberries, hulled

In a blender or food processor, combine the cheese, sugar, orange peel and orange juice and process until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and fold in 1 Tbs. of the chocolate chips. Place the fruit on a platter and spoon the ricotta mixture over it. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips, and serve.

Note: You can also arrange the fruit in four large goblets or wine glasses and top each portion with some of the sauce and chips. Other fresh fruits can be substituted. Apricots, raspberries and blueberries are all good in this recipe.

This is really tasty!
Pumpkin fluff dip
INGREDIENTS
1 (16 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed ^^light works
1 (5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 (15 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, mix together instant vanilla pudding mix, pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice. Fold in the thawed frozen whipped topping. Chill in the refrigerator until serving

Dash of nutmeg on top when serving.

Arrange ginger snaps around the dip.

Glenda--I just got that recipe from my sister. She uses fat-free pudding and cool whip and says it's just as good. She uses the pumpkin pie filling that already has the spices in. Besides gingersnaps, she serves snickerdoodles and makes other stuff with it. This is from her post:

Make a Pillsbury sugar cookie crust, cream cheese layer, then the pumpkin mix) or a thin cinnamon cookie, layer of sweetened ricotta, another cookie, pumpkin mixture, cool whip, drizzle of carmel...this looks very fancy)

Thank you all for the recipes. I see a few I might be able to try. Tomorrow I needed to send some cookies to a relative for Thanksgiving so tonight we tried adapting the recipe to make it healthier. We used the recipe on the back of a bag of chocolate chips. We substituted spelt flour for white flour, since whole grains are always healthier than white. We cut the amount of butter in half ..1 stick..and then the amount of white sugar in half...it called for 1 cup of white and 1/3 cup of brown sugar, so we kept the brown sugar the same and added 1/2 cup of white sugar which still left a whole cup of sugar in the recipe. We were amazed that they were excellent. My son even said he liked them better.

pm2

PM2

One of my daughter's favorites is a simple angel food cake that's served with strawberries that have been heated on the stove to somewhat puree them and a sprinkle of sugar melted in. Then cool the strawberries and serve in a gravy boat on the table with the cake. Just our some of the strawberries over the cake.

If we don't get fresh strawberries we buy the frozen ones in a bag that have no sugar added.

If I have time, I make my own angel food cake from scratch, otherwise it's a duncan hines angel food cake mix.

Another tip, I replace butter in all my cake and cookie recipes with unsalted corn oil margarine and omit all salt.

By using unsalted margarine and omitting the salt in the recipe, you get to taste the flavors of the baked goods like you never have before. Everyone tells me that my "baked goods are the best they've ever had" and can't believe that the difference is just omitting the salt and using unsalted corn oil margarine.

Fran

After a heavy holiday meal such such as the Thanksgiving Holiday Meal, that we are about embark on, I like a simple fruit salad for dessert. Perhaps accompanied with a cookie or two (maybe pizzelles?).

Usually everyone has eaten so much food they would like to wait a bit to give everything time to settle; so why not postpone cofee and dessert. Serve it later on when everyone gathers in the living room, especially if dessert is a frosted layer cake.

I'm not sure how lite you want the dessert, but we made one this summer that was quite good. You mix one diet Code Red Mountain Dew (a 12 oz. can) with a yellow cake mix. You do not add anything else such as eggs, etc. You beat this, baking it as you would a regular cake. Once it has baked and cooled, you mix a package of sugar free, fat free lemon jello with a 12 ounce container of Cool Whip free, lightly blending in a teaspoon or so of Splenda to your taste. Refrigerate and serve.

This cake is very light, but you might be looking for something heavier for Thanksgiving. If so, try this next summer. The cake mix itself is really the only substantial calories this cake has.

How about dark chocolate covered strawberries? They're both good for you, right? I make these for my nieces for the holidays and they go first, before anything else.

fran, We do like angel food cake here and strawberries sound good too. I have actually tried a chocolate angel food cake that they sell in the grocery store we shop at. It is very good. Great idea.

lisbet...Yes, everyone is normally stuffed so we have dessert later too. Pizzelles...I haven't had those in a long time. They are very light. You have to have a special waffle like appliance to make them, right?

Thanks blueenough...sounds like a very different recipe.

finnie...Thanks for reminding me. That sounds like a really nice light, healthy dessert with enough chocolate to satisfy. I don't know why I don't remember this more often.

Thanks!
pm2

"prairiemoon2" Yes, pizelles do require a special iron, however they can be purchased in bakeries and most Italian grocery stores.

Prairiemoon, I know this cake sounds crazy. The first time I ate it, it was very moist and light, so I kept asking what else you added to it to make it. Intrigued by how simple it was, I started experimenting with other cake mix flavors and jellos. I did try the devil's food with Diet Dr. Pepper, which was very good when you topped it with sugar free Hershey's syrup by poking holes in it and filling. After that, you ice it with Cool Whip free and swirl more sugar free Hersheys on it.

I will tell you that I didn't like other jellos in the toppings, such as strawberry to top a strawberry cake. I did find, though, that I could mix the Cool Whip Free with dry sugar free drink mixes, adding Splenda to get a better results.

My daughter and I made these cakes because they satisfied our cravings with so few calories. I hope this adds more light on these cakes, which indeed are very moist.

lisbet...
I haven't seen the pizelles at the bakery but I don't get to an Italian bakery very often. I will have to see if I can find one. Thanks.

Blueenough..
No, your cake recipe doesn't sound crazy at all. It sounds like it is perhaps a time saver and definitely low fat/calorie. I guess I just meant something a little different when I was thinking healthy. I try to stay away from packaged products and cook from scratch and we don't drink tonic or use sugar free substitutes or Cool Whip, so it would be a recipe I wouldn't try because of that.

I am sure it tastes good and is low calorie and someone reading this thread will appreciate it. I know I had one recipe in the past that used Pillisbury Crescent Rolls and you would never know it was not home made and was delicious, so I do understand how good they can taste.
Thanks for that clarification..

pm2

We don't do any grilling in the winter but in summer, if someone's coming to dinner who I know is watching calories, I often make grilled fruit desserts:

GRILLED STRAWBERRY SUNDAES

1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup strawberry spreadable fruit
1 tsp. cornstarch
2 pint strawberries, hulled
2 cups low-fat vanilla frozen yogurt

Preheat the grill to a medium heat. In a medium saucepan, combine the orange juice, spreadable fruit, and cornstarch. Set aside. Thread the strawberries onto 4 skewers. Grill the kebabs, turning once, for 4 to 5 minutes. Meanwhile, place the medium saucepan directly on the grill or on the stovetop over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook, stirring, until the sauce is slightly thickened, about 1 minute.

Remove the strawberries from the skewers and stir gently into the sauce mixture in the saucepan. Divide the yogurt among 4 bowls, spoon the strawberry sauce over, and serve.

Notes: Can substitute ice cream for the frozen yogurt if desired. Sauce is best when serve hot. Can also be served over sliced angel food or pound cake.

GRILLED PEARS WITH BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE serves 4

4 large firm-ripe Anjou or Bartlett pears
3 Tbs. fresh lime juice
2 Tbs. sugar
1/3 cup evaporated milk (can be evaporated skim milk)
2 Tbs. firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tsp. butter (not margarine or spreads)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Peel the pears, halve lengthwise, and core. With a sharp knife, cut a very thin slice from the rounded side of each pear half so they will lie flat. In a bowl, toss the pear halves with the lime juice and sugar.

Grill the pears over medium heat for 4 minutes. Turn them over, drizzle with any remaining lime mixture, and grill for 5 minutes, or until tender.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine remaining ingredients. Cook directly on the grill or stovetop over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a gentle boil. Cook until the sauce is smooth and slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Divide the pears among 4 plates, drizzle with butterscotch sauce, and serve hot or warm.

GRILLED STUFFED PEACHES (serves 4)

4 large peaches
2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup quick-cooking oats
2 Tbs. firmly packed brown sugar (light brown, preferably)
1 Tbs. finely chopped almonds
1 Tbs. butter, melted
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

In a large pot of boiling water, cook the peaches for 30 seconds to make them easier to peel. Immediately remove and rinse them under cold water and carefully remove their skins. Halve and pit the peaches and cut a very thin slice from the back of each peach half so it will lie flat on the grill. In a medium bowl, toss the peach halves with the lemon juice and set aside.

Preheat grill to medium heat. Meanwhile, combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Dividing evenly, fill the centers of the peach halves with the topping. Place filled peach halves on grill and cook, covered, for 5 or 6 minutes or until the peaches are tender. Serve hot or warm. Great with vanilla frozen yogurt or ice cream.