How to prepare tasty and fit Valentine’s Day desserts?
On Valentine’s Day, it’s a good idea to reach for a lighter fit dessert not only for the sake of calories, but also to gain extra energy to celebrate the day of love and affection. Properly composed fit Valentine’s Day desserts do not cause feelings of drowsiness, burden and fatigue.
Traditional fit desserts can be transformed into Valentine’s Day versions in several ways:
- Use pink and red fruit: strawberries, raspberries, cherries, currants, pomegranate seeds. While February is not the season for most of them, you can reach for frozen or dried fruits, which are also very healthy. They are perfect for garnishing, colouring and enriching Valentine’s Day fit desserts.
- Reach for natural cocoa or dark chocolate with a high cocoa content of >70% (preferably sugar-free or sweetened with stevia). Cocoa products are an excellent source of magnesium and healthy antioxidants. They are also considered natural aphrodisiacs.
- Use unusual ingredients to enhance the uniqueness of Valentine’s Day fit desserts. If you eat peanut butter on a daily basis, use pistachio or hazelnut butter, for example, to prepare a Valentine’s Day treat. Additional flavour can be provided by spices such as natural vanilla stick and cinnamon bark.
- Ensure proper presentation of fit desserts. Serve them in unique tableware and use fancy decorations. On Valentine’s Day, a bit of glamour when garnishing desserts is even advisable. For garnishing, for example, freeze-dried raspberries and strawberries, powdered beet, cocoa, coconut shreds and fresh mint leaves will come in handy.
Read also: “The way to the heart is through the stomach – 3 ways to make your heart stronger with a good diet”.
Home-made chocolates stuffed with raspberry and chia “jelly”
A very simple, yet extremely impressive dessert, perfect for Valentine’s Day. The combination of chia seed-thickened raspberries with dark chocolate is a feast for the senses. This recipe will also work as a great fit Valentine’s Day gift.
Ingredients / 5 pieces:
- 150 g of frozen raspberries,
- 25 g of chia seeds,
- 100 g of dark chocolate >70% cocoa,
- 1 teaspoon of coconut oil,
- optionally (for garnishing): freeze-dried raspberries, coarse salt or chia seeds.
Preparation:
- Put the frozen raspberries in a saucepan. Heat until thawed and crush them with a fork to a pulp.
- Add chia seeds to the raspberries, mix thoroughly and set aside for 10-20 minutes to cool and thicken.
- Line a baking sheet with baking paper.
- Put the raspberries on baking paper and form 5 pieces of any shape, such as heart, round or oblong. You can also put ice cream sticks in them.
- Put in the freezer for at least an hour.
- In a water bath (setting a metal or glass bowl over a boiling pot of water), melt the chocolate and coconut oil.
- Dip the frozen raspberry pieces in the melted chocolate.
- Transfer the pieces back onto the baking paper. Optionally, garnish them with freeze-dried raspberries, a pinch of salt or chia seeds.
- Place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 15 minutes until the chocolate has set.
Macronutrients / 1 piece:
- Energy: 154 kcal
- Protein: 3 g
- Fat: 10 g
- Carbohydrates: 10 g
Fit vanilla panna cotta with cherry sauce
Fit panna cotta is a great Valentine’s Day dessert that will be especially appreciated by active people, as one serving provides as much as 20 grams of protein. Cherries, on the other hand, are true superfoods for athletes. They accelerate recovery, reduce excess free radicals after exercise, and also have a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system and heart.
Ingredients / 2 servings:
- 150 g of vanilla skyr yoghurt,
- 200 g of Greek yoghurt,
- 200 ml of any plant-based drink, such as vanilla-flavoured soy, or milk,
- vanilla stick or 3-4 drops of vanilla flavouring,
- 15 g of instant gelatine,
- 200 g of frozen cherries,
- 30 g of erythrol or the equivalent of any other sugar substitute.
Preparation:
- Take the yoghurt and skyr out of the refrigerator.
- Pour the plant-based drink or milk into a saucepan and heat with a vanilla stick and 10 g of erythrol.
- Add gelatine. Stirring vigorously, heat the contents of the saucepan over low heat until the gelatine is completely dissolved.
- Set aside for 5-10 minutes to cool.
- Remove the seeds from the vanilla stick and add them to the plant-based drink.
- Pour the Greek yoghurt and skyr into a bowl. Add the liquid with the gelatine and blend until smooth.
- Pour the mixture into molds and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
- Put the frozen cherries into a saucepan. Add 20 g of erythrol and heat until a cherry sauce forms.
- Place the panna cotta mold in a bowl of hot water for a few seconds. Place it upside down and lay it out on a plate.
- Pour the cherry sauce over the fit panna cotta.
Macronutrients / 1 serving:
- Energy: 325 kcal
- Protein: 21 g
- Fat: 12 g
- Carbohydrates: 37 g
Red Velvet cake in a fit version
Red velvet cake is one of the proven ideas for a Valentine’s Day dessert. The traditional version is a red sponge cake layered with a fatty cream. Here is a modified recipe for red velvet cake in a healthier version – without sugar and unnecessary fat.
Ingredients / 12 servings:
- 150 g of spelt flour,
- 120 g of xylitol,
- 4 eggs (yolks separated from whites),
- 160 ml of rapeseed oil,
- 100 ml of buttermilk,
- 10 g of cocoa,
- a few drops of vanilla extract,
- a teaspoon of baking powder,
- a tablespoon of apple vinegar,
- a pinch of salt,
- 2 tablespoons of powdered beetroot or other natural pink/red dye.
Ingredients for the cream / 12 servings:
- 300 g of ricotta cheese,
- 3 tablespoons of honey, maple syrup or molasses,
- half a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Preparation:
- Prepare a round cake pan with a diameter of about 23 cm, line it with baking paper or grease the edges with fat. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
- In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour, xylitol, cocoa, baking powder and beetroot powder.
- Put 2 egg yolks into another bowl. Add the vanilla extract, oil, vinegar and buttermilk. Mix thoroughly to combine the ingredients.
- Beat egg whites to stiff foam with a pinch of salt.
- Add the dry ingredients in batches to the bowl with the wet ingredients, mixing thoroughly until a homogeneous mass is formed.
- Add the beaten egg whites and mix gently to make the dough voluminous.
- Transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet and smooth the top.
- Bake at 180 degrees for 25-30 minutes until you get the so-called dry stick.
- Allow the cake to cool outside the baking sheet.
- Prepare the cream: on high speed, beat the ricotta with the sweetener of your choice, the two remaining egg yolks and vanilla extract. Cool the cream in the refrigerator.
- When the dough has cooled, cut it horizontally into two slices.
- Spread one piece of sponge cake with half of the ricotta cream, cover with the second piece, and spread the rest of the cream on top. You can now garnish the cake by sprinkling it with powdered freeze-dried strawberries or raspberries.
Macronutrients / 1 serving:
- Energy: 237 kcal
- Protein: 6 g
- Fat: 16 g
- Carbohydrates: 21 g
Ingenious almond fit tiramisu
Tiramisu is another romantic dessert that can be transformed into a healthier version. Wheat sponge cakes are replaced with coffee-soaked rice wafers, and fatty cream is replaced with high-protein almond yoghurt. If you plan to serve fit tiramisu as a dessert after the main course, divide the ingredients into 4 servings instead of the suggested two.
Ingredients / 2 servings:
- 400 g of natural skyr yoghurt,
- half an avocado,
- 50 g of almond flour,
- 2 drops of almond flavouring,
- 30 g of powdered erythrol,
- 6 rice wafers,
- approx. 300 ml of strong coffee,
- 20 g of cocoa.
Preparation:
- In a dry skillet, toast almond flour until browned.
- Blend the skyr yoghurt with avocado, erythrol, almond flour and almond flavouring.
- Soak all the rice wafers in coffee. Shape four wafers into a heart with a knife, crumble two wafers.
- Prepare 2 plates or bowls. On each wafer, place consecutively: the heart-shaped rice wafer, a portion of cream, a crumbled wafer, a portion of cream, a heart-shaped wafer and a portion of cream.
- Garnish the tiramisu with loose cocoa. Or you can forgo the heart shape and prepare an even easier, layered tiramisu on round rice wafers.
Macronutrients / 1 serving:
- Energy: 427 kcal
- Protein: 32 g
- Fat: 15 g
- Carbohydrates: 37 g
Dates stuffed with pistachio cream and chocolate
This is the easiest and quickest to prepare of the suggested fit Valentine’s Day desserts. You will prepare the snack in just 10 minutes and give great pleasure to your loved one with it. In this version of the dessert, sweet dates are stuffed with pistachio cream and topped with contrasting dark chocolate.
Ingredients / 10 stuffed dates:
- 50 g of dates,
- 60 g of unsalted, peeled pistachios,
- a pinch of salt,
- 20 g of dark chocolate.
Preparation:
- Remove stones from the dates. Open them up and put them on a flat plate or tray.
- Roast the pistachios in a dry pan (if you use unroasted pistachios).
- Put 50 g of pistachios into a blender. Add a pinch of salt.
- Blend, starting at low speed, for 5-10 minutes until you get a pistachio paste with liquid texture (pistachios will grind into flour first, and will take on a liquid form after blending for longer).
- Place a whole pistachio nut in each date, fill the rest with pistachio paste.
- Melt the chocolate. Using a fork, garnish the dates with strips of liquid chocolate.
- Put the dates in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes to set.
Macronutrients / 1 stuffed date:
- Energy: 63 kcal
- Protein: 1.5 g
- Fat: 3.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 5.7 g