The bakery section at any grocery store or warehouse food store can be the most tempting section in the entire place. It’s totally understandable that you have a hard time resisting going home with a treat or two because of all those amazing smells. Because, let’s face it, the bakery section is always the best smelling part of the store, and half the battle alone is resisting the alluring scents that waft over! For those of us with food allergies, health concerns, or a general desire to be healthy, the baked goods section of the store also presents the most temptation. Whether you’re looking for low sugar recipes online with the intention of baking, or you promise yourself you won’t buy as many in an effort to be “good,” the bakery section has the power to ruin all those good intentions.
However, there is good news! Thanks to Lord de Pastry’s healthy dessert options, the bakery section doesn’t have to be avoided at all costs anymore! We want you to be healthy, to stick to your goals and still enjoy what you eat. This is why we focus on using the best natural ingredients as well as offering healthier gluten free and low sugar options in our pastry production. In order to make healthy choices, there are a few things you can look for when you shop the bakery section.
Healthy Dessert Alternatives
Part of choosing healthy baked goods and treats depends on whether you have food allergies/sensitivities or health conditions that necessitate a certain diet. If that’s the case, absolutely listen to your doctor or nutritionist over our advice! However, for general healthy dessert ideas, look for these alternatives:
Nuts
Adding nuts to a recipe will make it feel thick, rich, moist, and flavorful. It can be blended into a flour or paste, if you don’t care for the texture of chopped nuts in your treats. The perk of nuts is that they are heart healthy dessert additions. Nuts add protein and nutrients, and usually reduce the amount of sugar, oil, or carbohydrates included in a recipe because they substitute beautifully in many healthy desserts. For example, we altered the recipe for our popular Gata to include walnuts. It’s just as delicious a sweet treat, but the addition of nuts means we could reduce the sugar, in addition to the health quality of walnuts, which creates a heart healthy dessert.
Alternative Flours
If you’ve recently been diagnosed with Celiac Disease or even a gluten sensitivity, you’ve probably learned a ton about alternatives to wheat- and gluten-inclusive flours. There are a range of non-gluten flours, including coconut flour, almond flour, and even potato starch, which is often included in gluten free flour blends. Looking for alternative flours in desserts can be a handy idea, even if you don’t have a gluten issue, because these flour alternatives often create dessert options with fewer carbohydrates.
Real Fruit
Yes, we know that fruit pies are definitely delicious. However, canned fruits are often absolutely packed with sugary syrup instead of the healthy natural sugars of fresh fruit. Avoid those pie recipes that call for canned apple or cherry and opt for options that provide fresh fruit instead. A good way to spot this is in the ingredient list; check the sugar content for a high gram count and look at the ingredients list for fruit syrup related items. At Lord de Pastry, we use natural ingredients with no preservatives, so you know you’ll get fresh fruit in our apricot rolls and our fruit tarts.
Dark Chocolate
If you just can’t live without chocolate in your life, we understand! Don’t eliminate chocolatey treats from your life entirely in order to stick to a too-strict diet. Instead, choose dark chocolate options. This easy change is an excellent one to make because dark chocolate has much less sugar than milk or white chocolate. In addition, dark chocolate comes with the benefit of including antioxidants.
Don’t cut sweet treats out of your life entirely; simply make healthier choices instead! Next time you go to the store, try these suggestions for healthy swaps. Or, to make it even easier, choose Lord de Pastry treats for easy and healthy dessert ideas. All our pastries are made with natural ingredients and no preservatives, and many provide low sugar and heart healthy dessert options. See our pastry list and store locator online so you can shop Lord de Pastry today!
