Who doesn’t want to eat delicious-looking desserts that are healthy? Social media has picked up on this American dream and is littered with examples of “healthy” versions of everyone’s favorite desserts. Although these desserts typically look extremely appetizing, my baking experiments have revealed that a deeper analysis is required before these treats can be so easily substituted for their beloved originals. This new series will follow a variety of cooking adventures that will lead me to evaluate if these healthier alternatives of desserts are worth the swap. After baking both desserts, I will analyze both treats based on simplicity of preparation and assembly, overall taste and actual nutritional benefits before concluding if the snack swap is worth it.
Option 1: Traditional Sugar Cookie Fruit Pizza
Simplicity: The base of this “pizza” is premade sugar cookie crust. After this is baked, the icing is a cream cheese and sugar mixture. Then, fruits are spread across the finished product however you see fit! At the end of the day, it doesn’t get much simpler than this. The dessert can be finished in 30 minutes or less.
Taste: This dessert is fantastic. It is the perfect unique treat to bring to summer occasions. The crunch of the sugar cookie is balanced with the smooth cream cheese and chilled fruits to create an excellent finished product. Additionally, it can be personalized based on the audience’s preference of the fruit topping.
Nutrition:
| Calories | Total Fat | Sodium | Total Carbohydrates | Dietary Fiber | Sugar | Protein |
| 320 | 15g | 170mg | 43g | 1g | 28g | 3g |
The recipe can be found at the Pillsbury website.
Healthy Oat and Yogurt Fruit Pizza
Simplicity: This recipe is significantly more complicated than the traditional option. The “crust” is made from an oat base with twelve ingredients. Then, the “sauce” is made by combining Greek yogurt, honey, peanut butter and vanilla. From start to finish, this recipe took upwards on an hour and a half.
Taste: Under the pseudo name “fruit pizza,” the taste of this recipe was not what I was expecting. The crust is very thick, and the topping is not sweet at all. The peanut butter and oat flavors are by far the most prominent. However, if served as a breakfast option, this recipe would be fantastic for large groups.
Nutrition:
| Calories | Total Fat | Sodium | Total Carbohydrates | Dietary Fiber | Sugar | Protein |
| 336 | 18.2g | 170mg | 34.6g | 3.1g | 19.2g | 11.3g |
Calorically, the options are very similar. However, the calories of the healthy option are more nutritionally dense with nearly three times the protein and significantly less sugar. The major changes made in the healthy recipe are the cream cheese switched with Greek yogurt and sugar cookie crust swapped with an oatmeal mixture.
The recipe can be found at The Yummy Life.
Conclusion:
At the end of the day, the healthy option is not a true representation of fruit pizza and is not that much healthier for you. If your sweet tooth is calling your name, you can never go wrong with an original fruit pizza.
