I have this customer who wants to order challahs and Shabbos desserts every week. Okay, well, her husband thinks for something to be dessert it should be chocolate. (Personally, I agree! ) However, his wife wants these desserts to be healthier. They don't have any children yet, so the desserts are just for them and any guests they have. Last time she ordered 2 6" cakes- one for Friday and one for Saturday. She wants a new dessert for each day, but this was still too much for them.

When I suggest items, she always comes back with a comment about how it needs to have chocolate, but when I suggest a chocolate dessert she says it's not healthy enough! She has asked about splenda in the desserts but I don't have a lot of good recipes for splenda, because I just don't like using chemically altered sugars. I'd rather stick with the natural ones.

So, okay, what do I say? Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks,
Kathi

There are several books that are baking without sugar (using fruit, etc) See if you get one and have her look through it.

You can explain that chocolate means sugar. also, dark chocolate is full of antioxidants. Souffle?

You can tell her Splenda and chocolate are not compatible. Splenda actually makes the chocolate taste more bitter.

Well, chocolate is actually considered healthy these days since it has more polypphenols than red wine. Perhaps show her this:
http://www.healthyeatingclub.com/info/articles/diets-foods/chocolate.htm

Also, check out Splenda's website for recipes or Google chocolate and Splenda

Sugar Free Frosting
Sugar free instant pudding mix (chocolate in this case)
8 oz cream cheese  
1 ¾ c milk
Sugar-free or Lite Cool Whip  


Sugar-free Fudge
¼ c light margarine      
2 oz unsweetened chocolate    
24 packets Splenda      
1 t vanilla
8 oz light cream cheese
½ chopped pecans

Melt margarine. Add chocolate and stir just til melted. Remove from heat and stir in Splenda and vanilla. Combine chocolate mix with cheese and beat til smooth. Stir in pecans and spread in lightly greased 8x8 pan. Refrigerate til firm. Store in refrigerator. 32 pieces; 45 cals

I'm not sure if it would fall into the right catogory for you with this customer but I have an excellent Jell-O Souffle recipe that uses Dole (tm) fruit juices and the only amount of "fattyness" it has in it is Vanilla Ice Cream... PM me if you'd like the recipe

I make a lot of very tasty pies and fillings with Silken Tofu. Feel free to PM me if your interested.

Also, Cooking Light is a great resource to healthier alternatives.

actually DARK chocolate is very healthy! and what she should worry about is PORTION CONTROL. Everything in moderation is healthy.

What a PITA!

Thanks. I have a call in to her to ask some more specific questions. She called me at 10:30 pm last night to place an order for tomorrow. If my week wasn't so slow I would have turned her down for this week.

I'm going to ask if the concern is sugar, fat or carbs. Maybe this will help me narrow down what it is she wants. I think the problem here is that she wants her husband to give up decadent desserts in favor of fruit and light desserts and he grew up with the idea that since Shabbos is a celebration, you have a rich dessert. They have only been married a few months, so it's going to be interesting to see what happens. I just don't want to be in the middle! I agree, it should just be a matter of portion control.

Thanks for the offer CherryBomb. I actually use Cooking Light recipes very often when the person needs a lowfat dessert. They are really good!

OhMyGoodies, thank you for the offer, but, one it has to be dairy free and two, jello based items aren't very popular in this crowd. It sounds interesting, though.

I'll keep you all posted when I know more and maybe you can direct me to some recipes.

Thanks,
Kathi

what if you offered to do both a fruit based dessert and a dark chocolate one? so they are both happy? lol

wow that sugar free icing would have helped me alot the other day when i did a sugar free cake (all but icing) cuz I couldn't find anything!!!! I'll know nest time thanks. can't wait to try it out!!!!!

I think it's time to scan Jewish cookbooks, especially the dessert section. Yet, challah mixed with chocolate...the only thing I can think of is to ask her what "HER" suggestions of chocolate should/could be. Give her 3 chocolates (Ghiradelli is paerve and Sunspire is too!) you have available and let her decide.

I don't know why your customer is making things a bit more complicated than needed. I hope she becomes a little sweeter to you.

Okay, I talked with her. She doesn't want two desserts because she wants to bring her husband around to her way of thinking. She wants me to come up with a dessert that has the following characteristics:

non-dairy
whole wheat flour
low fat
fruit or fruit flavor
sucanat (a more natural sugar)
a tad of chocolate (which she thinks will satisfy her husband )

Personally, I think she's taking all the fun out of this. They don't have any health issues, she just wants him to learn to eat healthy desserts!

Okay, any great ideas out there? Is anyone a magician?

Kathi

Tofu-chocolate mousse with fresh fruit and whole wheat cookies?

I have a recipe that is suppose to be heart healthy from a cardiologist for Oatmeal cookies - but they do have eggs in them -- is she against that part of dairy? It is loaded with oats, raisins and I always add some dark chocolate chips to the recipe. You can make them any size, but I usually make them about 2 inches and use them for a midmorning snack.

If you want the recipe, let me know and I will pm it to you.

How about some cherry/chocolate chip scones?

suzycakes, I'd love that recipe. I can at least try it. I know the husband will appreciate any chocolate he can get! Eggs are considered non-dairy according to Jewish law, so that's not an issue.

Quebeccakes, she didn't say anything when I suggested soy products. She really wants to limit it to one thing, so I don't think she would be open to the mousse and cookies idea. Sounds good to me though!

Thanks,
Kathi

Chocolate dipped strawberries?

A thin chocolate shell with a pudding and fruit sliced over that?

No clue if you can make non-dairy pudding though..I know my attempts to make it with soy milk were disasterous to say the least.

wow, what a tough one. Would she consider skim milk???

I know this is not a funny situation for you and I don't mean to make light of it, but I couldn't help but laugh when you said she wants to bring her husband around to her way of thinking. Good luck with that!! LOL

How about a whole wheat fruit flan drizzeled with a bit of chocolate?

Katie

Not to be a negative nelly, but....if this is a brand new marriage and she's already trying to "change" him..... And if he has no issues with wheat, dairy, and the other things that she listed...sounds to me like she's a bit of a control freak.

It's good to be health aware, but I'm not sure it's good to try and cram it down a brand new husband's throat. I certainly wouldn't. I say you let them work out this issue on their own.

In the meantime, know that splenda is a really good alternative to to sugar and does work well with most recipes, save the baked ones unless you use another type of sugar sub along with it. The one your friend listed is very costly and hard to find.

You know you could always make her a nice fruit tart/pizza with chocolate dipped strawberries on it. The "crust" is a thin white cake and the base spread is out of cream cheese and coolwhip, but I think you could just use cool whip if dairy really is a problem.

Just a thought.

She sounds awful. Maybe she should be bringing recipe ideas to you?

Oh another place to get speciality dessert recipes is the Whole Foods website. Just look under recipes and there's a bunch.

Thanks MamaBerry. It looks like the recipes there may be very helpful!

Kathi

fresh fruit, sugar free nondairy topping with a drizzel of hershey's syrup anything else would probably be a waste of time.

Boy she sounds way to difficult to me. I would be afraid she would not like anything that I made.

I just found a recipe on www.kraftfoods.com for an ice cream cake made with ice cream sandwiches, cool whip, hot fudge, oreos, and pudding mix. It was delicious!! While that recipe is far from good for you I read comments where people said they used the low cal/fat versions of all of the ingredients and just omitted the oreo's.... So if she would like an ice cream cake that might be an option...

Sorry, I didn't see the dairy free part

Has anyone tried to make meringues with the non-sugar you're talking about? You could try it it wouldn't be too much of a investment if it didn't work. Then dip the bottoms in chocolate. I made a batch the other day with raspberry flavoring. Or you could make them into bowls (they aren't called meringues then...something else, but I don't remember) and put fruit in them and drizzle with a little chocolate. Both sound good to me. And elegant enough to perhaps satisfy both. (Or you could do a chocolate meringue with fruit in it)