Treat Yo’ Health: A review of healthy desserts

Recently, social media has been filled with all kinds of healthy dessert alternatives from spinach brownies to cookie-butter smoothie bowls. Most people are aware of the grocery store alternatives like Halo Top Ice Cream, but there’s dozens of lesser-known options. As the candy-cane and sugar-cookie-filled holiday season approaches, we decided to try some healthy dessert alternatives to get a head start on our New Year’s resolutions. 

Ice cream sandwiches — a classic treat while lounging at the pool during summer breaks. When we came across Alden’s “mini squares,” we were immediately given a trip to those 90-degree days in the water, as well as a 100-calorie alternative to this childhood dessert. These organic ice cream sandwiches have no artificial sweeteners or flavoring and can be found at Whole Foods and Natural Grocers. 

The flavor of the ice cream sandwich is the exact same, if not better, than the typical non-organic alternative. The ice cream itself is very smooth and creamy and the chocolate pieces melt in your mouth – making the healthier option to reach for.

Swedish Fish have always been a favorite of ours, so when we heard about Sweet Fish made by Smart Sweets — with only three grams of sugar and 80 calories in each bag — we knew we had to test them out ourselves. Smart Sweets is a brand that produces healthier versions of your favorite candy, such as mock versions of Sour Patch Kids, Starbursts and gummy bears that can be found at Whole Foods and Target. The different options allow any candy lover to opt for a healthier alternative any time they have a sweet tooth. 

The taste of the Sweet Fish is very similar to Swedish Fish, nailing the tanginess and punch of the berry flavor. It was refreshing while also satisfying our sugar craving — making it the perfect healthy candy option. It may not be as good as the classic Swedish Fish, but it saved us a stomach ache.

Enlighted Ice Cream is a low-sugar and low-calorie way to indulge in a pint of ice cream including dairy-free or keto-friendly options. There’s a variety of flavors sold at Whole Foods, Sprouts and HyVee. The bright and bold packaging and guilt-free treat made it easy to finish off the whole pint.

We tested two of our go-to flavors: butter pecan and cookie dough. From the first bite, the flat flavor and texture of the ice cream left us underwhelmed, along with an odd buttery aftertaste. Even though this is a far healthier ice cream option, we’ll just stick to the unhealthy stuff next time.

After seeing TikToks about a homemade healthier version of Twix bars all over our ForYou pages, we decided to unleash the Betty Crocker in us. The bars contain only six ingredients — flour, coconut oil, almond butter, maple syrup, vanilla extract and chocolate chips. Although the directions themselves were straightforward, the assembly of the bars was more complex — consuming over an hour to complete. 

The “healthy” part of the bars is debatable, considering all of the “organic” ingredients are filled with calories. The ingredients didn’t mix together well since there wasn’t enough liquid, and the recipe didn’t call for enough to fill a normal sized pan. The only somewhat redeeming part of the bar was the taste, which was average at best. Next time, we’ll stick to a pre-packaged bag of Twix bars. 

After spending endless hours on TikTok, a recipe for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies popped up that looked too good not to try. The ingredients called for oats, mashed bananas, salt, peanut butter and chocolate chips – all things easily accessible in your kitchen. All you do is mix the ingredients in a bowl and shape them into round balls and place them on a cookie sheet to bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

The very easy-to-make bars had a savorable taste but the gritty texture made it hard to enjoy the flavor. The cookie also fell apart the second we lifted it off of the cookie sheet, which resulted in us eating it with a fork like a piece of cake rather than a hand-held cookie.