Light, not-too-sweet workplace birthday-dessert suggestions needed!

[swissgirl]

Hello. It is my turn at work to bring the birthday dessert for a colleague, as the last one to have a birthday is the next in line to provide the main dish at the next celebration. The birthday lady in question likes to eat healthy, enjoys food low in sugar and not too sweet. She is also lactose intolerant.
Usually 10 people or so stop by to give birthday wishes and of course, check out the food offerings! Most every time, the guests are women in our department.

I'm looking for simple ideas and a dish with perhaps 3-5 main ingredients, as I have limited time and budget to shop. Something with fruit is probably a good idea. I do enjoy baking but could also make another dessert, perhaps a fruit salad or something like that.
Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

[Uncle Bob]

Oatmeal Cookies.........Keep is simple!

Fun!

[swissgirl]

Wow, Thanks for all these great ideas; I'm going to peruse my options here. It is a little challenging - the birthday gal is a nice lady but I don't really know her. Had to ask a coworker about her preferences. Anyway, perhaps lemon bread, angel food cake or a cobbler. Look for low sugar variations. Fresh fruit on the side for sure.

And I'm going to save the stuffed apple and pumpkin cookie recipes to make at home with the kiddos. All sounds great. By the way, I also prefer healthy foods myself but someone at work discovered I enjoy dark chocolate. So that was the theme of my birthday celebration. It was all very good.
Thanks again.

[toveggiegirl]

The Mayo Clinic has some recipes that might work for you. They have quite a few low sugar and dairy free recipes including an apple pie with a whole wheat-almond crust and hardly any added sugar.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/heal...

[karykat]

I make a cobbler that I think is great and light. It is a dough you roll out and then cut into circles or hearts. I roll the dough thinner than the recipe calls for and that works great and makes it that much lighter.

You could use nectarines or peaches and blueberries for fruit. Or something like that.

[karykat]

(If you wanted that cobbler recipe, let me know.)

[swissgirl]

Sure Karykat, I'd love the cobbler recipe. A nectarine cobbler souunds wonderful.

[karykat]

This came from a healthy cookbook. Can't remember which one. But sacrifices nothing in flavor. The original recipe called for apricots and blueberries. I usually use peaches or nectarines in place of the apricots. Sometimes use raspberries in place of the blueberries.

Fruit mixture:

1/4 cup quick tapioca
1 cup sugar (could cut if you want)
8 cups sliced apricots or peaches or nectarines
1 1/3 cup blueberries
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Stir tapioca and sugar in a 3 quart casserole. Add fruit and lemon juice and mix gently. Let stand and stir gently occasionally at least 20 minutes until tapioca is softened.

Make bisquit topping:

Mix in food processor or bowl:

1 1/2 cup flour
3 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Add 1 stick butter, cut into pieces. Whirl or mix until looks like coarse crumbs.

Add 1/3 cup low fat milk. Whilr or stir until just evenly moistened.

Pat out dough about 1/2 inch thick or less if desired.
Roll out and cut with a 2 1/2 inch cutter. Put bisquits onto fruit.
Brush bisquits with an egg white and sprinkle with a little sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees about 40 to 50 minutes.

The dough comes together really easily in a food processor.

Serves 10 to 12.

If you serve this warm on another occasion, you can pass some cold heavy cream for those who want to put a bit on to make this decadent.

I usually make a smaller version with about 4 cups fruit, but you might want this size for your large group.

[Val]

How will this work for birthday girl who is lactose intolerant, just wondering? I think any lovely berry dessert would be great with their abundance in the markets at this time of year but it's hard to find recipes for fruit tarts that have no milk or dairy, that I've seen...a few raw food website seem to have them, though.

[karykat]

Good question. I wasn't thinking of that milk in the dough. Or butter.

My friends with the intolerance avoid things like ice cream and whipped cream and panna cottas and things like that.

Don't know how that plays out when dairy is an ingredient in something like a cobbler.

[Emme]

substitute almond milk and earth balance. problem solved.

[goodhealthgourmet]

+1

coconut oil would also be a great substitute for the butter.

[chowser]

I make variations on this pumpkin cookie (using carrots, zucchini), cut the sugar to a cup, or even half a cup sometimes. I use whole wheat pastry flour for the flour. With less sugar, the cookie is more like a little cake. The drizzle of the glaze on top makes up for the missing sugar. It calls for milk but you could use lemon juice/water. Make just a small amount of the glaze and drizzle it on top. Or, you could sprinkle powdered sugar lightly on top.

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/iced-pu...

[Emme]

Stuffed Apples and/or Pears - core and stuff with oats, wheat germ, brown sugar, cinnamon, a dash of Earth Balance; optionally add raisins or nuts or shredded coconut , etc. serve with some plain yogurt (for her, can she have plain goat milk's yogurt? or soy milk yogurt?)

[greygarious]

If you can find lactose-free cream cheese or vegan "cream cheese", they MIGHT work in Japanese style cheesecake, which is very pillowy/airy/fluffy: http://www.dianasdesserts.com/index.c...

[Hank Hanover]

Yeah maybe some kind of drunken berries on a slice of banana or lemon bread. You could have some whipped cream available for the other guests. Maybe sherbet with it too.

Maybe a bombe with cake on the outside and sherbet on the inside. Yeah, you could make that pretty decorative.

[greygarious]

Angel food cake with a berry sauce

[goodhealthgourmet]

gg, i'm usually in agreement with you, but you think angel food cake qualifies as "not too sweet?"

[greygarious]

You'd need to go easy on the sugar, but how many lactose-free cake options (that taste decent to the average person) are there?

[goodhealthgourmet]

ell, it would be easier if she didn't want something "light" - a rich, bittersweet chocolate torte or flourless cake would work.

this is a tricky one!

[goodhealthgourmet]

i don't know that i'd go the charlotte route given the birthday girl's lactose intolerance.

how about a pavlova with berries and a simple sabayon?

[bon oeuf]

Oh, of course you're right. I ignored a pretty important part of the message!

[bon oeuf]

A berry charlotte would be delicious, or a summer pudding, or fruit cobbler.