Sweet Baked Peaches

When you were a kid, did your mom ever try to pass off a piece of fruit as dessert?  Was she successful? And now if you are a parent yourself, or just trying to eat healthy, do you find that you are trying to convince your kids (or yourself!) of the same thing?  It’s pretty hard isn’t it?

If you are anything like me, you had a mom that tried this approach to “dessert” relentlessly.  And if you are even more like me, you had a sweet tooth that a piece of fruit just couldn’t satisfy.  Even now as an adult I sometimes try to limit myself to a piece of fruit after dinner, and more often than not find my hand in the snack drawer ten minutes later.  Desserts and sweets are definitely my weakness when it comes to trying to eat a healthy, balanced diet.  But this recipe helps take that simple piece of fruit up a notch, and actually creates a pretty satisfying, healthy, dessert.  One you can feel good about and doesn’t undo your entire day of trying to make good choices.

Get Baked

I think one of the key elements to this dessert is baking the fruit.  Baking makes the peach a lot softer, more satisfying, and it is almost pie-like.  Baking really brings out the sweet flavor from the natural sugar in the fruit and creates a much more “dessert-like” experience than just eating the fruit on it’s own.  It may take a little longer than just slicing and eating a peach, but remember, good things come to those who wait 🙂

Also keep in mind, if peaches aren’t one of your favorite fruits, you can try baking a lot of different ones!  I’ve tried bananas and apples personally, and have thoroughly enjoyed each.

Saucy

The only real step in this recipe is creating the sauce that you will dip your fruit into before baking.  So we are keeping dessert super easy for you.  And it only requires three ingredients!  And they are common, so more likely than not you already have them in your house.

All we need is some honey (local honey is great for relieving allergy symptoms! Check out a farmer’s market near by and they will probably be selling some), cinnamon, and vanilla extract.  And you don’t need to use too much!  We are really just using this sauce to enhance the flavor of the fruit and add a few different taste elements.  Peaches are sweet on their own, and have a delicious flavor, so we are not trying to mask that at all.

All you need is a small bowl to mix these three ingredients (amounts for each listed below) and then you are ready to dip!  I will suggest though – be sure to get some aluminum foil on your cookie sheet for this recipe.  This sauce is not fun to clean up from your pan (I learned this the hard way).  Especially since if you are making this for dessert it is probably late and you just want to focus on relaxing, not cleaning up dishes!  So don’t make the same mistake I made.

Lastly, I suggest scooping a dollop of some non-fat greek vanilla yogurt on top (I use Dannon Light and Fit).  It adds another great element and texture to the dish!  You could also use vanilla frozen yogurt if you enjoy the hot/cold combination.

Also Optional but HIGHLY Recommended!

If you are looking for a game-changer that won’t cost you too many calories, put your peaches in a bowl, add those dollops of greek yogurt, and then add a couple tablespoons of your favorite granola.

Oh. My. Gosh.

You basically have yourself a warm peach pie.  For like a zillion less calories and fat!  Don’t quote me on that, a zillion might not be completely accurate, but you get my point.  This is a great dessert that anyone will love and it is actually healthy!

Believe it or not, fruit really can make a great dessert.  Mom may have had a point all of those years.  Mother does know best 😛