Desserts are enjoyed by almost everyone. It's hard to resist the charm of something sweet. However, when you're on a healthy diet, resisting cravings for desserts somehow becomes even more difficult. Every time someone opens a packet of cookies or offers you a plateful of brownies, you're reminded of your diet goals, but then it's next to impossible to not reach out for these goodies. But the guilt that follows is even harder to deal with. The moment you have a piece of that brownie or that chocolate-chip cookie, your mind starts doing quick calculations about how many calories you have overshot your daily calorie-budget by. Not to mention, all that pressure about spending extra time at the gym to burn those calories off! But all this won't happen if your desserts are rich in nutrition and not just empty calories.
Guilt-free desserts are big business, with multiple brands launching their own lines of 'low-calorie' and 'healthy' sweets and desserts. But these may inevitably contain a lot of unwanted and unhealthy ingredients like preservatives, artificial sweeteners etc. If you want to enjoy your desserts in a 100 per cent guilt-free way, it's best to make them at home and store them for consumption for subsequent weeks. We have one such recipe of a guilt-free dessert for you- pumpkin oats cake!
Also Read: Pumpkin For Weight Loss: Health Benefits And 5 Yummy Kaddu Recipes To Lose Weight Fast
Pumpkin Oats Cake: Perfectly Healthy Way Of Satiating Sugar Cravings
Pumpkin is one of the most nutritious low-calorie vegetables out there. The vegetable is already a huge favourite with health freaks and sweet-lovers, alike. Pumpkin pies have a separate fan base, but pumpkins have a lot of unexplored potential as an ingredient in healthy desserts. A 100 gram portion of pumpkin contains a mere 26 calories, almost zero fat and cholesterol and good amounts of Vitamins A and C (as per data by the United States Department of Agriculture). This cake combines the nutritional superpowers of pumpkin with the healthy cereal grain oats, which contain good amounts of protein and dietary fibre.
The recipe also contains some whole wheat flour and semolina flour. What's more? This recipe is completely free of refined sugar and uses jaggery (or gur) instead of grain sugar for the sweetness. It also uses clarified butter (or ghee), instead of the regular salted butter, making it healthier than your regular cakes. Adding protein power to the recipe is almond flex and there's nutmeg for the flavour. Let's look at how this cake is made.
Also Read: Weight Loss Diet: This Low-Cal, Roasted Pumpkin (Kaddu) Snack Is Ideal For Dieters
Pumpkin and oats cake: Guilt-free dessert for your sweet cravings (Representational Image)Method For Making Guilt-Free Pumpkin Oats Cake:
1. Grate de-seeded and peeled pumpkin and combines the shredded pumpkin with the ghee in a microwave-proof bowl.
2. Cook for 3 minutes in the microwave. Added the powdered jaggery to it and then again microwave for 20 seconds.
Also Read: 11 Most Cooked Pumpkin Recipes | Popular Kaddu Recipes | Sitaphal Recipes
3. Add the dry ingredients - wheat flour, semolina, oats, milk, nutmeg, baking soda and salt to the pumpkin and jaggery and mix well.
4. Pre-heat the oven and pour the batter into a greased tin.
5. Bake for about 20 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius. Put the cake upside down in a microwave-proof plate, sprinkle some ghee and almond flex on top and bake again for 20 minutes at 200 degrees.
You can garnish the cake with cherries or berries or berry compotes of your choice. For the full recipe and details about the ingredients, click here. Enjoy this guilt-free cake with your evening tea or coffee and thank us later!
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