Blackberry Cobbler

4 – 6 cups of fresh or frozen blackberries

½ cup oats

½ cup + 1 tsp Benecol spread

½ cup flour

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup Splenda

1 tsp. cinnamon

¼ cup water

Grease the bottom and sides of a 10 x 6 baking dish with 1 tsp. Benecol spread. Spread the blackberries in the dish; sprinkle with the cinnamon. Add the water to the dish.

In a small bowl, combine the oats, Benecol, flour, brown sugar and Splenda. Mix with a fork until the mixture is crumbly. Crumble over the berries and bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, until bubbly. Serve warm.

Cheesecake Treasures
Serves 12

Love cheesecake but hate the calories and fat? Here's a lighter version that you make in single servings. Eat just one and it's only about 150 calories and very little fat.

Ingredients:
Nonstick cooking spray
3 T finely crushed vanilla wafers or graham crackers
12 ounces reduced fat cream cheese, softened
Three-quarters cup sugar
1 T flour
1 and one-half tsp vanilla
1 4-ounce carton egg substitute (about one-half cup)
1 and one-half tsp minced lemon or orange peel
Three-quarters to 1 cup peeled, sliced kiwi fruit, quartered strawberries, whole raspberries, halved grapes and/or pineapple chunks.

Instructions:
Spray the bottom and sides of twelve 2 and one-half or 2 and three-quarters-inch muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle with crushed wafers or crackers. Set aside.
Beat cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add sugar, flour, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until fluffy. Add egg product, beating on low speed just until combined. Do not overbeat. Stir in lemon peel or orange peel.

Divide cream cheese mixture evenly among the muffin cups. Bake in a 325 degree oven about 20 minutes or until set. Cool cheesecakes in pan on a wire rack about 30 minutes or until firm. Loosen the cheesecake edges from the muffin cups; carefully remove cheesecakes. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours. Just before serving, arrange fresh fruit on top of each cheesecake. If desired, garnish with mint leaves.

Source: Better Homes & Gardens

Chocolate Volcanoes

4 oz. Benecol Spread

4 oz. semi-sweet baking chocolate

4 oz. Egg Beaters

¾ c. Splenda or sugar

2/3 c. flour

½ c. fat free half and half

Grease bottoms and sides of 12 cupcake tins with Benecol; dust with cocoa powder and refrigerate until batter is ready.

Place the 4 oz. of Benecol Spread and the semi-sweet chocolate in a microwave-safe dish and microwave for about 2 minutes on high, stirring every 30 seconds, until smooth. Do not over cook.

Mix the Egg Beaters, sugar (or Splenda), flour and half and half until smooth. Add the chocolate mixture and mix until well blended.

Pour chocolate mixture into cupcake tins, cover and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes (these can be refrigerated for several days before baking).

Bake uncovered at 450 degrees for 10 – 12 minutes, until sides firm and spring back when lightly touched. Cool for 2 – 3 minutes in the tins, then loosen edges with a knife and place on serving dishes. Serve immediately, with fat-free cool whip, fruit or fat-free ice cream.

Easy Pumpkin Pudding

Serves 4

For a quick, easy holiday-themed dessert, it's hard to beat this pumpkin pudding. After a big meal, this little taste of something sweet is satisfyingly not over-the-top.

Ingredients:
One-half cup brown sugar
One-half teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves)
1 cup milk (or one-half cup milk and one-half cup fat free half-and-half)
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 small package instant vanilla pudding mix
Fat-free whipped topping (optional)

Instructions:
Mix sugar, spice and milk in a medium mixing bowl. Add pumpkin and pudding mix and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Transfer to one large serving bowl or four individual serving dishes and chill for 2 hours. Top with a spoonful of fat-free whipped topping, such as Cool Whip, if desired.

Pineapple Cake with Whipped Icing—Totally fat-free!

This cake is incredibly easy to make, uses only a few ingredients, and will make your family happy with its taste. You can omit the coconut if someone in your family doesn’t like it, and either substitute chopped walnuts or just leave the pineapple taste intact with no added ingredients.

For cake:

1 box angel food cake mix

1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple

Combine the cake mix and crushed pineapple in a bowl. Pour into an ungreased cake pan and bake according to the directions on the cake box. This can be made into a round or oblong cake, but these require less baking time.

For icing:

2 egg whites

1/8 c. water

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/8 c. shredded coconut

Whip the egg whites to a stiff peak with an electric mixer. While the eggs are being whipped, dissolve the sugar in the water in a small pot over medium heat. Do not overcook. After eggs form stiff peaks, pour the sugar/water mixture slowly in a small stream with the mixer turned to a low speed. Add vanilla and coconut. This icing also may be frozen for later use.

For an interesting variation, you can add nuts and/or coconut to either the cake (before baking) or icing (when you add vanilla). These additional ingredients do add fat; coconut mostly saturated (or bad) fat, and nuts, usually good fats (except for cashews, pistachios, and macadamia nuts, which have too much saturated fat).

Dr. Barnes’ comments:

This cake and icing has no fat but is long on taste. There is quite a bit of sugar in the recipe however, so diabetics, watch out! Sweets are no longer contraindicated in persons with diabetes. But sweets must be eaten in the context of a mixed meal. The addition of protein and fat in the mixed meal blunts the sugar rush that would occur if the sweets were eaten alone.

Spiced Peach Cobbler (Makes 8 Servings)

Ingredients:

2 15-ounce cans sliced peaches (packed in juice), drained, liquid reserved
1/2 tsp cinnamon, ground
2 T cornstarch
1 T vanilla extract
1 C peach nectar
1/4 C reserved peach liquid
1 T trans-fat free tub margarine (such as Fleischmann's Light), melted
Cooking-oil spray (for baking dish)
1 C fat-free pancake mix, dry (try half whole-wheat, half regular pancake mix)
2/3 C flour
1/2 C sugar
2/3 C evaporated skim milk

Topping:

1/2 tsp nutmeg, ground
2 T brown sugar
Pans and bowls you'll need:
1 medium saucepan
1 medium mixing bowl, 1 small mixing bowl
1 8-inch square glass dish, coated lightly with cooking-oil spray

Instructions

1. In medium mixing bowl, combine pancake mix, flour, sugar and melted margarine. Stir in milk and set mixture aside.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. In saucepan, combine cinnamon, vanilla, cornstarch, peach nectar and reserved peach liquid and stir constantly over medium heat until mixture thickens and bubbles. Add drained, sliced canned peaches to mixture. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Pour hot peach mixture into prepared baking dish, then spoon flour/milk mixture over peach mixture.
5. Stir nutmeg and brown sugar together in small mixing bowl, then sprinkle mixture over top of batter.
6. Bake in 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, until top is golden brown.
7. Cool completely and cut into 8 squares. Serve with vanilla frozen yogurt, reduced-fat ice cream or a dollop of sweetened whipped cream. If you prefer non-dairy whipped topping, be sure it's fat-free; otherwise, you won't have a trans-fat free dessert.