5 Healthy Desserts Your Kids Will Actually Love
| 2 min read
It’s no shocker that children and adults have different tastes in food—just look at any kids menu to see what young ones like. The options tend to run on the bland side, but there’s a reason for that. Kids are drawn towards low-key flavors because they are born with 30,000 taste buds (adults only have about a third of that number). So the spicy stuff you eat is too intense for a kid. (Interestingly, it’s also this sensitive taste bud situation that explains why many kids don’t like vegetables.)
What else do kids’ taste buds crave? Fat and sugar. This super sweet tooth sticks around until puberty, which helps explain a kid’s love for dessert. So how do you deal with satisfying that sweet tooth in a healthy way? Whip up one of these lighter-but-still-delicious treats.
- Chocolate-filled raspberries: Take raspberries and place a chocolate chip inside each one.
- A mini coconut milk ice cream bar, like the ones from So Delicious.
- Graham crackers topped with almond butter, bananas, and a drizzle of honey
- Cinnamon-sugar popcorn, like this recipe from Cooking Light. You just take 10 cups of air-popped popcorn, drizzle with 2 tablespoons melted butter, spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with a mixture of 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and 1/8 teaspoon salt.
- Chocolate-dipped frozen banana bites, like these from The Kitchn. Melt down chocolate chips in a double-boiler or microwave and add some coconut oil to it. Then dip ½-inch slices of banana into the chocolate and coat with things like chopped nuts or shredded coconut. Place on a baking sheet and freeze until solid!
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Photo credit: Tracey Patterson and Derek Lo
