If I'm trying to be healthy I just skip dessert. All or nothing in this department.

Define ”healthy.” What are you looking to eliminate or cut back on? Sugar? Artificial ingredients? Artificial coloring?

Posset

Sorbet (mango, YUM)

Strawberries with Romanoff Sauce

One way to cut back is serve smaller servings. The lunch menu at Brennan’s in Houston (years ago) had ”just a spoonful of dessert” on the menu. Presentation was everything. I got the creme brulee. It was a heaping flatware tablespoon of custard which had been bruleed in the spoon. It was served with a demitasse spoon for eating. Dessert was less than 1/4 cup, but it was eaten in many bites. I’d like to duplicate that one day!

My first thoughts might not be what you consider somewhat healthy, but I thought of cheese, as in cheese cookies or mini cheesecakes.

Meringues might fit your requirements. Piped into cookies or I know how to shape them like mushrooms or mini swans. :)

Seasons 52 does cute little mini desserts. I'll share the link, perhaps it will spark an idea.

https://www.seasons52.com/menu/desserts/mini-indulgences

Carrot cake, cream cheese frosting, candied pineapple, 170 calories.

Mini phyllo shells with lemon curd and berries or some variation on the theme?

A while back there was a recipe for dried apricots, cream cheese, and pecans.? It was great.

Fruit kabobs with lemon yogurt

Anything with fruit...if you've not tried fresh strawberries with balsamic vinegar (maybe a dash of honey or brown sugar for sweetness) it's delish. Or just chocolate-covered strawberries or other fruit, like an orange wedge half dipped in chocolate or a banana.

But are you looking for something sweet after a meal for yourself? Or are you looking to serve company?

To me there's a difference between a sweet and a dessert. After dinner, I like having an unsweetened applesauce with a dash of cinnamon....cold and wet like ice cream, but without all the fat. A square of dark chocolate is a delish way of ending a meal, but not something one is likely to serve for dessert.

As a dessert, there's macerated fruit...add some grand marnier...served over cubes of angel food cake in a margarita glass makes for a lovely dessert that's reasonably healthy. Add real whipped cream sweetened with a dash of sugar and some vanilla.

Or instead of the angel food cake, you can make crepes and fill them which is nice too.

A couple of flavors of sorbet with fresh cut up fruit is also reasonably healthy. If you want to go a little bit further, add some cookie crumbles...can be GF if that's of concern.

And nothing says you can't add a drizzle of melted dark chocolate to those either.

I'm not especially fond of tofu, but there are some decent chocolate desserts that can be made with it which is higher in protein such as chocolate mousse or use it as a pie filling or cream puff pâte à choux.

I know jello is so passé, but if you layer flavored yogurt with jello in a parfait glass, it's really delish and pretty....strawberry with strawberry, lime with lime, lemon with lemon.

Just not sure what direction you are going in....

We really like those desserts at Seasons 52. I always get the key lime pie. It's very good and the perfect size.

I made these at Thanksgiving. Someone here suggested them. They were a big hit. Not sure they're healthy but they are bite size. The lemon curd is made in the microwave. I was very skeptical but it really did work and was so easy. Also, they're pretty!

Link: Lemon Curd Tarts

Taking to a lunch time event.

St Andre, fresh strawberries or Bleinham slab dried apricots (the tartest variety I’ve found) on Trader Joe’s thinnest ginger cookies. Do you have time to assemble on site so cookies don’t get mushy?

A while back there was a recipe for dried apricots, cream cheese, and pecans.? It was great

I first learned that from Annie, but I did mine w mascarpone and pistachio, LOVE those

Hmm, good one Lisa. Where did you get the apricots?

My favorite: strawberries dipped in dark chocolate. Dark chocolate is good for us, right?

I did a search for healthy dessert and this mini mint cupcake caught my eye. The cupcake looks fabulous but the recipe looks dreadful. lol!

Chocolate mint Vegan cheesecake recipe

Lol!

I love mini fruit tarts. Not terribly original but at least it has fruit.

My absolute favorite dessert for lunch time ... or any time ... is cookies. Bar cookies, regular cookies, layered cookies, whatever. For bite sized you can make almost anything that way by putting it in a paper muffin cup. Might be fun to make brownies and cut them with a round cutter to fit the muffin cup and then add something to the top to make it pretty and tasty...dried fruit, candied ginger, sugared blossom...

Dark chocolate bark and you can add whatever dried fruit and nuts you want. I got some from TJs that has quinoa mixed in for extra protein which I thought was an unusual and healthy add...makes it more like nestle's crunch but healthier. And they used dried raspberries which add a flavor punch. Whatever you make, break it up and put in muffin cups for bite-sized treats.

I've been making the mini cheesecakes in a muffin cup with a vanilla wafer as the crust for decades. You can top them with whatever topping you want, and since they are small, they are healthier. Here's one version: https://www.momlovesbaking.com/super-easy-mini-cheesecakes-with-vanilla-wafer-crust/

Do NOT laugh, but probably not so healthy? We went to a pretty nice, "fancy" party, and the dessert was it"s is. What a MAJOR hit! Now, for every summer party, I buy a box of the minis and they are GONE! The big ones are just too big.

Adding: these are great for BBQs, graduation-type parties, kids' parties and parties with a "young" generation.

Annie! Another cookie monster! I love cookies of all sorts, too. Even though my grandchildren named ”baking cookes” as one of the 4 things they think I do all day, I don’t. I can’t. I’ll eat it.

Cookies! Yes yes yes. At this very minute I’m eating a ginger cookie with a spoonful of whipped cream plopped in the center and a slice of a canned cling peach pushed in the cream. The cookie gets softened in the middle while the edges remain crisp. Pure heaven.

maddie, the dessert was what??? Is that a typo?

Dates with a small cube of cheese attached with cute picks or stuffed with cheese

Im guessing maybe she meant Italian ice???? @Annie Deighnaugh

i want to make something not buy

I know....I was suggesting you make your own bark, not buy it. I was only mentioning it as they are additions I'd never think of.

I went to a baby shower on Saturday, and my neighbor served a version of these (but without the chocolate triangle garnish). I have had the mousse before, but this was a prettier way to serve it. She had lots of gf and vegan options, all of which were delicious and appreciated.

https://foodmeanderings.com/chocolate-avocado-mousse-strawberry-mini-desserts/#🍫🥑🍓-chocolate-avocado-mousse-strawberry-spoon-desserts-recipe

Oooh, TJ, love the idea of the spoon desserts. However, I’d do real chocolate mousse or ganache not the avocado version. They are perfect for someone who wants ”just a bite” of something sweet.

@mtnrdredux_gw, how much effort do you want to put into this? I know you want it to show well, but do you have time to grow your own strawberries (metaphorically speaking?) or do you need an elegantly simple dessert?

P.S. please take the leaves off strawberries. They taste awful and if you don’t eat them, you end up with mess all over your fingers. Substitute a leaf or two of mint, if you want it to look like it just came off the farm truck. IMHO

Waiting to hear what maddie meant!

I agree about the leaves, Bb! I also thought of mini pavlovas, but wasn’t sure how much work Mtn wanted to do.

Mtn is queen of meringue so mini pavlovas are a good thought.

Best chance of finding Bleinham slab apricots is TJ’s.

Is anyone in addition to me disenchanted with grocery store strawberries and raspberries? They seem to have 0 flavor.

Maddie means It's-It. An ice cream sandwich made with oatmeal cookies, originated in San Francisco.

@Lisaam …. look for Wow brand strawberries! very good

Thanks for clearing that up, Eileen. I was going with Italian Ice. DN lives in SFO. I’m going to need a man-on-the-ground report!

Lol i had no idea

It's its are delicious! Their factory is just down the freeway from my office, so we often have them for Friday treats. The small ones are perfect for a treat, but definitely larger than bite size. You also have to make a commitment to eat it rather quickly - because ice cream........

Edit to add, they also don't fit into the healthy category.

Gee, we make them at home, with DH’s oatmeal cookies. We are sitting on a small fortune? Franchise opportunity?

Thinking about chocolate-dipped fruits besides strawberries - mandarin segments and banana slices perhaps?

All 3 would make a pretty presentation, IMO.

Thank you Eileen and ljwrar for cleaning up my error!

I am too tired to read all this now, but I will! Thanks all!

Another search led me here: Delish - mini desserts

I don’t know if it’s for 20 or 100, but the ones that really caught my eye are the mini roses. They used peach, but I’d probably try apple too.

I tried making the peach roses. Tasted good but looked comical; i need practice. Also hard to get good peaches this time of yr of course. I had a back-up .. what I think of as "Annie's" apricots.

I also took another try at my cut out cookies, the ones I tried in gingerbread. Worked much better with my tried and true sugar cookie recipe. I decided to make a mostly "naked" cookie because a flooded cookie can be so sweet, and because when I outlined everything I did a poor job. I was happy with them but will probably do more next time

The apricots look great! Re the peach roses, this time of year I probably would have made a simple syrup and lightly poached the peach slices before trying to shape them.

Yes, I took the extra step of piping the mascarpone, and I also chopped the pistachio since that is the only way to reveal their pretty green color.

Have you ever made the roses? They did taste yummy I will say that!