Healthy desserts for children - Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting Club

Healthy desserts

I like to encourage children to eat fresh fruit for dessert. A selection of fresh fruits is an excellent dessert. Try to vary the fruits as much as possible. Generally its best to choose fruits that are in season as they tend to have a better flavour.

Taste the fruit yourself to make sure it is ripe.

Children like to hold wedges of fruit. Wedges of pineapple, orange and pineapple are good together. It would also be fun to scoop out different coloured melon balls like ogen, cantaloupe and watermelon for a three colour fruit salad. Or make up your own colour combinations maybe a two colour fruit salad with red and green fruits like strawberries, raspberries, ogen melon balls and grapes.

A good way to serve berry fruits is to mix them with a raspberry coulis made by blending raspberries and icing sugar together and then sieving to get rid of the seeds.

How to get your child to eat fruit

Try making fresh fruit ice lollies by blending fresh fruit and mixing with fruit juice or yoghurt and freezing in ice lolly moulds. Here are some ideas

Watermelon Cooler
Blitz 300g watermelon, deseeded and cubed with about 60g of icing sugar and pour into ice lolly moulds.

Strawberry and Lychee Lolly
Puree the lychees and syrup with 150g hulled strawberries cut in half. Strain through a sieve and pour into ice lolly moulds.

Tropical Lolly
Blend the flesh of one large mango with 175ml Tropical fruit juice, 3 tbsp of icing sugar and 1 tbsp lemon juice.

Think of fun ways of serving fruit put a raspberry on the tip of each of your child’s fingers , make melon balls with a melon baller. Put kiwi fruit in egg cups, cut off the tops and eat them like boiled eggs.

Buy a liquidiser and encourage your child to make his own smoothies.

In cold weather, serve hot fruity puddings like rhubarb and pear crumble. Other good fillings are Apple and Blackberry and Rhubarb and Strawberry, Apple, Pear and Raspberry..

To make a good crumble topping, mix together 150g flour, a good pinch of salt and rub in 75g cold butter. When the mixture starts to stick together , add 85g demerera sugar, 25g oats and continue to rub in with your fingers . Finally rub in 50g ground almonds. Mix the fruit together with some sugar in an ovenproof dish, cover with the crumble topping and sprinkle over a little water. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until the topping starts to turn golden.

Introduce lots of variety, exotic fruits are more readily available in supermarkets so introduce your child to stoned lychees, passion fruit, mango, sharon fruit, pomegranate etc…

You can make your own delicious fruit jellies using juices like Cranberry juice or diluted Elderflower Cordial and make up jellies using leaf gelatine which dissolves like a dream every time. Pour the jelly mixture into glasses filled with some fresh fruit. Berry fruits are good in jelly. Avoid using kiwi, papaya or pineapple all of which will stop the jelly from setting.

Make tasty muffins using fruits like banana or apple and get your child to help make them. Mini muffins are popular so it’s a good idea to buy a mini muffin tray and bake both large and small muffins.

For a deliciously simple dessert, put a selection of chopped fruit into a shallow ovenproof dish. Cover with a layer of crushed amaretto biscuits. Cover with crème fraiche, sprinkle over some brown sugar and set aside in the fridge for about an hour. Place under a pre-heated grill for a few minutes until golden.

Make a simple Berry Fruit Brulee. Put some fresh berries into some ramekin dishes or heatproof glass dishes. Lightly mix together some double cream until it forms soft peaks, Fold in some Greek yoghurt a little icing sugar to sweeten and a few drops of vanilla essence. Sprinkle over some brown sugar and cook under a preheated grill for 2 to 3 minutes until golden and bubbling.