About
Desserts With Benefits Blog
Welcome to Desserts With Benefits!
My name is Jessica and I’m the girl behind this healthy dessert recipe blog. I love baking, food photography, strength training (hate hate hate cardio, sorry not sorry), making DIY Protein Bars, and cuddling on the couch with my puppy, Cherry. I am a sweet tooth at heart — always have been and always will, from childhood to today and this day forward — with a passion for nutrition, health, and wellness.
As a university graduate who studied Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, my main goal here on this blog is to make truly healthy desserts. Here at Desserts With Benefits, we use good-for-you ingredients to make balanced treats we can feel good about eating!
.
What does “Desserts With Benefits” mean?
Desserts with health benefits! It’s just a fun play on the phrase, “friends with benefits,” but dessert snuck its way in there instead.
Let’s indulge… no strings attached.
.
With love and good eats,
.
– Jess
.
.
Read the Food Philosophy page to learn more about the blog’s guiding principles!
.
Read Jessica’s Life Story to learn more about the girl behind the blog!
.
Indulge − no strings attached!
I love your story and journey! Awesome! So glad I stumbled across your blog today, looking forward to reading more. xo. 🙂
I just came across your website by pure luck. THANK GOODNESS. Everything you have on here is seriously a miracle. My roommate and I are major health buffs and your recipes have changed our lives!!!!!!!! So much love to you. (When we become famous fitness spokesmodels, we are going to promote you big time! No promises to when that’ll be though :))
Awww thanks so much Kaci, that means so much to me 😀
And with a positive attitude like that, I’m sure you guys will become super famous 😉
Good luck <3
Your desserts look so amazing that I want to nominate you the Liebster Award.
Like the idea of your website, I also make healthified unhealthy treats. I checked out your peanut butter mousse today, pretty cool recipe. I would like also to suggest using PB2, which is a powdered peanut butter, with 85% of fat taken out, it has peanut roasted flavor, but basically almost no fats, a really nice substitute for peanut butter. I might will pick something out of your recipes and will proteinized it or maybe just make a different version of it, but will make sure to leave a reference to you.
Peanut flour is similar to PB2 because it’s defatted and high protein, but it doesn’t have any added sugar. I don’t think my Healthy Peanut Butter Mousse can be “proteinized” any more haha, it’s already got 37g of protein per serving 🙂
Pingback: Desserts With Benefits
Pingback: Desserts With Benefits
You are such an inspiration! I am totally your 18 year old self, but I am making steps towards eating healthier. Baby steps right now, but I will focus on more healthy eating once I have more time to read up on it.
Awww thank you so much! Trust me, if I can do it, YOU CAN DO IT 😀
Learning about nutrition really opened my eyes to what real food is meant to be, taste like, and do for the human body.
I wish you luck! 🙂
Nice blog, Jessica!
So you managed to escape the clutches of our cold Canadian winters when you were young? I’m envious.
It seems that you’ve adapted well to your much warmer home south of the border.
Good luck accomplishing your dreams! May they all come to fruition!
Jack Rabbit
Pingback: Desserts With Benefits
Pingback: Desserts With Benefits
I’m so glad I found you! I love food and I can say if it were a sport, I would be fit jajaja.. Last week I decided to change my life, starting from food and do some exercises (which I hate) and I’ve been so desperate looking for recipes with healthy food and also, in Venezuela (where I come from and live) is hard to find some ingredients. Anyway I’m really thankful to have dropped in this website, and thanks to you, I can please my desires when I really need something sweet and healthy. I’m trying to translate your recipes into spanish (mmm with my intermediate English) to give them to my friends 😀 so we can start a healthier life. THANK YOU!
I’m so glad you found my blog too! If food was a sport, we should be on the same team 😉
I hope you get to try as many recipes as you can, and I hope your friends like them too! I wish you the best of luck with your health, wellness and fitness 🙂
Have a great weekend!
Hi I was just wondering are there any good books or other resources for me to study Nutritional Sciences? You really inspired me to want to bake and live healthy. Thanks!
How exciting! I feel so honored to have inspired you!
I would recommend contacting a university professor in the field (like a Nutrition 101 class, and Sports Nutrition if you’re interested in that) and asking what textbooks are called for in the syllabus. I learned a ton in class, but I also learned a lot just by reading the textbook in my free time.
Hi! I’m Rebecca from MyNaturalFamily.com. I shared a link to your recipe on my post about quinoa flour!
Love this blog, very inspirational to me! I am a canadian nutritional student as well with very similar goals as you! I’m much further behind as I just started a healthy instagram page (munchiesbymeg) haha but one day I hope to have a blog like this! Good luck and all the best!!
Thank you so much Meghan! I’m glad you like my blog 🙂
I just checked out your Instagram and those protein balls? YUMM! Good luck on your IG account and getting your degree! Congrats 🙂
Hi Jessica.
I love your work.
I am pleased to see that more people are replacing sugar with something beneficial for them(I never bought sugar in my life). I am honey lover.I also use maple syrup(unfortunately I don’t live in Canada so the choice is limited), stevia, monk fruit, dates, figs, and dried fruit. I don’t know how I feel about erythritol yet. What else would you suggest?
If you are opening a store today, what will be the five “must have” desserts there?
Thank you 🙂
Thank you! I’m so glad you like my blog 🙂
I’m a honey-lover too… and pure maple syrup lover. If you’re looking for more healthy sweeteners, I would recommend date sugar, maple sugar, coconut sugar, and sucanat. If you like honey, try out raw honey — it’s AMAZING!
I hope this helps 🙂
And, if I were to open a bakery right now, I’d sell:
1) Peanut Butter & Chocolate Shortbread Bars
2) “Marshmallowy” Coconut Krispy Treats
3) Whole Wheat Citrus Pound Cake
4) Decadent Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting
5) Homemade Snickerz
-Jess
After reading a heap of your recipes, I’m so glad to hear your story behind not only your blog but your lifestyle. Thank you for sharing, you have a beautiful blog! xx han
Can I just say I LOVE yours dogs’ names!! SOA forever.
I asked this question on another page, but I realize it’s more relevant here. Anyways, I was wondering what do you usually eat for meals that aren’t dessert? And how do you avoid unhealthy foods at parties or restaurants? Also what’s your usual workout routine? (haha sorry for all the questions)
Thanks
Hi I wanted to thank you for replying to my comment (although that was a while ago) and also ask do you count calories?
I don’t count calories, I focus more on macronutrients and healthiness. I try to make every meal nutritionally balanced with a good amount of healthy fats, complex carbohydrates and protein 🙂
I don’t like counting calories because I feel like the quality of your food matters more than the number of calories they may have. However, this is just my personal preference. Some people have great success losing weight and gaining weight/muscle by counting calories. If you’re not sure what’s best for you, I’d recommend meeting with a Registered Dietician 🙂
Hope this helps Karima!
Your homemade nutella looks so good!
Pingback: Healthy Valentine Peanut Butter Cups (sugar free, low carb, gluten free) - Active Vegetarian
Have you opened your ‘healthy’ bakery yet? When you do, I really want to come and check it out.
Your blog is very inspiring. I am a home economics teacher is BC, Canada and am always looking for alternative recipes. I am for sure going to try out some of your recipes!
Not as of yet, I’m still in school… but I hope to when I graduate and branch out more!!
Last night I baked the chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting for my boyfriend’s birthday. The cake tasted absolutely incredible! My boyfriend loved it and said it was the best cake he ever had. Thank you so much for your healthy dessert recipes that also taste amazing
Thank you so much for baking the cake!! I’m so glad you and your boyfriend liked it 🙂
That’s definitely one of my favorite cakes too. I hope you guys had an amazing birthday celebration!
Jessica, you are gorgeous inside and out, talented, and inspirational. I aspire to be a healthy food blogger like you!! 🙂
Awww you are THE BEST! That just made my day 🙂
Blogging is definitely a lot more work than it seems, but it’s so worth it if you love it. I wish you the VERY BEST with your blog! 😀
I don’t know where you got your nutrition data for your “Healthy Homemade Protein-packed Peanut Butter Spread”, but I put all your ingredients into my recipe program and came up with 169.8 calories per 2 tablespoons, not 90 as you claim; that’s almost double!The powder data comes from Vitacost Brown Rice Protein. I triple-checked my figures and they were spot-on. Here’s some other bad data – Yours: total fat 6g, sodium 55g, total carbs 3g, fiber 2g, protein 5g; Actual: total fat 13.1g, sodium 110.6g, total carbs 6.02g, fiber 2.56g, protein 8.12g. The ONLY improvement was more protein. Natural peanut butter has 8g protein, so there’s no benefit from your “protein” recipe.
I calculated the recipe again and basically got the same results I got before:
959 calories for the entire recipe (~1+1/3 cups = 21 tbs + 1 tsp), which equals 45 calories per tablespoon and 90 calories per 2 tablespoons (1 serving).
Nope, your recalculation doesn’t help me; I was commenting, not looking for help. Your calculations are still wrong. My input is into a recipe/diet software program that automatically calculates calories, fats, sodium, minerals, carbs, vitamins, water, etc based upon amount used in a recipe. I am VERY exact on my quantity inputs. Ingredients are from the latest USDA Standard Reference Release 27 database with additional data from manufacturers’ nutrition web sites. Perhaps you need to find another source for your data.
There is only one surefire way to calculate the exact nutrition information from a recipe, and that’s to look at the nutrition labels on your products’ packaging. Calorie and nutrition information is rarely accurate in premade software programs and databases.
I don’t know what that database says, but it is incorrect.
–
**This is the correct information line by line:
1/2 cup Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Soy Milk = 40 calories (1 cup has 80)
30g SunWarrior Vanilla Brown Rice Protein Powder (21g = 1 serving (80 calories … 30g/21g = 1.43x servings = 114 calories)
6 packets Truvia = 5 calories (48g erythritol has 12 calories, 6 pkts of Truvia weighs 21g)
128g Natural Peanut Butter (32g/2tbs serving = 190 calories, 128g = 760 calories)
80+114+5+760=959 calories
1+1/3 cups = 21 tbs + 1 tsp
959 / 21.3333 = 44.95 calories PER tablespoon.
Therefore, 89.9 calories per two tablespoons/1 serving.
…
Does this make sense? The database you are using is clearly not accurate, but this is (if you are using the same brands as I am).
-Jess
Hi Jessica I just wanted to ask where on your website can I purchase your books!! Friday is when I want to purchase them!!!?? THANK YOU for all your time and hard work in putting this together!!! I hope to hear from you soon!!!
Hi Marcie! Thank you so so much for your interest in my cookbooks! 😀
I don’t sell them directly on my blog, but they’re both available on Amazon.com:
DIY Protein Bars Cookbook – http://amzn.to/1KFd4jj
Naughty or Nice Cookbook – http://amzn.to/1KFd7vK
…
The Naughty or Nice Cookbook is also available in my Etsy shop (I’ll ship it to you personally and can dedicate it to you or someone you are gifting it to):
https://www.etsy.com/listing/257988687/naughty-or-nice-cookbook-the-ultimate?ref=shop_home_feat_1
Hope this helps Marcie! I appreciate your support and love 😀
-Jess
Hooray for college bakers! Love your blog, keep it up 🙂
Hi Jessica,
I admire your goals and your enthusiasm. I’m a vegan and was excited to discover a product you use for buttery flavor (LorAnn Bakery Emulsions), So, I checked in with LorAnn, and lo and behold, their “butter” flavoring are in fact NOT vegan. Here’s what they told me:
“Our Butter Bakery Emulsion contains natural flavorings which includes dairy. The source of the dairy we are not able to disclose due proprietary nature of the ingredients.
Sincerely,
Carrie Foote
Customer Service Representative
LorAnn Oils, Inc”
Wow, I am completely shocked with the LorAnn company. I emailed them a few years back with the same question, and at that time, they replied saying their butter flavor was vegan. How ridiculous.
Thankfully, there ARE natural vegan butter flavors available. I got them on Amazon.com 🙂
Thanks so much for letting me know!
-Jess
Hi! Just stumbled across your blog, and I love it. I was also one of the “skinny-fat” kids in school, but my lifestyle has really been improving over the past two years (good thing too, since I’m going into physical therapy!) But…I still love to bake, and have a sweet tooth the size of California. I can’t wait to delve into some of your recipes!
I’m so glad you found my blog Kay!! I hope you like all the recipes of mine that you try 🙂
Wishing you the very best!
-Jess
This is excellent. I love what you are doing.
Dear Jess, I have been wanting to prepare healthy desserts and healthy dishes for my mom who is 97 years old, very soon, 98. She has Diabetes2 (cholesterol) but she loves sweets, desserts, etc. I was just searching the Interne for cakes, desserts, breads, pizza receipts made with 100% Whole Wheat flour, healthy ingredients, and stevia, This will be good for my children and for me as well. (We could inherited the Diabetes. ..We must be predisposed to it). So, searching for healthy home made food, among the ones I found, I, luckily, saw your delicious desserts. Thank you so much for sharing your professional and passion for healthy food. You are helping many people to live a more pleasant and healthier life!.
Pingback: Healthy Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Pingback: Desserts With Benefits Banana Bread no.7 -
Thank you so much for your amazing blog. My bestie cannot come near anything with gluten and it always breaks my heart that she cannot enjoy all the yumminess out there. But thanx to you this is now possible.
I love you. you are the best baker ever