No matter how tempting a sweet or dessert may be, it may contain oodles of sugar that can increase your calories and raise your blood sugar levels. But that does not mean that people with diabetes have to avoid sweets completely. The frustration of resisting all things sweet ultimately results in revenge binge eating.

What you need to know:

Sugar-free modak

Sugar-free phirni

Sattu cashew barfi

Cutting down on refined sugar and having a balanced diet are excellent ways to manage your blood sugar levels. But with healthy alternatives for sugar, such as jaggery, honey, and coconut sugar, people with diabetes can relish their favorite homemade sugar-free sweets.

Diabetic patients often miss out on consuming tasty sweets. But not anymore. Take a look at 3 healthy and yummy sugar-free sweet recipes, specially curated for patients with diabetes.

Sugar-free modak

Ingredients –

400 grams seedless dates
100 grams almonds
100 grams of cashew nuts
100 grams walnuts
100 grams raisins
100 grams of dry coconut
30 grams poppy seeds
1 teaspoon ghee

Method –

Chop all the nuts – cashew nuts, almonds and walnuts finely. Also, chop the seedless dates and dry coconut pieces to fine pieces.
Dry roast the chopped nuts separately for 1-2 minutes. Ensure that they do not get burnt. Remove them and keep them aside on a plate.
Dry roast the coconut pieces until they turn slight brown in color. Keep them aside. In the same pan, add the poppy seeds and roast them slightly until they start popping. Keep them aside as well.
Heat ghee in the same pan and add chopped dates and raisins. Sauté continuously to prevent the raisins from getting burnt and until the mixture comes together to become a thick mass. This might take around 4-5 minutes. Let it cool slightly after that.
Grind the roasted nuts with dry coconut pieces and poppy seeds. You can grind them either to a coarse powder or keep them in small pieces. Remove the mixture aside to a plate. Do the same for the date-raisin mixture.
Add both the mixtures into the same pan and mix nicely. Stir continuously for 2-3 minutes until the mixture becomes slightly sticky and hold the dry fruit mixture nicely.
Remove the mixture to a plate and let it cool slightly. Make gooseberry-sized balls out of it and mold it into the shape of a modak. Store them in an airtight container.

Sugar-free phirni

Ingredients –

5 cups skimmed milk
60 grams rice (soaked in hot water for 30 minutes)
6 crushed small cardamom seeds
3/4 cup of alternative sweetener (coconut sugar or honey)
2 tablespoon pista (ground to paste), blanched
10 almonds (shredded), blanched

Method –

Drain the rice and place in a blender, with a little bit of the milk and blend fine.
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. Add the ground rice and bring it to a boil again.
Lower the heat and simmer, stirring at all times, till the whole thing becomes one well-blended mass. This would take around 20-25 minutes.
Turn off the heat. Add the cardamom and the alternative for sweeteners.
Add the pista paste to the phirni, pour it into the serving bowl, garnish it with almonds and refrigerate. Serve it chilled.

Sattu cashew barfi

Ingredients –

250 gram chana sattu
200 gram ghee
175 gram powdered coconut sugar
15-20 finely chopped cashew nut
1 teaspoon cardamom powder

Method-

Heat ghee in a wok on medium heat. Add chana sattu and roast it on low flame. Sauté and stir continuously until it releases an aromatic flavor. Turn off the gas.
Keep aside the roasted sattu dough to cool it at room temperature. Add powdered coconut sugar, cardamom powder, and cashew nuts.
Mix well with a spatula or with your hands. Put the dough on a small tray and spread the mixture in the shape of barfi. Lay it on a flat tray, let it sit for a few minutes and your delicious sattu cashew barfi is ready to serve.