This 100-calories, vitamin A rich dessert features the Louisiana state vegetable, the sweet potato!

It is time for the dietitian to confess. I love desserts, sweets, and cookies! I said it! I don’t believe in cutting desserts – in fact, desserts are a big part of mine and my family’s life! The secret to my desserts – I DECREASE the amount of sugar, fat and carbs in the recipes. While I don’t completely cut out sugar entirely, I decrease the sugar enough to give the dessert a nice flavor. I want taste!

I have to talk about one of my favorite desserts – Sweet Potato Pie! Growing up, I would ‘sneak’ little bites of sweet potato pie when my mom was not looking! I know that was not very nice, but it was amazingly tasty! Looking back at my love obsession with sweet potato pie, I now realize how this can affect my waistline.

Traditional ingredients in Sweet Potato Tarts/Pie:

• 2 cups of sugar – leads in increase in carbs and calories
• 1/2 cup butter – increases saturated fat and calories
• Flour or pre-made pie crust – increases carbs

To showcase the love of the state vegetable and enjoying pie, I created my Skinny Sweet Potato Tarts.

How we ‘skinny-ed’ the Sweet Potato Tart:

• Decreased sugar to 3/4 cup – reduces calories by 963 total and 250 carbs!
• Decrease butter to 2 tablespoons of whipped butter – reduces calories by 612 total!
• No flour!
• Added 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

My kids LOVE these tarts, and well, you will as well!

Skinny Sweet Potato Tarts

Ingredients:

4 sweet potatoes, cooked, peeled, and mashed
3/4 cup of sugar*
6 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons of whipped butter
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 (12 ounce) can fat free evaporated milk
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a bowl, combine sweet potato, sugar, egg yolk, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, whipped butter, applesauce, evaporated milk, and vanilla.
3. Mix with hand mixer on lowest speed.
4. Divide filling among cupcake/muffin pan. Bake 50-65 minutes.
5. Serve.

**Many of you want to eliminate sugar. I fully understand and encourage you all to use your own sugar substitutes/substitutions. Let me know how it turns out!