Because You're Sweet Enough Already

by Kimberlee

MY FIRST POSTED RECIPE!!!

My husband and I both have a sweet tooth, but we do watch our sugar intake.  I came into the marriage with a passionate avoidance to high fructose corn syrup/sugar and he was doing the low-carb lifestyle, both of which combined to create quite the Test Kitchen atmosphere when it came to making desserts! This recipe is adapted from a Nabisco recipe I found in a magazine.


Though, honestly, I didn't have as much of a sweet tooth until a couple of years ago when I started doing chemotherapy, and at that point sweet foods became much more appealing - not as much during the first chemo (I was a salt monster then, which is another problem entirely), but it definitely developed during my second and third courses.  Between the chemo drugs (steroids, mostly) and the sugar, I put on 20 lbs.  Not happy!

You would think weight gain would be the last thing a person battling a life-threatening disease should worry about, but I don't know many that don't.  It's difficult enough to feel attractive when you are ill, and when your body sort of betrays you, it becomes one thing over the line, so when Tom and I stopped with all the sugar and started with the Test Kitchen, I expected to lose weight, and I didn't!  Due to the drugs, I really can't lose it, but at least I am no longer gaining.

So now, when we do make treats, we make them in the lowest sugar-way possible.  I am aware that opinions are split on artificial sweeteners, but we swear by Splenda and its generic counterparts. (Note, when I use "splenda" I mean both, kind of like saying "kleenex" or "band-aid.") I haven't tried Stevia, but feel free to use it.

Now look at this beauty!

Chocolate Cheesecake Pudding Pie

Of course, not everything can be substituted.  I have yet to find low sugar vanilla wafers, and I think a little bit of dark chocolate is fine - a little goes a long way and it is high in anti-oxidants.

What You Need

2 (3.9 each) packages of instant pudding - no sugar chocolate
- note: I have NEVER noticed any taste difference between the name brand and generics, and I have eaten A LOT of pudding in my life
 Vanilla Wafers 
- Substitute Splenda or half & half sugar and splenda for this recipe
4 semi-sweet or dark chocolate squares
- you can also find these in no or reduces sugar
8 oz of whipped topping
- there are several options for this: look here, here and here (easiest)
1 package light cream cheese
2 cups cold fat free milk, plus 2 tablespoons for later
1/4 cup splenda

Line a 9" round pan with plastic wrap, and then line the vanilla wafers in the bottom and side as a crust.   We found that the side wafers stuck better if we used a little of the whipped cream as a "glue."

Melt 3 of the squares in a double boiler.

Beat the pudding mix and 2 cups of milk, then add the melted chocolate and 1 cup of the cool whip.  Pour into the round pan.

Refrigerate for several hours, then top with the rest of the whipping cream and shaved chocolate from the remaining square.


This pie is super-delicious, and if you don't tell the people you are serving it to that it is low-sugar, they will never know!