On the Joys of Dessert
It's sweet and soothing, delightful and delicious—the stuff of birthdays and holidays, a portal to instant nostalgia, a perfectly lovely way to (occasionally) ring in 3 P.M. or complete a celebratory meal. And some of the best examples we've recently tried contain nary a speck of white sugar.

Most baked goods include sugar as an ingredient, but that's just one source of the sweetness we love—and not the most interesting one. Pastry chef Joanne Chang, proprietor of beloved Boston bakery and café Flour and author of the forthcoming cookbook Flour, Too, contends that maple syrup, honey, fruit juice, and agave nectar have more complex flavors than granulated sugar. "Sugar hits you high and sharp," Chang says. "It's a familiar, pleasing experience. But maple and honey have more distinctive tastes—and a warm, round quality. Put those in a dessert and you make it really flavorful in a way that you can't with white sugar."

Intrigued, we asked Chang to whip up some desserts without using white sugar; she responded with an apple walnut cake that gets its crackly edge from maple syrup, a banana bread pudding brightened with honey, a zingy citrus granita mellowed with apple juice. She wowed us with delicately crumbed lemony pistachio cookies made with agave nectar, a sweet derivative of the Latin American plant that gives us tequila, which Chang says "has a slight caramel taste—it's a little deeper than straight sugar." She won our hearts with a dreamy crème caramel enriched with maple syrup (which she boils down until it's highly concentrated and caramelized—no candy thermometer required). And then Chang blew our minds with a truffle-esque chocolate cream pie, explaining that because chocolate is already sweetened, it can be used to create a decadent dessert with no additional sugar.

The takeaway? The treats we love actually benefit from spanning the sweetener spectrum—and many of those alternatives can already be found in our pantries. We see this as a victory for sweets seekers everywhere: Since life is too short not to eat dessert, we're always glad to find new ways to enjoy it even more.

Next: Double-chocolate cream pie recipe

double chocolate cream pie

Photo: Sang An


Double-Chocolate Cream Pie
Each step in this recipe is simple, and most can be done ahead of time, if you prefer. The dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or frozen for up to a month, wrapped in a double layer of plastic wrap, before being thawed and rolled out.

Get the recipe: Double-Chocolate Cream Pie

creme caramel

Photo: Sang An


Maple Crème Caramel
Grade B maple syrup, which is darker and has a more intense flavor than grade A, is preferable for baking.

Get the recipe: Maple Crème Caramel

walnut cake

Photo: Sang An


Maple Apple Walnut Cake
Maple syrup adds deeper flavors to this dessert.

Get the recipe: Maple Apple Walnut Cake

granita

Photo: Sang An


Orange Granita with Honey-Poached Pears, Cranberries and Citrus
A tangy-sweet granita that you can make up to 2 weeks ahead—store it in the freezer until ready to serve.

Get the recipe: Orange Granita with Honey-Poached Pears, Cranberries and Citrus

lemon pistachio cookies

Photo: Sang An


Lemon Pistachio Agave Cookies
These lemony pistachio cookies are sweetened with agave nectar—a derivative of the Latin American plant that gives us tequila.

This dough can be made up to 3 days ahead and kept chilled in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Get the recipe: Lemon Pistachio Agave Cookies

Honey-Cinnamon Banana Bread Pudding

Photo: Sang An


Honey-Cinnamon Banana Bread Pudding
A banana bread pudding recipe brightened with honey.

Get the recipe: Honey-Cinnamon Banana Bread Pudding

Next: 6 Vibrant Recipes From Michael Pollan