5 Guilt-Free Zone Desserts

Sweets aren't off limits on the Zone. What matters is that dessert isn't just sugar. When there's protein and a little fat alongside the sweetness, it keeps you full longer and fits into your blocks like any other meal. In these five recipes, the protein comes from skyr, cottage cheese and protein powder, and the sweetness from fruit, honey or date syrup.

1. Skyr Tiramisu

The classic flavor without mascarpone and without baking. In the Skyr Tiramisu, the cream is made from skyr and protein powder, the ladyfingers are swapped for coffee-soaked rice cakes, and dark chocolate goes on top. It takes 10 minutes and has equal protein and carb blocks, so it's easy to portion out for several days.

2. Protein Chocolate Spread

For the days when you're craving chocolate. The Protein Chocolate Spread is a thick cream of banana, cocoa, a little honey and peanut butter, and skyr and protein powder make it filling. It's ready in 15 minutes and is also balanced in blocks.

3. Strawberry Chocolate Cream

The fastest of the five. The Strawberry Chocolate Cream is skyr with fresh strawberries, grated dark chocolate and just a touch of honey. The whole recipe is 2 blocks and takes 10 minutes, making it a nice afternoon snack for two or a bigger one for one.

4. Chocolate Ice Cream

The Chocolate Ice Cream is made from low-fat cottage cheese, protein powder, cocoa and dark chocolate, sweetened with date syrup. It has more protein than carbs, so serve it with a handful of raspberries or other berries to balance the portion.

5. Lemon Ice Cream

A refreshing option for warm days. The Lemon Ice Cream combines cottage cheese, protein powder, sour cream, honey and lemon juice. As with the chocolate version, protein dominates, so top it with a few strawberries or blueberries and dessert is ready.

How to fit dessert into your day

• As an afternoon or bedtime snack: a 1-block portion.
• As the end of lunch or dinner: in that case, cut back on the side dish so you stay within the blocks for that meal.
• Honey, date syrup and fruit all count as carbs, so don't add extra on top by eye.

If you want to see where small snacks fit into a whole day, check out our full-day Zone meal plan. In ZoneIt, you add dessert to your Diary like any other recipe and see its blocks right away.