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Dessert recipes

10 AIP Dessert Recipes

Sweet is where people expect me to be strict, and I am not.

These 10 use fruit, coconut, and carob to build something genuinely worth having at the end of a meal, because a version of dessert belongs on this path.

AIP Recipe · Desserts & treats

tarte-tatin-style apple and lavender upside-down cake, AIP elimination compliant

An Instant Pot cake like this one rewards patience more than skill. You seal the pan with foil, set it in the

AIP Recipe · Desserts & treats

sweetener-free skillet apple crumble with an AIP apple-flour topping, sweetness from the fruit alone

A sweetener-free skillet apple crumble with an AIP apple-flour topping, sweetness from the fruit alone. The ge

AIP Recipe · Desserts & treats

Raspberry Sorbet

A frozen dessert that tastes exactly like what it is: whole raspberries and apples, blended and churned into s

AIP Recipe · Desserts & treats

Carob truffles for the chocolate-shaped craving

Coconut milk and a little honey simmer into a rich base, rolled into truffles and coated in carob, its own fla

AIP Recipe · Desserts & treats

Banana Cookie Dough Bites

Cookie dough from the bowl, the spoon, the raw batter you were told not to eat as a kid: that specific comfort

AIP Recipe · Desserts & treats

Warm cinnamon plantains

4 ingredients, 15 minutes, and something warm and sweet built entirely from real food. Ripe plantains, good fa

AIP Recipe · Desserts & treats

Carob Strawberry Tarts

Most days, dessert is simply a piece of fruit, and that is as it should be. These small tarts are for the days

AIP Recipe · Desserts & treats

Fruit on a stick, frozen into a real treat

A frozen treat on a stick is simple pleasure, and this one is built entirely from real ingredients. Fresh frui

AIP Recipe · Desserts & treats

Roasted Cherry Ice Cream, Deep and Dairy-Free

Roasting the cherries first is the trick that makes this dairy-free ice cream taste like more than the sum of

AIP Recipe · Desserts & treats

AIP Marshmallows

Getting a syrup to exactly 240 degrees on a candy thermometer, no higher and no lower, is the one part of this

See all 95 Dessert recipes

Sugar, honestly

Refined sugar is linked to inflammation, and it's also woven through birthdays, holidays, and grief. Both of those things are true, and pretending only the first one is true is how women end up feeling like a failure over a slice of cake.

What these recipes do is take the sweetness from fruit and the richness from coconut and carob. These recipes are not trying to turn dessert into health food. They are making sure the thing you eat at the end of a good evening doesn't cost you the next 3 days.

What carob actually is

Cocoa comes out during elimination, which surprises people more than almost anything else on the list, and carob is the usual stand-in. It's naturally sweeter than cocoa, it has no caffeine, and it behaves a lot like cocoa in a recipe.

Carob comes from a pod in the legume family, so a small number of stricter sources leave it out, though most include the powder. If legumes are something you're watching closely, that's worth knowing before you build 3 desserts around it. Given a fair hearing on its own terms and not as an imitation, carob is genuinely good, particularly frozen.

Questions we get asked

Dessert recipes, answered

Can I eat chocolate on the Autoimmune Protocol?

Not during elimination. Cocoa is removed at the start and carob is the usual substitute. Cocoa is one of the foods many people test during reintroduction, and plenty tolerate dark chocolate afterwards.

What sweeteners are allowed on AIP?

Whole-fruit sweetness first, then small amounts of honey or maple syrup. What comes out is refined sugar and the non-nutritive sweeteners, stevia included. The general guidance is to keep added sweeteners modest even when they're technically compliant.

Which fruits work best in AIP desserts?

Ripe plantain, banana, dates, and apple, because they bring structure as well as sweetness. The riper the fruit the sweeter the result, so a plantain with black patches on the skin isn't past its best here. It's exactly what you want.

Can I have dessert while working toward Remission?

Yes, and how often is genuinely individual. Sustaining this is not about strictness. It is about finding a version you enjoy that doesn't set you back, and then dropping the whole subject as a moral question.