A perfect blend of apples and limes with a touch of cinnamon...butter free!

The clock was ticking its way down to 4pm, and I was desperatly looking for a dessert that would allow me to indulge without guilt. One that could satisfy my sugar tooth, without being a diet destroyer, nor cancel all the efforts I had put in my morning jogging. I was on the verge of dropping the matter aside... After all, desserts are not made to be low fat or low cal, are they? And if meant to be so, they usually end up being as huge a deception as a cheap bargain pair of shoes lasting only 5 minutes before ending up in the garbage can (because they didn't hold the walk back home, aye). It was then that I set my eyes on this ligurian cake recipe, that required no butter. After a few modification, a neat recipe came up, which gave awesome results. Proving that sometimes, low-cal/low-fat dessert recipes CAN be found, and not always end up on top of the bargain shoes, in the garbage can.


LIGURIAN APPLE LIME CAKE
A low-cal, low-fat, low cost cake recipe
(6 to 8 servings)

Ingredients:
5 apples, peeled and cut in small cubes
1 peach, peeled and cut in very small cubes
2 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs lime zest
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
1 1/4 cup white unbleached / all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk (1% or 2%)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp almond extract

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a pie plate with a little bit of butter, or PAM spray.

2) In a large bowl, combine the apples with the lemon juice, the lime zest, 1 tbs of sugar, and the cinnamon. Set aside.

3) In another bowl, using a heavy-duty mixer or hand mixer, beat the egg and sugar at high speed for about two minutes. The batter should come of a light yellow color and homogeneous creamy texture. Set aside.

4) Sift the flour and baking powder together. In another bowl, mix the milk, vanilla extract, and almond extract.

5) Incorporate the flour mix and milk into the egg and sugar batter, starting and ending with the flour. Scrape down the bowl using a clean spatula after each addition.

6) Incorporate 2/3 of the apples into the mixture into the batter and transfer to the pie dish. Place the remaining apple pieces with their juice on top.

Bake in the middle of the oven for about 35 to 40 minutes. When the cake is done, let it cool down for about an hour.

Healthy tips:
Use 1% or skim milk, and use 1/3 cup of sugar instead of 1/2. You can also use wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour.

The cost:
240 calories per portion (6 portions) using 1/2 cups of sugar and 1% milk.