Eat up, it's guilt-free

Mouthwatering trifle doesn't need to be made with full-fat ingredients. Picture / Garth Hokianga

Who doesn't love trifle? The layers of colour, the mix of textures, the way one serving is seldom enough. And trifle always tastes better the next day, making the guilty pleasure of sneaking into the fridge with just a spoon one of the joys of the season.

However, if willpower isn't your strong suit and you overindulge at Christmas, now is the time to take some preventive measures.

The foundations of healthy home cooking start with the right ingredients.

Open your refrigerator and take a long, hard look. Do you see any low-fat ingredients such as low-fat milk, low-fat yoghurt, lite cream cheese, olive oil spread, lite butter, lite condensed milk, lite cream, lite coconut cream, lite mayonnaise or lite sauces?

The low-fat products now available in supermarkets is amazing and they have a taste and texture very close to their full-fat cousins - so there's every reason to choose them. It's true that 10 years ago low-calorie alternatives were a poor substitute.

If you didn't like them then, it's time you tried again - you'll be pleasantly surprised.

I recommend the low-fat versions ahead of the no-fat versions because reducing calories while maintaining taste is a bit of a balancing act. Take all the fat away and you may not feel satisfied and end up eating twice as much, which defeats the whole purpose. Make sure you read the labels on low-calorie foods carefully, as some are low in calories and fat only because their serving size is based on a very small serving. When using low-fat food products - such as sour cream - in baking, remember to add wet ingredients - such as apple sauce - to add moisture. There are great reduced-fat olive oil products on the market that taste even better than butter in baking.

And keep that spice rack full of aromatics such as cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves, to add depth of flavour to your low-fat baking. So now you can have your trifle and eat it too.