Sugar Be Gone With These Sugar and Gluten-Free Health Snacks

Every now and then people “discover” that something that we used to eat happily and without conscience is actually terrible and should probably be avoided should you want a prolonged and healthy life. Previous examples include oil, eggs, and salt. Now it's sugar's turn.

Of course, that's an oversimplification given that there are good and bad sugars, and it's actually excess sugar which we should be wary of. While traditional Chinese cuisine doesn't call for much in the way of sweetness, Beijingers are now are making up for lost time and demand for Western-style sweets and desserts is growing. So what's a health-conscious sweet tooth to do? Enter Sugar-Free.

The Sugar-Free premise (which belongs to online shop Beast Life) focusses on picking popular desserts and making tasty sugar-free versions of them. All of their products are made low-sugar, low-carb, and gluten-free by reducing the respective guilt-inducing properties via ingredients such as erythritol and stevioside, almond powder, coconut powder, and corn powder.

Of their offerings, our favorite are the finger scones (RMB 28 per box, above) for their crunchy and buttery notes. If we didn't already know it was sugar-free, we wouldn't have guessed. Alternatively, the nut brownie (RMB 28 for two pieces, pictured at top) is made with butter from New Zealand, sugar-free cacao powder, imported almond powder, coconut powder, pecans, and whipping cream. With a nice marble pattern, each chunk is dense and packed with a luxurious cacao flavor that doesn't disappoint. The only downside is that is that they're slightly dry, but we think the health benefit more than makes up for this fault.

There are also sugar-free and gluten-free cheesecakes, muffins, rose cakes, and cheddar cheese sticks to choose from, all available for purchase via their online shop. Though we haven't completely shaken our occasional need for an afternoon sweet, it's good to be able to stock our cupboard with something a little less unhealthy.

READ: These Pretty Wheat Cakes Hit the Right Note of Sweet and Healthy

Photos: Sugar-Free, Couturing, Carltodentalcare, Tracy Wang