There was a time in my life, I’d say maybe the last 3-4 years where I wasn’t a chocolate fan. Shocking to any of my friends and family who knew me growing up as I would be the one to order every chocolate-filled dessert at any restaurant we went to and loved brownies, fondue and s’mores. Oh and my mom’s homemade chocolate cake. Sign me up! Anything that involved chocolate – I wanted. But as I dealt with disordered eating habits through high school, college and early on into my young 20s, I felt like most desserts were “off limits” and eventually, felt like most things were too sweet for my liking.

Most things still can be depending on the brand and product but now, at 26 and within the last 2 years especially,  I’ve found a healthier relationship with food all around, including dessert. I highly enjoy fitting certain sweets into my lifestyle now more than I have in the last 7 years. No joke, I think I need chocolate every single night and I’ve even told my dad recently, dessert BEFORE dinner is the way to live your life. The best part about being an adult is you can have chocolate at lunch time, or before dinner. 

That’s why I created a banana and strawberry panini the other day, packed with dark chocolate and hazelnuts thanks to Incredo® Sugar’s new spreads that come in both Hazelnut Cocoa and Dark Cocoa Salted Caramel. For this recipe I used the Hazelnut Cocoa and it tasted like the best dessert panini you’d get at a café but with far less sugar.

If you’re thinking what the heck is Incredo® Sugar? Let me explain it to you. When I found out about this new innovation and product, I was completely blown away and I am already eager to find out what new products they’ll come up with next.

Essentially, Incredo® Sugar is a sugar reduction solution that provides anywhere between 30%-50% reduction of sugar in food and snacks such as cakes, cookies, chocolate, candy and more, with no compromise to the taste or the level of sweetness. The spreads that use this Incredo® Sugar have no artificial ingredients or preservatives added, are non-GMO and gluten-free, have no palm oil and there is absolutely NO funky aftertaste like you’d get with artificial sweeteners as Incredo® Sugar does in fact use REAL cane sugar. 

Okay so how is Incredo® Sugar less grams of sugar than your average cane sugar? Pretty much, the real cane sugar they use is structured differently and delivered to your taste receptors in a different way. Because of this nature, the sugar is “dissolved faster in the saliva and creates a higher concentration of sugar around the sweet taste receptors.”

I’m sorry but HOW FREAKING COOL is that!? This is what had me wanting to try their spreads immediately. As someone who makes time for dessert ALL the time and every day, even in small ways here and there, I still am not a huge fan of overly sweetened products. Growing up, I always found hazelnut spreads far too sweet but Incredo Sugar found the right balance with these spreads – just the right amount of sweetness but far less sugar than the leading brand. And boy, does it taste DANG good!

Currently their products are only available online but you can find them here in both of their flavors! I love them drizzled in cookies, spread on toast, or even just dipping berries in them… but this panini takes it to a whole other level. 

All you’ll need are 1 cup of strawberries and 1 banana, both sliced thinly, ¼  cup of your preferred Incredo® Sugar spread (Hazelnut Cocoa for me!) and sourdough bread (the best kind of bread to make a panini with). I spread 2 tbsp of the spread on each side of bread and one side contains the banana slices while the other one will have the strawberries. You also could use strawberry jam for this as well instead of the fruit! I feel like my boyfriend would be in heaven over that.

Anyways, combine the two slices together and pop under your panini press (the best invention you might buy in 2021 aside from these Incredo® Spreads) for about 3-5 minutes. 

Slice down the middle and enjoy!

If you try these Incredo® Spreads, please let me know and always remember, life is way too short to not have the chocolate, so have dessert for lunch or dip your fruit in a hazelnut spread (made with organic hazelnuts, by the way!).

Happy weekend!

xx,

This post was sponsored by Incredo® Sugar but all thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting Chickpea in the City.