Incorporating or substituting healthy ingredients into desserts can seem to be an impossible task. Reducing the cream cheese in cheesecake, for example, almost seems absurd. Or deleting the cream from rich chocolate pudding or evaporated milk from chocolate pie sounds unworkable.

But it’s not if you are willing to try tofu. There are lots of reasons to include tofu in a healthy diet. Calories are lower. Four ounces of raw tofu contains 94 calories compared to 440 in 4 ounces of cream and 400 in 4 ounces of cream cheese. Fat grams are lower: 5 grams in 4 ounces compared to 44 grams in cream or 40 in cream cheese. And cholesterol is nonexistent since tofu is a plant-based (soy bean) product.

So why don’t we eat more of it?

“Because,” said author and chef Brita Housez, “traditionally in the U.S., tofu was eaten by vegetarians as a substitute for meat.”

Here are a couple of easy tofu dessert recipes that may make a convert out of you. The bananas in the pudding recipe add a creamy, low-fat texture to this delicious dessert. The peanut butter pie will fool even the trained palate. And there are numerous tofu cheesecake recipes on the Web. Can you tofu? We think so. Try it.