Teatime desserts. (food).(Recipe)

When planning for that special Mother's Day tea, why not try a taste-tempting tray of elegant pastries that support healthy lifestyles? Not only are these healthy twists on the traditional delicious, they're made with a dazzling display of whole-grain flours, unrefined sweeteners and fruits--fresh or dried.

To deliver plenty of flavor, as well as a wealth of vitamins and minerals to tea time treats, use spelt, teff, quinoa and whole-grain pastry flours.

Teff is high in calcium, protein and iron, and its flour is an ideal ingredient to help energize your day. An 8-ounce serving yields 32 percent of the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for calcium and 80 percent for iron. Teff is low in fat (1 gram per 2-ounce serving) and high in fiber (8 grams per 2-ounce serving). It's also a good source of niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, zinc, magnesium, copper, manganese, boron, phosphorous and potassium, and it tastes mildly like chocolate.

Delicious, nutty-flavored spelt flour was once reserved for the adventurous or wheat-intolerant diner. An ancient grain, it contains a more digestible form of gluten than common, hybrid wheat, making it a fine alternative for some people with wheat sensitivities. It's easier to digest than most grains because of its water-solubility--nutrients dissolve quickly in liquid, requiring only a minimum amount of digestive work. Ideal for prolonging stamina, spelt yields more B vitamins, protein, fat, fiber, iron, zinc and copper than wheat.

Quinoa flour adds a rich sesame flavor and novelty to familiar pastry recipes. It's high in B vitamins, iron, potassium, zinc, vitamin E and calcium. Like teff flour, quinoa flour may be substituted in recipes for 25 percent of wheat flour with excellent results.

Both quinoa and spelt are free of gluten--an ingredient that helps bread and pasta dough stretch and rise--so you wouldn't want to use either one exclusively to make high-rising cakes. But they're ideal for cookies, pancakes and pie crusts.

The following recipes make use of these healthier substitutes to common confectionary ingredients, and pleasure-seekers with a sweet tooth will delight in the abundance of choices.