| Some tips for healthier baking |
[05 Dec 2007|08:54pm] |
Hey everybody -
Well, holidays are here! And sometimes that can mean a serious increase in baking (especially if you're like me). So I thought maybe I'd share some tips for making any naughty recipe healthier and lower-fat than it would otherwise be. I'm kind of a baking lunatic, and also vegan, and, of course, into being healthy and low-fat.... so I have a lot of experience replacing ingredients!
Anyway, here are some things that may help you in the coming weeks. In no particular order:
- When a recipe calls for milk, you can use a substitute. I usually use almond milk (40 calories per cup!), but there's also rice or soy milk, or reduced-fat milk-milk. And actually, you can replace at least half of the amount with water and it will work out fine (really!).
- Oil can be replaced with applesauce, mashed, cooked pumpkin, or prune puree (though that has a stronger flavour).
- A really good substitute for butter, I've found, is mashed-up avocado. It still has all the richness, but it's super good for you!! (It works especially well in chocolate recipes, I've found. YUM!) You can also use applesauce, prune puree, or, of course, margarine.
- Eggs can be replaced with mashed banana (1/2 a banana = 1 egg), silken tofu (1/4 cup blended up = 1 egg), flax meal (1 tbsp flax meal + 3 tbsp water = 1 egg), soy yogurt (1/4 cup = 1 egg), or, 2 tbsp cornstarch beaten with 2 tbsp water.
- Sugar can be replaced with lots of things. Mashed fruit or fruit juice works really well, and I go for this a lot when baking (but keep in mind it will make your batter wetter, so you may have to compensate by using more dry things in the mix). You can also use apple butter, or puréed dates or raisins. (Soak them in hot water for a few minutes before putting them in the food processor - this will make things much easier.) Remember that anything with a strong flavour will affect the end result. That being said, I used orange juice to replace half the sugar in brownies the other day, and man, did they turn out nice.
- Try to stay away from using white flour; it's bleached and processed to death, so there's no nutritional value in it at all. There are tonnes of varieties of healthier flours out there. Whole wheat is a better choice, and it's usually sitting right next to the white stuff at the store, so that's the easiest option. But that's not where it ends! There's also kamut, spelt, millet, rice, and buckwheat, to name a few. Buckwheat is great, and also gluten-free! It's my favourite of flours. (Makes for a hell of a pancake, too.) You can also just grind up some rolled oats in the food processor and use that instead of flour. I often do this, and it's really tasty. So have some fun with flour!
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