Bake healthier, mouth-watering sweets in 13 clever ways (yes, really!)
By: Scarlet Rose
Tags: Health Foods, Fitness, Baking, Dessert, Healthy Lifestyle

Want to stay fit and eat your cake too? It’s quite a tricky balancing act to eat healthy AND not compromise on taste but regardless of whether you’re a hardcore chocolate fan, an avid caramel lover, or somebody who pledges the health benefits of rocky road ice cream, there are a plethora of smart ingredient swaps — on top of add-ins you can incorporate in your batter that will remarkably enhance the nutritional benefits you can get from your dessert. Simply ask Samantha Cassetty, MS, RD, a proficient nutritionist and co-creator of “Sugar Shock” (think of it as THE authoritative book for spotting tricky sources of sugar in various foods and discovering more nutrient-dense, low-calorie alternatives). Here are nine healthy approaches to hack your evening (or whenever) treat to make it much improved — for you and your tastebuds — as per Cassetty.

Substitute butter with pureed avocado

This is a straightforward replacement since you can utilize the exact measurements avocado for the butter that is called for. As per Cassetty, this trade diminishes the general amount of fat while increasing the fiber and nutrient content, providing vitamin K, folate, vitamin E, potassium, and that’s just the beginning. Furthermore, exchanging margarine for avocado replaces saturated fat with much healthier monounsaturated fat. It should work wonderfully in all pastries and baked products however if you’re concerned with the hint of green, use it in chocolatey treats where any color changes won’t be noticeable. OTHER SUBSTITUTES: 1 cup mashed banana per 1 cup of butter/oil.

Slip in certain chickpeas

It might sound astonishing, yet chickpeas are truly flexible — when utilized in preparing, they make tasty, fudgy blondies and other baked treats. Chickpeas supply protein and fiber, in addition to a large number of different vitamins and minerals including magnesium, zinc, iron, and folate, Cassetty clarifies. Along these lines, research has shown that chickpeas improve the nutritional value of dishes and it could also be said for chickpea-imbued sweets.

Go nuts with walnuts

Nothing could be easier than blending walnuts into pastries like brownies, treats, and disintegrates. “Remembering walnuts for the eating regimen has been found to improve supplement admission, so adding them to your treats is an incredible technique,” Cassetty says. Of the relative multitude of nuts, walnuts are the only ones wealthy in ALA omega-3 unsaturated fats, in addition to they give fiber, magnesium, and iron. Furthermore, they end up tasting heavenly in pastries.

Make a chia or flax egg

Veggie lovers have been utilizing this hack to swap eggs for quite a long time. However, regardless of whether you’re not vegetarian, you should attempt this strategy. Simply mix one tablespoon of either chia or flax seeds with three tablespoons of water and let it sit for around 15 minutes until it’s comparable in consistency to an egg.

Cassetty states that these seeds are wealthy in omega-3 unsaturated fats, also known as significant calming fats that we don’t eat enough of.

replace empty carbs with nutrient-dense ones

“Shockingly, most sweets contain for the most part empty carbs, as with added sugars and fortified wheat flour, which is a refined grain,” says Cassetty. Attempt recipes or mixes that contain supplement rich almond or coconut flours, similar to Birch Benders’ Cake and Brownie blends. They have a lower carb content and more fiber and protein than normal blends, which implies you will not experience the energy lows and glucose spikes that come with most sweets.”

Cut sugar content in recipes.

As per Cassetty, you can cut about 33% of the sugar without bargaining the eventual outcome in fruity plans, custards or puddings, and no-prepare bars. “Obviously, they’ll taste less sweet, yet that is something to be thankful for as intensely improved pastries get your sense of taste snared on desserts.” In pastries, sugar holds water so to scale back, attempt pureed prunes in a 1:1 ratio This tip cuts the sugar and adds fiber without playing with the surface.

BONUS TIPS: By adding 1/2 tsp vanilla per half- cup of sugar in your recipe, you can retain the integrity of your recipe as according to a 2019 study of Science daily, the said extract elevates our sense of taste allowing us to lessen sugar without compromising on flavor. Try it for yourself!

-1/2 cup of Stevia per 1 cup of sugar

-you can replace sugar with applesauce in a 1:1 ratio but for every cup of applesauce, reduce liquid content of recipe by 1/4.

Be smart with chocolate chips

Use small chocolate chips or cut dark chocolate into tiny pieces when plans call for chips or lumps. This hack gives you the chocolatey flavor in each chomp yet reduces the measure of chocolate you use as tinier chunks distribute proportionately.

Revolutionize your fruit

Indeed, fruit can never replace dessert. However, you can change fruit into something deserving of a sweet title Cassetty says. “One of my number one approaches is to sauté sliced apples sprinkled with cinnamon and afterward top it with walnuts. Another choice is to warm frozen organic product for 30 seconds until it’s succulent and afterward mix in 1 teaspoon of chia seeds per half cup of frozen blueberries. Allow the blend to sit in any event 30 minutes until it gels up. At that point, top with lower sugar granola for a mock berry disintegrate.” These are only two alternatives, yet actually, there are countless alternative approaches to make a pastry out of normally sweet fruits (like fruity ice pops!).

Date Caramel

Caramel is a pretty sugar-dense baking ingredient that’s hard to substitute… After all, how can you get the rich, dense taste of caramel from “healthy” ingredients? That is until you find the secret ingredient: dates! Simply blend fresh, moist dates in a food processor and add a little water according to your desired consistency. It will keep well in the fridge for 1–2 weeks.

Greek yogurt

Greek yogurt can replace fat- dense baking ingredients such as butter(use half the butter in a recipe and replace with Greek yogurt) , sour cream/cream- (replace equal amounts to Greek yogurt), oil (use ¾ cup Greek yogurt for every cup of oil) and buttermilk. These substitutions work well in most recipes except in pies. In doing these, you get to cut the fat in recipes while keeping their moisture and more importantly, keeping desserts guilt-free!

EVAPORATED MILK

Replace 1 cup evaporated milk per 1 cup of cream for lower fat content in recipes. Works for cakes, scones and cookies.

K.I.S.S- Keep It Small and Sweet

“One of my #1 expert techniques is to make desserts in smaller servings. Our satisfaction with a dessert lulls after a couple of chomps, so a scaled-down dessert permits you to amplify your delight yet keeps the servings more sensible for a decadent treat,” Cassetty says. It makes things well balanced.