How to Substitute Baking Ingredients for Healthier Ones
Baking is one of the most pleasurable things to do in the kitchen, aside from eating. There’s an almost infinite number of sweet treats you can bake, but we know if we let ourselves go and followed our cravings, our jeans wouldn’t fit in less than a week. If you want to keep baking the most mouth-watering cakes, cookies and desserts but you want to keep your body fit and balanced, there are plenty of ingredient substitutions you can make and make your cakes still taste amazing.
Replacing cream with Greek yogurt
There are certain recipes that call for a big, puffy cup of heavy cream, sour cream, cream cheese or even whipped cream for fillings and thickeners. However, there are people who can’t stand dairies or simply want a leaner choice for their desserts. You can easily replace these types of creams with the same amount of all-natural Greek yogurt, which has considerably lower fat and is higher in protein. In spite of its benefits, Greek yogurt still provides a smooth creaminess to cook with it.
Using applesauce instead of sugar
If you’re a fan of fruits, you’ll know that the main thing they do is add sweetness because of their high amount of natural sugar. If you need to stay away from refined sugar because you feel like having a healthier dessert, you can switch the white powder with a can of applesauce. Using applesauce cuts down the amount of calories and increases vitamins. Another great idea to substitute sugar is to use bee honey, agave nectar, coconut sugar, maple syrup or even ripened bananas.
Leave regular flour behind
White, all-purpose flour is the most obvious choice to bake all sorts of cookies, cupcakes, cakes or pastries; but it’s also packed with refined carbohydrates. If you want to give a try to more natural and healthy alternatives, you can start buying wheat flour, which aids in digestion and reduces high blood sugar risk. There’s also almond flour, which has lots of vitamins and protein. These types of flour only need a small adjustment for your pastries to taste like heaven!
Swap butter for avocado
This is probably one of the most surprising substitutions for your recipes. But if you want to cut down on the greasy butter or you simply find yourself without this ingredient and about to start baking, using a ripe avocado instead of butter works out just fine. Avocado is filled with monounsaturated fats, which are much healthier than other kinds of fat. We strongly recommend using avocado only in recipes that include chocolate, like cookies or brownies; mainly to mask the color.
Chia seeds instead of eggs
Although we can’t find many reasons why you should substitute eggs, there are some people who follow a vegan diet or have allergies. So, if you need to leave eggs behind in your cake recipe, you can use flaxseed meal and grind it finely. Chia seeds are also a good choice because they’re packed with Omega-3 fatty acids and fiber.
Now that you know some of the most popular ingredient replacements for baking, try some of them out to make your pastries better and healthier.