People have been changing their eating habits for years in an attempt to get healthier and live longer. One of the ways they achieve this goal is to bake with low-fat substitutes to produce desserts that have less fat, cholesterol and calories. It's a matter of rethinking how you make certain recipes, and with the following tips, you can bake delicious low-fat goodies without sacrificing taste.
Instructions
1. Alter the cheese in your favorite cheesecake. Cheesecakes are traditionally made with cream cheese, but it's very high in fat and calories. If you experiment with a mixture of low-fat cottage or ricotta cheese and a bit of light cream cheese, you may be able to replicate that rich, creamy taste in one of the best guilty pleasures around.
2. Crack the mystery of the fat added by eggs. Eggs are a necessity in baking recipes, so be aware that all of an egg's fat content is found in the yolk. To lower the fat content, you can substitute two egg whites for every whole egg listed in a recipe.
3. Reduce the amount of fat in your pie crusts. A lot of pies are baked with rich, buttery pastry pie crusts, accounting for a good amount of the fat content in the pie. If you want to lower the fat, try baking the same pie with a graham-cracker crust or a crust made of cookie crumbs, a bit of canola oil and water.
4. Cut back on butter. Butter is also a traditional baking staple, but it increases the amount of fat in any dessert. To bake a healthier version of a recipe that calls for a lot of butter, reduce it by half and use low-fat yogurt or applesauce in its place.
5. Concoct a lower-fat crunchy topping. When your dessert recipes call for those delicious crunchy toppings that are sometimes made out of high-fat nuts, get out your crunchy, nutty cereals or fast-cooking oats. To enhance the flavor, you can add a few nuts to the mix.
6. Whip up your own cream. Whipping cream is another source of added fat in your mousse creations, so rather than use it in a recipe, mix ricotta cheese with beaten egg whites instead. To maintain the dessert's texture, use a bit of gelatin.
7. Take advantage of the offerings on your supermarket shelves. It's easier now to bake with low-fat substitutes, especially if you buy skim milk and low-fat cheese and cream. Use these varieties in place of their whole milkfat counterparts.
Tags: bake with low-fat, cream cheese, low-fat substitutes, ricotta cheese, with low-fat, with low-fat substitutes