Despite the bad reputation carbohydrates have gotten, baking and healthy are not contradictory terms. A warm, fresh baked good may trigger alarm bells because it contains sugar, fat and carbohydrates, but substituting whole-grain flour and fat replacements and adding healthy fruits, nuts, seeds and vegetables improves its nutritional value.
Flour
The flour in baked goods is often refined, which means it's stripped of its bran and germ, the elements of a wheat seed that contain the most nutrients. To bake healthy snacks choose whole wheat flour, or whole white flour instead. Whole white flour is softer-textured if the grainy quality of whole wheat flour bothers you.
Fruits, Vegetables, Seeds and Nuts
Dried fruit, fresh fruit, vegetables, seeds and nuts give baked goods a nutritional facelift. They provide fiber, vitamins, minerals, healthy fats and antioxidants that protect you from some types of cancer. They also give baked goods more flavor. Dried cranberries, dried apricots, fresh blueberries, squash, pumpkin, sunflower seeds, pecans, walnuts, lemon and poppy seeds, are just some of the options available for creating sweet or savory snacks.
Fat Substitutes
The fat in baked goods often renders them unhealthy, but replacing half the required portion of butter with applesauce or prune puree, or adding extra egg whites, gives them height and texture without the costly fat grams. Other replacement options include margarine or olive oil instead of butter.
Snacks
The snacks you can make with healthy ingredients vary. Try making healthy muffins, but remove the bottoms if you like eating only the tops. Cookie or cake bars are other options, as well as cake loaves and cake rounds. Flavored drop cookies and yeast breads are also good snack selections that can be made healthier.
Member Comments