Healthier baking…

I love to bake.

Much more than I prefer cooking. I think with cakes, cupcakes and cake pops, its the finishing touches and making it all look pretty that I prefer the most. I obviously can’t eat everything I bake or I would be the size of a house.

More so.

So I have decided I will look at some alternative baking ingredients to make baking slightly healthier so that I can occasioanlly have some and the people I give the baking to, won’t be worrying about the calories.

– Substitues for eggs: If you are making cakes, cupcakes or brownies you can replace eggs to make healthier versions. You can replace 1 egg with – 70g (1/3 cup) of applesauce OR 60g (1/4 cup) fat free yoghurt OR 1/2 mashed banana OR 60ml (1/4 cup) vegetable oil.

– Sweetner instead of Sugar: Now, this one can be controversial depending on your thoughts on aspartemene but if you are OK with it, it is a calorie free alternative to sugar. Here is a conversion chart you can use so you know how much to replace.

– Olive Oil instead of Butter: This can replace the fat in most baking and cooking. It is high in antioxidents and has more flavour and nutritional value than vegetale oil or rapeseed oils. Here is a conversion chart you can use (found at www.amazingoliveoil.com) where it lets you know how much olive oil you can use to replace butter in baking. It is not a good idea to replace butter with olive oil when making cookies though as this can make them flat as it doesn’t cream together as well with the sugar.