The holidays are a wonderful time of year- parties and family and food! So. Much. Food. However, there are ways to “healthify” the holidays- by sneaking in added fiber, fruits and veggies to the treats that you already enjoy. Here are some ways to healthify your holiday (or any time of year) treats:
Mashed Sweet potato: completely different from a regular potato, the sweet potato is chock full of vitamins (including more than 100% of your daily vitamin A!!), antioxidants, fiber and more. It also makes a nice substitute for sugar and fat in baking. Interestingly, George Washington Carver developed numerous uses for sweet potatoes and in his research found that up to half of the flour a recipe calls for can be replaced with cooked, mashed sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes can also be used in place of fat- replace up to half of the butter or oil in a recipe with mashed sweet potato (don’t substitute both fat and flour in one recipe though!). Because they also provide some sweetness, when using sweet potatoes, reduce the amount of sugar in a recipe by 1/4 (so, if a recipe calls for 1 cup sugar, only use 3/4 cup).
Beans: Pureed white beans (cannellini or great northern) and black beans both make excellent fat substitutes in baking- ever hear of black bean brownies? Well they work in other dishes as well, try pureed white beans in oatmeal cookies or chocolate chip cookies. They are best in dense desserts, like brownies or cookies, they work less well in light, fluffy desserts like cupcakes.
Fruit Puree: Fruit purees can be great fat replacers or sugar replacers. When replacing fat with fruit puree, start with half (half the butter or oil, half fruit puree). When replacing the sugar, start with half and for every cup of fruit puree added, reduce the liquid by 1/4 (fruit adds a lot of moisture!). Check out my post on making granola with fruit puree.
Try fruit purees like applesauce, mashed bananas, pureed berries or re-hydrate dried fruits like prunes, dates and raisins in warm water or juice and puree- look at the flavor profile of what you are making and match it to a fruit (for example: chocolate chip cookies? Try pureed dates! Gingerbread cookies? Add pureed raisins. Muffins? Try a combo of applesauce and pureed berries. Brownies? Try date or prune puree!).
Fruit rocks- not only are you getting that natural sweetness, but you are also adding fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants! When you use sugar, all you add is calories.
Am I missing any? Share any healthy substitutes you use with us in the comments!
Happy baking!