Fatfree Baking Tip #1
Normally I don't do a lot of baking, but this week I found myself baking banana bread in addition to the most important thing I bake all year--my daughter's birthday cake, which is in the oven even as I type. This year, I decided to reduce the fat in my traditional recipe a little by using the time-honored technique of substituting apple sauce for some of the oil. If you've looked at or made any of my bread or cake recipes, I'm sure you've noticed it. What I haven't let on is a little secret that makes adding apple sauce to recipes very easy:
Individual serving packages. I used to buy those big jars of natural apple sauce, use a half-cup or so, put the rest in the fridge, and then a month later find green fur growing in the jar. After throwing away a few jars of barely-used apple sauce, I found myself reaching for the little snack-sized containers that my daughter takes for lunch. These come in 6-packs, and each holds 4 ounces, which is a little more than 1/3 cup and not quite 1/2 cup. When you see me indicating 4 ounces of unsweetened apple sauce, that's what I'm using. Now you know my trick.
The birthday cake is now out of the oven, and the whole house smells like . . . . oops, can't tell you the flavor. It's a surprise, you know! Check back later tomorrow night for all the details, photos, and possibly even a recipe.
posted by SusanV at 12:19 PM
12 Comments:
I'll be back tommorrow to check out the b-day cake flavor. Fun! I found your lasagna recipe, I wish I would have spotted that before I took up to much time fussing with an off the top of my head own version. I have your recipe now and chances are looking much better that I will try a lasagna recipe again.
Hey, that's a cool trick. Glad I happened by, and you can expect me tomorrow cuz I gotta know the flavor of the cake & see it too.
yes, applesauce really works great, I tried it also.
have a wonderful Easter!
to your good health,
sage
What a great trick! I find that furry stuff a lot and it is worth it to take your advice and go for the smaller, more convienent packs and NO WASTE!
Yes! I've gone the green fur route, too, until I discovered those single applesauce packs. Can't wait to hear about the cake - reading about it I almost could smell it...
Just a note to say that applesauce freezes very well in the container size of your choice. You can freeze in smaller, "serving size" containers or in a larger container and slice-off/scoop-out the amount you need, which is what I do. If it is particularly well frozen, you can nuke it for a minute before scraping out the amount you need.
Hi
I love cake and I always wondered what I could use instead of oil when baking. I love the idea of using apple sauce. Unfortunately I have never seen it, and now I wonder what I could replace it with or whether there is a way of making it myself?
Anonymous, apple sauce is a puree of cooked apples that is very common in the US. Check the internet--there are lots of recipes for it. If you don't mind giving your baked goods a banana flavor, you can use mashed banana instead or you can use a puree of prunes, if they are available.
Another substitute that you can use if it is available is soy yogurt. If you arent vegan, regular yogurt works well too. I always used mashed bannana in all my muffin recipes and they tend to go well with everything-but then I love bannana flavor.
I use applesauce in baking. I make some yummy oatmeal raisin cookies with applesauce for the oil. And I am in the process of experimenting with applesauce in cornbread! The first time I used equal amounts of applesauce to oil, and it came out very gooey. Tasted fine, but didn't like the texture. Second time I used half the amount of applesauce to oil ratio. And it turned out much better! I may try again with a third of the amount and see what happens!
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