Many people love to bake, but most dessert recipes are overly sweet, loaded with butter, and often times very fattening. We think that unhealthy ingredients are what make the dessert delicious. Believe it or not, these ingredients have substitutes that can make your baking ventures much healthier.
There’s nothing wrong with changing your approach to dessert. To keep your insides running smoothly, you don’t want to clog your system with things like oil, dairy, butter, and flour. A lot of these things can be difficult for the body to process, which can lead to digestive problems, a slow metabolism, or even arterial build-up. Try the following baking substitutes to revolutionize your desserts.
Mashed Avocados for Butter
This may sound like an odd substitution, but avocados have fewer calories and a lot more nutrients than butter. Avocados are filled with omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, and can be eaten many different ways. This is a one to one ratio swap, when it comes to baking. If the recipe calls for 1 Tbsp. of butter then use 1 Tbsp. of mashed avocado. One thing to keep in mind is that your batter will have a green tinge. This works best with cakes and cookies. Remember to reduce the oven temperature by 25% and increase the baking time to help the dessert cook evenly.
Bananas for Butter
In case you are opposed to eating avocados (they are amazing, so why would you be?), bananas are another great substitute for sugar. Bananas are naturally sweet and add a dense, creamy texture, as well as their signature flavor. It is a one to one ratio swap, but make sure the bananas are mashed. These go great in cakes, breads, and muffins. Using bananas may reduce cooking time by 25% so pay attention to your baked goods.
Cacao Nibs for Chocolate Chips
Cacao nibs are a great superfood and they are loaded with nutrients, unlike chocolate chips, which have tons of sugar and processed ingredients. Since they don’t have any sugar, cacao nibs are slightly bitter, but the great thing is that they have a minimal fat content. This is also a one for one ratio swap. It works best with any recipe that calls for chocolate chips.
Stevia for Sugar
Stevia is awesome. It’s one of the only sweetener’s we okay for people on our cleanses. It doesn’t have any calories and is plant-based. 1 Tbsp. of sugar equals about 1.5 packets of stevia. Given this equation, 1 cup of sugar in a recipe would call for 20 packets of stevia. This cuts down 800 calories for a dessert recipe that calls for 1 cup of sugar. Since stevia is 300 times sweeter than sugar, you may need to play around with measurements. Try using stevia in cookies, cakes, muffins, or dessert bars.
Black Beans for Flour
Black beans are rich in folate, fiber, potassium, and can help support heart health. For these reasons, in addition to the body’s ability to digest beans more easily than flour, black beans are a great flour substitute. Puree dried black beans, not the ones in a can. It is a one to one ratio and works best with cookies or brownies.
Vincent Stevens is the senior content writer at Dherbs. As a fitness and health and wellness enthusiast, he enjoys covering a variety of topics, including the latest health, fitness, beauty, and lifestyle trends. His goal is to inform people of different ways they can improve their overall health, which aligns with Dherbs’ core values. He received his bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Redlands, graduating summa cum laude. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.
