According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a healthy diet limits the amount of calories people should consume from solid fats and added sugars. Does that mean no desserts?
Watch Portion Size
Keeping portion sizes in check is a primary strategy for healthfully incorporating baked goods into a healthy eating pattern. Make portion control easier by preparing miniature desserts such as mini-cupcakes. Or cut brownies and sheet cakes into two-inch squares and portion cookie dough using a one-tablespoon scoop.
Ingredients Matter
Deb Wise, cookbook author and test-kitchen professional at Cooking Light magazine, recommends using high-quality ingredients for a more flavorful product that will satisfy cravings even with smaller portions. For example, use vanilla beans instead of extract, opt for high-quality chocolate and make sure your spices are fresh for the boldest flavor.
Incorporate Nutrient-Rich Ingredients
Instead of focusing on what to cut out, why not add something nutritious to your recipe?
- Add a Fruit or Vegetable
Dana Angelo White, MS, RD, ATC, recommends adding shredded or pureed apple, carrot, banana and pumpkin to recipes to boost nutrients, flavor and moisture. For some recipes, you can use these ingredients to replace some or all of the butter or oil. - Try a Whole-Grain Flour
Wise says her favorite flour for baking is white whole-wheat flour, which can be substituted one-for-one for all-purpose flour in most recipes. She says you can also replace up to half the all-purpose flour in a recipe with a whole-grain flour without making any major adjustments to the recipe. - Experiment with Recipes That Use Less-Common Flours
Sidney Fry, MS, RD, nutrition editor at Cooking Light, recommends experimenting with recipes such as savory pancakes and waffles that call for chickpea flour. Or try recipes with almond flour, which works well for crusts and can be incorporated into dough for a big punch of flavor and added nutrients. - Use Low-Fat Dairy Products
Use low-fat milk, low-fat buttermilk and low-fat yogurt in baking recipes to contribute protein and calcium. Liz Weiss, MS, RDN, and Janice Bissex, MS, RDN — known as the Meal Makeover Moms — swap cream cheese frosting, which is high in calories and saturated fat and has minimal nutritional value, for a protein-rich frosting made from Greek yogurt.
Reduce Saturated Fat and Added Sugar
You can do this in a number of ways. For instance, try these modifications:
- Swap Butter for Heart-Healthy Oil
When modifying a favorite recipe, Wise says you can generally trade some of the butter for a heart-healthy oil, such as canola oil. Don’t replace all of the butter with oil or you’ll sacrifice texture. - Simply Cut Sugar
As a general rule, White says you can reduce sugar in a given recipe by about 25 percent without noticeable differences. For instance, if a recipe calls for 4 tablespoons of sugar, reduce the amount to 3 tablespoons. Fry notes that, when reducing sugar, you may need to increase the liquid in a recipe.
There is room for all foods, even baked goods, in a healthy eating pattern. Focus on occasionally enjoying small portions of your favorite treats and experiment with creating healthier versions of favorite recipes for more nutrients in each delicious bite.