82-Lancafeter Farming! Saturday, February 28; 1998' Tasty, Attractive Low-Fat Foods LOU ANN GOOD Lancaster Fanning Staff LANCASTER (Lancaster Co.) People with health and weight problems often need to adjust eat ing habits to encourage healthier living. For many, the most frustrat ing is forfeiting sweets or adapting recipes to low-fat status. While more and more low-fat recipes ate toeing published in magazines, people are often disap pointed in the taste. Cooks hate to waste time and money on ingre dients to produce a dessert that doesn’t meet their taste qualifica tions. On the other hand, there are many great-tasting low-fat desserts. One of the best ways to find these is to attend a workshop spon sored by your county extension service. One of these was held recently at the Lancaster County Extension office. Nancy Wiker, family and consumer sciences agent, prepared a tableful of eye appealing and tasty dishes for par ticipants to hi addition, participants received information and recipes to help them adapt their own recipes. “Lowfat desserts often taste best if eaten immediately,’’ Wiker said. “Low-Cat baked goods often get tough after a day or two.” This is because fat contributes to a tender texture in food. For those who must limit fat intake but still crave chocolate, Wiker suggested using mini chocolate chips in place of regular ones. Not as many are needed to spread the chocolate throughout the item. Also, try one of the new low-fat chocolate chip varieties on supermarket shelves. The taste of these have improved considerably, and many people cannot differenti ate between the low-fat and regular varieties. The advantage of attending a workshop is that it gives you an opportunity to sample recipes to determine if you would want to prepare them at home. You can also adapt your favorite recipes to non-fat versions. Reduc tion in the amount of fat in a recipe will result in the greatest calorie savings since fat has more than twice the calories per gram than protein or carbohydrate. Be prepared for some change in texture. Less fat will produce a more “cakey” texture, and the cookies will be soft. This may take some experi- Chocolate Meringues and Cinnamon Apple Crostata taste as elegant as they menting, but here are a few of the tips Wiker shared: • Try reducing the total amount of fit in a recipe by one-fourth. This works best in fruit and nut breads, cake recipes, and sauces. Do not do this in rolled cookies or pie crust recipes where the fat is critical. Drop cookies might lend themselves to frit reduction. • If the recipe calls for oil, use an oil that is lower in saturated fat The lowest is canola, then sun flower or com or olive. It will not reduce the caloric value if you do this but will reduce saturated fat Saturated fat has the effect of rais ing the blood level of cholesterol Light oils do not have less fat or calories. They are lighter in color and flavor. Vegetable oils never have cholesterol. All mis have 120 calories per tablespoon. • If die recipe calls for shorten ing, it means solid vegetable shor tening that is hydrogenated. Do not substitute oil. This will alter the texture greatly. You will need to reduce liquid somewhere in the recipe. Tty to find a recipe already designed for oil Butter flavored shortening behaves like shorten ing, not butter. If you substitute butter or mar garine for shortening, there may be a change in the texture of cookies and other baked products, mainly because of the water in the butter, which will usually cause the batter to spread more as it bakes. • Salted butter will keep longer than unsalted butter. • If you use a stick-type margar ine that is 100 percent com oil. it will make a softer dough than other margarine. In cookies, you will need to chill for at least five hours before rolling. You may even find it works better if you chill in the freezer. Any stick-type margarine that has as its first listed ingredient a liquid oil will behave the same way. Soft tub-type margarines behave differently in recipes that stick-type. So do not use it in bak ing cookies. • There are many new spreads and stick-form diet margarines that have less fat than regular margar ine. The products have increased water added and they behave diflfe rendy than butter or margarine in recipes. Recipes are developed especially for the use of these pro ducts. The products may have 68 percent fat, 71 percent, SS percent, 40 percent, even a no-fat margar ine. Do not try to bake with one of these products having less than 50 .. jrt a tableful of tasty, iow-fat desserts to participants attend ing the workshop hold at tho Farm and Home Center In Lancaster. calories per tablespoon or 5 to 6 grams fat. Carefully read the label on your favorite brand of margar ine because some have recently been changed with little clear warning on the package. • Some substitute equal amounts of unsweetened applesauce in cakes, muffins, quick breads, and brownies. This will produce a mote moist product It will not work for a rolled cookie. Another recommendation is to use prunes instead of fat This works in some recipes but the fla vor of the prunes is not always compatible with the overall desired effect The pectin and sorbitol in the prunes act to tenderize and mois ten. Place /* cup light com syrup, 2 tablespoons sugar, a 12-ounce pac age of pitied prunes in a food pro cessor for 5 seconds, then add Vi cup water slowly while process ing until smooth. Spoon into an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months. • Low or non-fat yogurt is also being substituted in cake mixes. See the package directions for guidelines. It can be used to replace half the fat in cookies. The finished product is more dense than the fat version. • Reduced fat recipes may need shorter baking times. While consuming too much fat may contribute to such problems! as obesity, heart disease, and! cancer, it is important to realize that the body does require some fat Fats carry fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K and aid in their absorption in the body. Fats insu late the body and protect vital organs. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend limiting total fat intake to no more than 30 percent of calories. The average intake of fat is approximately 34-36 percent of calories. To determine how many calories and fat grams you need a day to main tain your ideal weight, contact your county Penn State Extension listed in the phone book directory. Here are a few of the recipes Wiker prepared. CHERRY-FILLED CHOCOLATE ANGEL CAKE ROLL Cake: l A cup powdered sugar 16-ounce package angel food cake mix 'A cup unsweetened cocoa VA cups water Filling; 2 21-ounce cans cherry pie filling 2 teaspoons almond extract Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut parchment to fit bottom of two jel ly roll pans. Sprinkle powdered sugar onto two clean lint-free towels. In a large bowl, combine cake mix and cocoa. Add water, beat at low speed until moistened; beat at medium speed one minute. Spread half batter into each of prepared pans. Bake cakes, one at a time on middle oven rack 10-14 minutes or until top springs back when touch ed lightly in center. Loosen edges with spatula; invert immediately onto sugared towel. Carefully remove parchment. Starting at shorter end, roll up cake in towel; cool 20 minutes on wire rack. Repeat with remaining cake. Combine filling ingredients. Carefully unroll cake, remove towel, spread filling, and roll up again loosely, incorporating fill ing. Place on serving platter, seam side down. To serve, cut into 1-inch slices Yield: 10 servings of 170 calo ries, no fat This has more of a cocoa flavor rather than heavy chocolate. Yield: 10 servings of 170 calo ries, no fat Homestead RASPBERRY KISSES 2 egg whites Pinch salt 2 tablespooons rasperry gelatin 'A cup sugar 2 teaspoons vinegar 'A cup mini chocolate chips or coconut, chopped fine Heat oven to 250 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Beat egg whites with salt until foamy. Add gelatin and sugar gra dually; beat until stiff peaks form and sugar is dissolved. Mix in vin egar. Fold in chips or coconut Drop from a teaspoon onto coo kie sheets covered with parchment paper. Bake for 25 minutes. Turn oven off; leave kisses in oven 20 minutes longer. Yield 4% dozen May freeze if desired. , DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES l'/a cups all-purpose flour A cup sugar 'A cup unsweetened cocoa 1 teaspoon baking soda 'A teaspoon salt 'A cup orange juice 'A cup water 3 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 tablespoon vinegar 1 teaspoon vanilla 'A cup semisweet chocolate chips 1 teaspoon powdered sugar Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Make a well in the center. Combine orange juice, water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla; add to dry ingredients all at once, stirring just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips. Spoon into lined muffin pans, filling two-thirds full. Bake at 37S degrees for 12 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pans and cool on wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Makes 1 dozen, 153 calories each, S.S g. fat Use mini chips instead of regu lar, because you don’t need to use as many. Also low-fat chips taste almost the same as regular choco late chips. (Turn to Pago B 3)
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