Bake It Healthy: Nutritious, Low Fat, Low Sugar, Desserts Cookbook, Using Natural & Wholesome Ingredients

By Adi Kutiel

• No butter.
• No refined sugars.
• No heavy creams.
• No full-fat cream cheese.

If you are still searching for recipe books that will offer you the comfort of eating a guilt free dessert, then search no further. Start baking healthier desserts today, with "Bake it Healthy".

 

"Bake it Healthy", is a nutritious and low-fat dessert cookbook for healthier baking, in which the author shares his point of view for re-creating classic desserts prepared with natural and wholesome ingredients, that are both nutritious and delicious.

 

Mastering the basic elements of baking, will allow you to embrace a consistent approach for excluding the following ingredients from your diet, whenever you are baking; butter, heavy creams, refined sugars and refined all-purpose flours, are not being used in any of the included preparations.

 

Using healthy alternative ingredients such as avocado oil, honey and dates, whole grain and gluten free flours, this cookbook makes it possible to create surprisingly fabulous low-calorie desserts.

 

While the book's goal is not to follow a specific dietary need, emphasis was put on using high quality and natural ingredients, and including the calorie count of each recipe, which will aid readers in evaluating their choices for a healthier dessert alternative.

 

Get your copy now, and enjoy the sweet taste of guilt free desserts without sacrificing flavor or satisfaction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Adi Kutiel
• Release date: Mar 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9789659307302

Book preview

Bake It Healthy

Nutritious, Low Fat, Low Sugar, Desserts Cookbook, Using Natural & Wholesome Ingredients

Authored by Adi Kutiel

Copyright © 2023 by Adi Kutiel

Photography © 2023 by Adi Kutiel

ISBN 978-965-93073-0-2 (eBook)

ISBN 978-965-93073-1-9 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-965-93073-2-6 (Hardcover)

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permission requests, contact the author directly.

Disclaimer: This book includes recipes that are suitable only for healthy individuals and who are without any diet restrictions. The author is not a dietitian, nutritionist, physician, nurse, or in any place shape or form able to give any medical advice concerning the consumption of any of the preparations featured in this book. The author does not claim responsibility for adverse effects resulting from the use of the recipes and/or information available within this book. Individuals with any type of medical condition such as, but not limited to, diabetes, and / or food allergies and / or intolerance of any kind, should seek medical advice from their personal physician, regarding consumption of one type of food or another.

Table of Contents

Introduction

How to use this book

The Basics – Part One: Ingredients

The Basics – Part Two: Guidelines for Successful Baking

The Basics – Part Three: Essential Equipment

Chapter 1 – Cakes

Low Fat Baked Cheesecake

Wholesome Yellow Pound Cake

Wholesome Chocolate Pound Cake

The Good Pumpkin Loaf Cake

A Perfect Lean Yellow Sponge Cake

A Perfect Lean Chocolate Sponge Cake

A Perfect Lean Matcha (Green Tea) Sponge Cake

Cream (1): Low Fat Pastry Cream

Cream (2): Low Fat Vanilla 'Whipped Cream' (and Variations)

Healthy Fruit Jam

Guilt-Free Shortcake Design #1: Chocolate Cake and Vanilla Cream

Guilt-Free Shortcake Design #2: Vanilla Cake and Chocolate Cream

Guilt-Free Shortcake Design #3: Matcha Cake and Raspberry Cream

Chapter 2 – Pies and Tarts

Flaky Pie Crust

Sweet Cookie Tart Crust

Baked Chocolate Tart

Spiral Apple Tart

Pear Tart with Almond Cream

Pecan Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Simple Strawberries and Cream Tart

Chapter 3 – Cookies

Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies

Rolled Date Cookies

Rolled Halva Cookies

Strawberry Jam Cookies

Pure Chocolate Brownies

Tahini Cookies

Peanut butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies

Lemon Bars

No Bake: Home-Made Chocolate Protein Bars

No Bake: Chocolate Date Truffles

Chapter 4 – Sweet Breads

Cinnamon Rolls

Bee Sting Cake (Bienenstich)

Strawberry Buns

Chocolate Babka

Apples and Cheese Babka

Spelt Chocolate Rugelach

Sweet Ricotta Pockets

Appendix I – Ingredients List

Appendix II – Nutrition Facts

Introduction

When I first started my baking journey, back during winter 2018, little did I know that I am going to be so fully devoted into pursuing and researching the secrets of the trade, and even more fascinated with experimenting in my own home kitchen. Ever since, I have always considered myself a home baker, crafting delicious treats for my closest friends and family. I always felt that baked goods made at home were tenfold superior to those you would normally buy at a mediocre bakery or grocery stores. The sense of control of what goes into my desserts filled me with great satisfaction. As I saw it, everything should be prepared with the best quality and purest ingredients I could find and afford.

One day, about 4 years later, my partner's nephew challenged me with a request- he had just started working out and asked me to prepare a sweet snack that would fit into his training routine. The inspiration immediately kicked in; however, I certainly am not the first person on this earth to come up with this idea or need. Yet, after browsing through a large number of online resources, I could not find exactly what I was looking for.

In fact, there are plenty of books already available out there, that will offer low calorie or healthier desserts variations. However, those were not always in line with my vision for what a nutritious recipe should be- as wholesome and natural as possible. When I finally did come across such recipe, it didn't look very appetizing (at least to my eyes). Strangely, many of those other recipes were making use of refined white granulated sugar (or some alternative sugar substitutes that I personally prefer to avoid), butter, heavy creams and all-purpose flour. Many baking books were also heavily based on raw or unbaked desserts, which I found quite peculiar for what should be a baking book. Furthermore, I wanted to be as accurate as possible with my measuring and allow many people all over the world to achieve consistent results. For this main reason (and others described later on), I am keeping measurements only by weight and not by measuring cups. Lastly, there was rarely an indication of nutrition facts, which to me seemed to be missing the point.

I think it would be a good place to start with addressing a hard and cold truth, when it comes to putting both healthy and sweet in the same context: desserts and sweet baked goods are not considered healthy or nutritious at all. Any dessert that we eat is mainly composed of fats and sugars, mixed together. Desserts must be sweetened in some way, either by using fruits, alternative sweeteners or a mix of both. However, one must understand that:

Sugar, will always be sugar.

When it comes to alternative natural sweeteners such as agave nectar, maple syrup, honey, Silan (date syrup); these would mainly be different in their source, and their sugar molecules composition, which are mainly glucose, fructose and sucrose (a molecule that is a combination of glucose and fructose). Yet, all of the above-mentioned products are practically the same thing - sugar. Some of those sugars will offer nutritional benefits such as additional vitamins, minerals and dietary fibers. However, their presence is in such minute amounts to consider one healthier than the other. Of course, no one would be consuming sugars in the raw as they are. Sugars are normally combined with other ingredients that impact the way they are being absorbed by the body. In today's modern world, it appears that plenty of people unfortunately have their sweetness sensitivity decreased, which makes them consume more sugar than actually needed by the body. However, it is definitely possible to re-calibrate the taste buds by gradually reducing the amounts of sugar we consume.

Similarly to the above, we can consider fats as yet another common, controversial, main food group that may hold us back from enjoying desserts. Take butter for example, with its high cholesterol and saturated fats content. But are fats considered a hotter debate topic when compared to sugars?

I think the more important question is, what would be a better decision; to either avoid consuming desserts at all, or, to be more aware of what goes into our bodies? Personally, I believe moderation is key and that it is important to have balanced meals all throughout the day, ensuring the body gets all the nutrients it needs from various sources.

Having said all of the above, I have decided to release my version to a baking book, that will have two main goals:

To share my approach for creating a healthier dessert, by using natural and organic ingredients to the best possible capacity (AKA, informed baking). This includes using alternative sugars of a natural source.

To make them look and taste as amazing as possible.

From a baker's perspective, we need to remember that baking is about the chemistry and reactions of ingredients with each other, and there are certain lines that could not be crossed when substituting ingredients.

My hopes with this book are to demonstrate that it is certainly possible to create fabulous desserts, that do not necessarily incorporate heaps of butter and sugar, rather, healthier wholesome and natural substitutes that are majorly being overlooked. Yet, keep in mind that desserts as we know them will never be healthier than a vegetables soup. Even if you make them with wholesome ingredients, they would still majorly consist of carbohydrates and fats, relatively to other main food groups. Desserts are not meant to be eaten in place of a well-balanced meal or on a regular basis. I find it important to raise awareness and encourage healthy eating, and to be more curious about what our food is being made of, since knowing and understanding what is the source of those carbohydrates and fats, is somewhat reassuring.

A lot of time, thought, research and experimenting efforts were put into every recipe you will find in this book in order for many people to be able to have their cake and eat it too. Strong emphasis was also put into presenting good-looking low-calorie and low-fat desserts, which is pretty challenging on its own. Throughout this journey, I felt my baking skills were pushed to a higher limit and made me grow as a baker, and I truly hope it will benefit you as well in many creative ways, so that you would be able to feel a little less guilty when taking the next bite of your favorite dessert.

How to use this book:

As you are reading through this book, here are a few points to consider:

This book is not targeting a specific diet practice audience (vegan, paleo, keto, gluten-free etc.)- although some of the recipes may partially and inevitably fall under some of the above-mentioned categories. Listen to your body and feed it with what makes you feel good. I am not an expert in substituting ingredients to the extent which will satisfy this many groups of people with a single book. The recipes scoped in this book are only offering baking with healthier alternative ingredients, for healthy populations without any diet restrictions. You are welcome to modify the recipes in any way that would fit and reflect your personal view, needs, and diet restrictions.

You will not find even a single recipe in this book that is using any of the following: All-purpose flour, butter (or its horrible cousin, margarine), refined white or brown granulated sugars, corn syrup, full fat cream cheese, full fat sour cream or heavy creams.

Nutrition facts are accompanying each recipe- since readers are located in different countries, each country and sometimes even different cities within the same country, will offer different brands and manufacturers for the very same product. It is therefore very challenging to keep nutrition facts information globally uniform. The nutrition facts presented in this book are but a rough estimation and representation of what you can achieve simply by re-creating a recipe in a certain approach. My approach to solve this problem and additional information, can be found in appendix II – nutrition facts.

Calculating nutrition facts is very straight forward and everyone can do it using some basic mathematical knowledge. You first need to take a look at the nutrition facts of each ingredient listed in a recipe. The nutrition facts are available on the back label of each product (commonly, per 100 grams). Divide the Ingredient's amount called by the recipe by 100 (which reflects the 100%). Then, multiply this number by the nutrient's value shown on the product's label, as per the below formula:

Please consider that Nutrient can be anything from fats to carbohydrates, energy, etc. For the purpose of the below example, let us examine only the energy (calories) values across both ingredients A & B:

The recipe calls for 150 grams of ingredient A – contribution to total energy would be:

The recipe calls for 70 grams of ingredient B – contribution to total energy would be:

Therefore, the total energy for the recipe in this example would be 1,308 calories. Keep calculating like this for all the other nutrients and then divide the total of each nutrient by the number of servings a recipe yields. The result would be the value per serving. If the recipe in this example yields 8 servings, then each serving would contain 164 calories.

I will note that, in my calculations I also excluded any leftover batter, dough or cream that are eventually not consumed. If you happen to calculate nutrition facts on your own and identify some inconsistencies with the results, please remember to deduct the scraps and leftovers from the total count.

Be very picky about the ingredients that you purchase- Organic does not automatically translate to healthy. It certainly helps to ensure that the product contains zero to minimal amounts of toxic chemicals during its processing, however, always take a quick look at the back label of each product you purchase and review the ingredients list. The first ingredient on the list means that it is what the product is predominantly composed of, with the highest percentage, when compared to all of the other ingredients. As the list continues, the rest of the ingredients are taking lower percentage in composing the product. You should look for those ingredients that may sound a little bit suspicious (although oftentimes they really are in very minor quantities or might not be harmful at all). Search the internet to identify those ingredients, and soon enough you will become familiar with many of them. When scouting for healthier products, try to buy the ones which are closer to being as raw, organic, pure and natural as possible. I am using the words as possible because given the current food industry situation and the need to satisfy mass production of food items that will keep a longer shelf life, processed products are everywhere. However, I think that at minimum, we should be looking for: NO added sugars (on top of the natural sweetness of the ingredients, including NO sugar alcohols), no added salts, minimum to zero additives, minimum to zero preservatives (some might be acceptable), definitely NO artificial food colorings, and so on.

Once you've spotted a product that has a fairly short list of identifiable and commonly familiar ingredients, I would also recommend you to start comparing different brands of the same product. You will be surprised to discover that the same product can sometimes have big differences in nutrition facts among different brands. Therefore, always keep your eyes peeled for product labels.

Portion control and moderation-