Baking without margarine?

mcchse

I have been baking goodies for the kids lunchboxes and after school snacks for quite a while now but I am becoming concerned about the amount of margarine that recipes specify from a health point of view.

Can I reduce the amount of margarine in recipes such as flapjack without it having a significant affect on the result? Is there a healthier alternative I can use instead?

In case it helps I bake things like flapjack, bran flake biscuits, muffins etc:think:

Thank you

Sally

Sola

You could try substituting apple sauce - have a play around with quantities. Have you looked at vegan spread? I've had good results with the 'Pure' brand stuff when wanting to avoid dairy.

beachbeth

I have a lowfat cookbook that I bought in the January sales and it has low fat cakes without butter or marg in it. I haven't tried them yet but the Tia Maria Gateaux sounds yummy!

This might be more suitable for your son's lunchbox though:

Raspberry Muffins

275g plain flour
15ml/ 1 tbsp baking powder
115g caster sugar
1 egg
250ml buttermilk (most supermarkets sell it with the chilled milk)
4 tbs sunflower oil
150g raspberries

Heat oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6 and put 12 paper cake cases in a deep muffin tin. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl, mix in the sugar and then make a well in the centre. Mix together the egg, buttermilk and sunflower oil in a bowl and pour into the flour mixture. Mix quickly and then add the raspberries, folding them in. Spoon into the cases and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and firm in the middle. Cool on a wire rack.

These muffins have 171 calories per muffin, 4.55g fat and 1.02g fibre.

beachbeth

Oaty Crisps

175g rolled oats
75g light muscovado sugar
1 egg
60ml/4 tbsp sunflower oil
30ml/2 tbsp malt extract (they sell this in home brew shops and it is a source of energy and Vitamin

Heat oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5. Grease very lightly 2 baking sheets (use low fat spread or spray). Mix together the rolled oats and sugar in a bowl. Add the egg, sunflower oil and malt extract, mix well and leave to soak for 15 mins. Use a teaspoon and place small rounds of this mix, well spaced apart on the baking sheets. Dampen a fork and press these balls into 3 inch rounds using the back of the fork. Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the baking sheet with a flat palette knife and cool on a wire rack.

thriftlady_2

Butter is healthier than margarine.

It is made by churning cream which comes from a cow;)

Margarine is made from at least a dozen different ingredients hardly any of which would you have in your kitchen cupboards.

It is grey when made and has to be coloured yellow to make people buy it.

It also has to have vitamins added to it by law so that it has the same nutritional profile as butter. Butter naturally contains vitamins A and D which are essential for the proper absorbtion of calcium amongst other things.

The calorie content is usually the same for butter and marge.

Cakes, biscuits and the like are treat foods and are never going to be healthy. Use natural ingredients and eat them less often:)

jamanda

I read this as "butter comes from churning a cow".

Can't stop giggling now with the visions.

Seakay

Light olive oil is high in mono-saturated fat and can be used for sponges etc, and I have found this recipe for flapjacks
http://www.tesco.com/recipes/product.aspx?R=789&bci=4294966985%7CHealthy%20Eating

Pink.

Hi mcches,

This older thread might interest you:

Apple sauce vs fat

There are some recipes and links for cakes without butter in these older threads that might help:

HM Cakes the "lighter" versions

Does anyone know a recipe for fat free cake

Margerine in a sponge

Fat free fruit cake recipe req.

low fat cakes for weight watchers coffee morning

Pink

mcchse

beachbeth wrote: »

Oaty Crisps

175g rolled oats
75g light muscovado sugar
1 egg
60ml/4 tbsp sunflower oil
30ml/2 tbsp malt extract (they sell this in home brew shops and it is a source of energy and Vitamin

Heat oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5. Grease very lightly 2 baking sheets (use low fat spread or spray). Mix together the rolled oats and sugar in a bowl. Add the egg, sunflower oil and malt extract, mix well and leave to soak for 15 mins. Use a teaspoon and place small rounds of this mix, well spaced apart on the baking sheets. Dampen a fork and press these balls into 3 inch rounds using the back of the fork. Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the baking sheet with a flat palette knife and cool on a wire rack.

Yum! They sound lovely.Thank you all for your suggestions. I have never heard of using apple sauce instead of fat so I will go and read that now.Thriftlady - I know they are not healthy things to eat but I would rather make these things myself with less sugar etc as we will eat them anyway and I much prefer to know what we are all eating. It always tastes better anyway (especially the bread!)Sally

thriftlady_2

Mcchse, I hope you didn't think I was finger wagging about the cakes and biscuits. I'm the last person to do that- lol!, and I do a lot of baking too for lunchboxes and for my school's healthy tuck shop. I just meant that some things are not meant to be healthy so don't try and fight it:D

I always use sunflower oil in my muffins, but flapjacks just aren't the same without butter