"Health" is a somewhat subjective word. What works for one person will not work for another because no two bodies are the same. We all have individual needs that need to be met the way our own body demands. I think we can agree on that point, yes? Okay, good. Moving on: butter is a HOT topic right now. I’m not trying to sway people one way or the other in the debate revolving around fats because in the end, we’ll all choose what’s right for our health and wellness. But this post is all dedicated to butter replacments that you can use to swap out the butter in (most of) your favorite recipes.
So, why would anyone need to substitute butter in recipes?
Whether it’s for medical reasons, lifestyle choices, veganism, dairy-free, or even just a personal preference, some people may want to eliminate or reduce butter from some of their daily eats. The purpose of this blog post (and the inforgraphic and video below) is to simply inform people of ways to reduce butter, or altogether replace butter in their daily cooking and recipes.
Won’t removing the butter mess up my recipes?
Not really, no. Unlike eggs, butter isn’t crucial to the composition of baked goods. Butter adds a creamy tenderness to a lot of recipes, yes…but can’t the same be said of an avocado or applesauce? Butter does more for taste than anything. So it’s important to play around with some of your recipes. Maybe instead of eliminating butter entirely from a recipe, you want to just reduce it using one of my tricks!
What are the benefits of reducing or replacing butter?
As a baker, the topic of butter was of interest to me because I love sneaking in more fruits and vegetables into my recipes wherever possible. Not necessarily for fear or calories or fat, but in the interest of adding a wider variety of nutrients in my daily diet. For example: if I can sub out half the required amount of butter in a recipe and add in an avocado or organic applesauce? Awesome! Because that way I’m going to get the vitamins, minerals and nutrients provided by the avocado or apples! See what I mean? It’s all a matter of personal preference.
My favorite butter substitutes...
Applesauce: If the recipe calls for 1 cup butter, use ½ cup butter and ½ cup applesauce.
Avocado: If the recipe calls for 1 cup butter, use ½ cup butter and 1 avocado.
Greek yogurt: If the recipe calls for 1 cup butter, use ½ cup butter and ½ cup Greek yogurt.
Prune puree: 1/3 cup of prune puree = 1 stick of butter
Replace directly with canned or pureed pumpkin, coconut oil, pureed bananas or coconut butter!
Be smart, of course!
When baking cake, it’s often a matter of experimenting to get the texture right without using butter. In cookies, this is much less a problem. In biscuits and pastries, however, it can be difficult to get the proper texture so you might need a lot of experimenting... or you might just have to stick with the butter (pun intended).
Sources:
http://www.fitsugar.com/How-Replace-Butter-When-Baking-21875486
http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2013/11/substitute-applesauce-for-butter.html
http://dairyfreecooking.about.com/od/techniquessubstitutions/a/nobutterbaking.htm
http://www.godairyfree.org/news/nutrition-headlines/how-to-baking-without-butter
