Healthy baking

[LastingLight]

DD (11) likes to bake but most of the stuff she makes is not very healthy. Can anybody suggest some healthy recipes?

If you're talking cakes & pastries then they're never really going to be health-food. She could substitute some ingredients in the interests of health but the end results can be disappointing. As long as she's using good quality butter, flour, eggs and so on, and as long as they're not being eaten three times a day, then they are fine as part of a healthy diet that includes the usual things like fruit, vegetables, wholegrains etc.

Have you tried bara brith? Most recipes don't use any fat and not too much sugar. Will post the one i use if you want it.

Thanks for your replies. Unfortunately we desperately need to get her diet healthier. Maybe we must try and get her interested in cooking real meals rather than baking. I googled bara brith but she won't eat that - very fussy eater.

There is a simon rimmer recipe on the BBC food website for a banana and butternut squash bread. I've made it loads and cut the cals even more by not making the icing and leaving out the nuts. Also, I like the weght watchers lemon drizzle cake recipe it's about 80 cals a slice. Other things you can do which i admit I haven't tried yet is things like making tarts with filo pastry, make them sweet by filling them with fruit and yoghurt or make them savoury by filling them like a quiche you could also bake the quiche type fillings without the padtry then you have frittata.

What's not to like in bara brith? Best thing in the world warm from the oven with some butter on top. Difficult to make suggestions without knowing what she will or won't eat, but I really like Popina Book of Baking, which has got loads of recipes for savoury tarts and muffins, as well as more indulgent recipes. It also gives different pastry options so you can make it a bit healthier again if you want to - might be worth a look.

I made these no sugar flapjacks for the baby today which were surprisingly nice:

2 ripe bananas
175g dates
80ml oil
180g oats
1 tsp vanilla essence

20mins at 180c

Savoury muffins are nice and easy way to eat veg. I use this recipe:

50ml oil
1 egg
230g self raising flour
175ml milk
100g cheese (optional)

I use 3 veg, whatever needs using up. Grated or chopped very small.

I regularly make sugar free banana muffins. This is the recipe:

Makes 10 or so small muffins

150g self raising flour or 150g plain flour with 2 tsp baking powder
60g unsalted butter, melted
4 large v ripe bananas
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 - 1 tsp cinnamon or mixed spice if she likes it
1 tsp vanilla extract - not vital but nice

Mash bananas. Add in eggs and melted butter. Mix well. Sift in flour and spices. Fold together then spoon into muffin cases. Bake for 15 minutes at gas mark 5 or equivalent.

All these suggestions are great, but if her diet is an issue I would definitely get her interested in cooking other types of food.

Maybe start with things like casserole or soup and you could brown the meat off for her? Also if you have a food processor could she use the slicing and chopping features on those instead of using knives? Assuming you would be around to supervise, that is.

Also maybe she could bake things like chicken or fish in the oven and do baked potatoes and a colourful salad to go with it?

Thanks for all the great suggestions.

If she has weight issues baking is never going to be helpful. If by healthy you mean more nutritional, freshly prepared food try sam sterns teenage cookbook, my dcs love cooking from it.

how about baking bread?

1cup (8oz) wholemeal flour
2 ripe bananas
2 tea spoons melted coconut oil
1 egg
80%dark choc chips or sultanas or cherries
Some soya milk to soften the mixture if it's a bit too thick.

15 -20 mins at 160 degrees.

Makes 9 big muffins.

Oh and a tsp baking powder!

Why not freeze most of what she bakes, make a half-batch, or take it into work. That way she can bake, but there's less of the results for her to be tempted by?

What about savoury baking? Would she be interested in that?

I like the soundof the banana muffins. Will try them soon.

I tend tomake flapjacks as I don't eaten gluten.

If it's the oven she likes using she could try a healthy Spanish omelette type thingy. Slice cooked potatoes, sweat off some onion and peppers, beat some eggs and pop it all in a Pyrex dish and stick it in the oven.
I definitely think it's a good idea to get her to more cooking rather than just baking though.
What sort of stuff does she like/dislike?

Thank you. We are getting her involved with cooking meals. She made bobotie (a mince dish with curry) with DH the other day and really enjoyed although she didn't eat any of it.

She likes anything with lots of sugar in it! She eats crumbed chicken/fish, chicken as long as it doesn't have a sauce, bacon, eggs, mixed steamed veg, peppers, cucumber, porridge, potatoes (but not mash), hamburgers (although she's gone off that recently), hot dogs, barbecued ribs and chops, stuff like pancakes and flapjacks. No stews, stir fry veg, anything with a sauce, mince...

Does she eat pizza? making the dough for homemade pizza then decorating is good fun. And learning about how the dough rises interests them too. Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall has a recipe for 'magic dough' in his Veg Every Day cookbook that's easy peasy and can be white or wholemeal. Can also be used for crusty rolls, breadsticks, flatbreads.

The recipe is included here:

www.rivercottage.net/recipes/beetroot-and-onion-pizza/

I always reduce the amount of sugar in any baking recipe by about a quarter to a third, depending what else is in it - no-one ever notices.

The Hairy Dieters recipes might be good too. And I second the idea of bread and pizza freeze what you don't use to help with portion control. If you master a basic ciabatta you have bread or pizza base and the hairy dieters use it for pasties too. I love their cheese leek and potato pasties.

CQ that's such a good tip, I've noticed that too.

OP if she wants to continue baking Harry Eastwood's book Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache (or some nonsense like that!) is full of recipes that use vegetables in cakes - sounds but works really well, the vegetables work to keep the cake soft and moist (think carrot cake) and replace some of the fat / flour / sugar.

You can also bake with healthy oils instead of butter - oilve oil (nice with apple cakes and pumpkin breads) and walnut oil. Start googling this stuff and there's lots of info online, with good tips in the vegan community (you just don't need to use their egg substitutes if you see what I mean)

Cool, thanks. I forgot about pizza, that's a firm favourite.

Vegetable in cakes sounds interesting... I wonder if she would eat that. It's worth a try. We always use olive oil.

Stuffed peppers?
And she could do the crumbed chicken, homemade with cornflakes is lovely. Dip the chicken in flour, egg them smashed cornflakes and bake in the oven.