Healthy Baking With Kids: 5 Ways to Change the Rules of Baking

Who ever made up the rule that baking has to be unhealthy? Not us! Here are our top 5 secrets to healthy baking with your kids! Happy baking!

1.       Make It Heart Healthy

When we think of baking, we don’t usually think of incorporating heart healthy ingredients in our recipes. However, a growing nationwide desire for healthy alternatives has the internet buzzing with innovative, heart healthy baking recipes.

Avocados, for example, are full of healthy fats that can lower bad cholesterol and are now being found in a variety of dessert recipes. Chocolate Avocado Pudding uses an avocado’s creaminess as the base to create a luscious, moose-like pudding that your kids won’t believe contains a vegetable. Cook it with them to prove it!

2.       Use Fruits And Vegetables As Fillers Instead Of Fat

Baking with kids helps teach them the importance of healthy eating. Teaching kids to associate baking with wholesome ingredients rather than butter and oil likely means that they will carry those healthy baking practices into adulthood. In order to cut out the fat in desserts, try substituting apple sauce for butter, whole wheat oats for flour, or Greek yogurt for oil.

This recipe for Oil-free Flax & Walnut Zucchini Bread not only incorporates vegetables into a healthy treat, but also uses unsweetened apple sauce as opposed to butter.

3.       Turn Breakfast Into Dessert

You’ve heard of breakfast for dinner, but have you heard of dessert for breakfast? We often associate breakfast foods with rich, decadent portions of bacon and eggs, but health foods are now being turned into sweet breakfast treats that your kids won’t even realize are healthy. And they’re fun to make!

Overnight Oats are a fun, interactive dish you can make with your kids. They’ll actually look forward to breakfast in the morning to see how their oats turned out (and our guess is they’ll be delicious). Also try Breakfast Quinoa as an alternative to unhealthy desserts. Our favorite recipe combines quinoa, fruit, honey, and a touch of brown sugar, resulting in a body-fueling breakfast that is as sweet as it is healthy.

4.       Change Their Perception Of What Is Considered A “Dessert”

Kids will always associate candy or ice cream with beloved dessert options, but do they look at fruit as a tempting treat? When baking with your kids, emphasizing the natural sweetness found in fruit can lead to healthier dessert choices.

Grilling fruit is one of the most popular methods of incorporating it into dessert recipes. By grilling the fruit, you are caramelizing the natural sugars, resulting in a rich sweetness. Grilled Peaches with Yogurt and Honey is a guilt-free dessert that will change the way you and your family look at fruit.

5.       Forgot To Pre-Heat The Oven? No Problem. Keep It Simple.

Baking with kids doesn’t always have to include a dreaded hour-long wait for your creation to finish cooking. The natural binding properties found in foods like coconut oil, medjool dates, and maple syrup help bring together a no-bake recipe with ease. Better yet, these recipes will help eliminate the dreaded “when will dessert be ready?” question.

Try combining raw oats, almonds, and medjool dates for a no-bake crust with a raspberry and chocolate filling or try Raw Chocolate Blueberry Coconut and Walnut Clusters for a chewy, no-bake cookie option.

What healthy baking recipes have you tried with your kids? Let us know below.

Sources:

http://www.avocadocentral.com/nutrition/avocados-good-fats-heart-health