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Healthy Dessert Tips

Dairy-Free Dessert Tips

The following healthy dessert tips are from Alison's upcoming cookbook, Desserts for Every Body.

 

Replacing Eggs

 

When vegan baking, it is imperative to remember that eggs perform three basic functions: They bind ingredients, they leaven (rise), and they provide liquid. So when replacing eggs, you'll need to ask yourself how you will replace all three of these important components.

 

One of the biggest complaints about vegan baked goods is that they are often too dry and crumbly. If you can get the balance of using just the right amount of moisture-enhancing binders along with the starchier, drier ones, you can come out with moist cakes, muffins and crusts that hold together without a lot of crumbly mess.

 

Egg Replacers

Agar Agar (Kanten), Arrowroot Powder, Baking Powder and Baking Soda, Garbanzo Bean (chickpea) Flour, Flaxseeds, Guar and Xanthan Gums, Kudzu, Packaged Egg Replacer, Tahini (sesame butter), Tofu

 

Replacing Milk

 

There are several alternative milks that can be used interchangeably to replace dairy milk according to preferred taste. These can be substituted measure for measure in your favorite recipes. You can purchase these at the market (make sure you read the labels and check for added sugar) or make your own using the recipes below.

 

Milk Replacers with Recipes

 

Nut Milk—I usually call for nut milks in my dessert recipes because I think the nuttiness adds to the final flavor of the desserts. Soak 3 cups raw nuts in water for 8-10 hours. Blend the nuts with 6 cups filtered water in a high-speed blender or food processor for about 5 minutes. Line a sieve with a double-layer of cheesecloth and strain. Yield: 6 cups

 

Note: You can use the nut pulp as a base for raw desserts, or dehydrate it and process it into flour.

 

Oat Milk—Blend 2 cups hot cooked oats with 4 cups hot water in a high-speed blender or food processor for 5 minutes. Cool and line a sieve with a double-layer of cheesecloth and strain. Yield: 4 cups

 

Rice Milk—Blend 1 cup hot brown rice with 4 cups hot water in a high-speed blender or food processor for about 5 minutes. Cool and line a sieve with a double-layer of cheesecloth and strain. Yield: 4 cups

 

Soy Milk—Making soymilk takes a lot more effort; I always purchase this prepackaged. Drop 1 cup clean, whole soybeans into boiling water with a pinch of baking soda for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse. Blend cooked beans with 6 cups hot water in a high-speed blender of food processor for 5 minutes. Cool and line a sieve with a double-layer of cheesecloth and strain. Simmer soymilk for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Yield: 6 cups

 

Replacing Cream

 

Heavy cream adds thickness, volume, moisture and richness of flavor to desserts and baked goods of all kinds. There are a few alternatives to replace cream, each of which works wonderfully in its proper place. All of these—with an exception to the flaxseeds—can be substituted measure for measure in your favorite recipes.

 

Cream Replacers

Amazake, Flaxseeds, Nut Creams, Silken Tofu

 

Replacing Butter

 

How lucky we are these days to have available some really good butter alternatives that can pretty effectively mimic the qualities of real butter. Gone are the days when the only solution was hydrogenated margarine and shortening. For many of us, these were never an option.

 

Today there are alternative vegan butters that are made from natural products and are non-hydrogenated, which means they do not contain any trans-fats that are linked to diseases of many kinds. Many of the vegan dessert recipes in this book call for non-hydrogenated vegan butter or vegan spread.

 

A word of warning though—these butter substitutes, like margarine, are a processed food and undergo a lengthy treatment to produce the end result of staying solid at room temperature. They are non-hydrogenated and do not contain trans-fats, but because of their refinement process, they should only be eaten in moderation and not as an everyday food.

 

The same argument can be made in regards to real butter for non-vegans too—as a saturated fat, it should be eaten only in moderation.

 

Butter Replacers

Coconut Butter (Coconut Oil), Non-Hydrogenated Vegan Butter, Non-Hydrogenated Vegan Margarine, Non-Hydrogenated Vegan Shortening

 

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