One thing I inherited from my grandmother is her insatiable sweet tooth. I can eat candy for days and would love some coffee with my sugar in the morning if I could have it my way. But I know I can’t eat like this except once in a blue moon, for all the incredibly negative health effect that come from eating empty carbs and added sugar, not to mention weight gain and loss of muscle definition.
But what’s a girl to do for dessert??
I’ve been working to take common dessert recipes and make adjustments to make them healthy-er. I think it’s okay to treat yourself to a small amount of added sugar and empty carbs but that’s how it should come: in a small amount. Everything in moderation.
So I’ll be doing several upcoming posts on sweets where I find many added sugar alternatives and empty carb replacements. There will still likely be some all purpose flour and some sugar in the recipes, my goal is just to make it substantially less.
To start off, with my favorite of all seasons in full swing, these amazingly cute Healthier Pumpkin Cakelets!
To decrease the sugar, I use bananas which replace the sweetness with more complex carbs. Replacing more than half of the all purpose flour is almond flour which adds a little protein and primarily healthy monounsaturated fat along with omega-3 fatty acids. To replace half of the refined fat content of canola oil, I add nonfat greek yogurt (also adds some protein!)
This recipe has FOUR sources of protein in its ingredients: eggs, almond flour, greek yogurt, and chopped pecans.
This is the amazingly adorable cakelet pan I used. (Amazon.com)
Nutrition: (per 1/10th recipe: 1 slice or 4 cakelets)
| Total Calories | 290 kcal |
| Protein | 7.9 g |
| Carbohydrates | 28 g |
| Fat | 17.1 g |
For the recipe:
Healthier Pumpkin Cakelets
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup almond flour (120g)
- 1 cup all purpose flour (120g)
- ½ cup sugar (100g)
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
Wet Ingredients
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- ¼ cup canola oil (or coconut oil)
- 2 bananas, ripened and mashed (230g mashed banana)
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
Mix-Ins
- ½ cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350deg. Grease cakelet pan or loaf pan.
- In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients and set aside.
- In a smaller bowl, thoroughly mix all the wet ingredients together.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix just until completely incorporated and no dry pockets remain. Fold in chopped pecans or other mix ins.
- Pour the batter into a loaf pan or fill cakelet pan cups 2/3 full. It can help to spread the top with a spoon or spatula to make it level.
- Bake for 43-45 minutes for the loaf pan, until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Bake 15 minutes each batch for the cakelet pan.
- Let cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from pan.
Notes
