Hydrogenated Fat free cooking

As a person who has used a lot of shorteing in cooking I'm finding it hard to replace hydrogenated fat in my baking. What are some good healhty fats recipes *(baking wise)* that you know?

Thanks

What kind of recipes are you looking for?  In sauteed dishes and casseroles I started using olive oil, organic canola oil or a nut or seed oil (walnut, grapeseed, sunflower, etc).  For baking I went back to using butter because it's more natural and actually better for you (in my opinion) than shortening.  It's really difficult if you want cookie recipes or dessert cake recipes, because the fat is such an important component. 

I've also had good luck finding cookbooks that use healthy fats.  I check them out of the library to see if I'll like it before I spend money on my own copy. 

The internet is great for searching out recipes too.  I like recipezaar.com and cooking light.com a lot. 

Shortening is probably the hardest ingredient to replace in traditional baking, because it does so much for the texture and "mouth-feel" of the goodie. However, if you're given some wiggle-room with that, there are some easy substitutions for fats in baking.

Fat free, plain yogurt is a good option for subbing in baking. (Flavored works just as well, and adds, well, flavor!) Using yogurt instead of shortening will make for a flatter, denser product. However, I've found that yogurt often gives the goodie a nice, rich feel and taste.

Another option is applesauce. This works well if you like the taste of applesauce. I've found that cookies made this way are still rather fluffly, and the spread is pretty good. In combination with certain flours though (particularly oatmeal) I've found applesauce to give the goodie a somewhat "healthy goodie" taste, which is fine, so long as you don't expect that melt in your mouth feel of shortening!

Prune puree is one I haven't tried, but it seems like it would add the same richness as yogurt, the health benefit of fruit, and the thickening of shortening. It's often used to replace the fat in chocolate goodies. Fruit purees of all kinds can be used as well -- bananas are especially popular, and work well for cutting back on sugar as well, just mind the banana-y taste!

And finally (and perhaps not all that healthy) there's always the option of lite margarine. Half the calories of butter, no trans fat/cholesterol... and baked goods retain that yummy mouth-feel that's nearly equal to the melt in your mouth goodness of shortening. :)

Applesauce, fruit purees, yogurt are all healthy (and very good) choices.  They do tend to keep your baked goods flatter...but still tasty.  Margarine isn't a good substitute for anything...keep in mind it's only 1 molecule away from plastic and it's the only food item that when placed outside no bugs or flies will land on it. .  So if they won't eat it...why do we?

Sometimes vegetable oil can be used as a replacement, but you may have to adjust the flour and baking time.  Most of the older baking recipes call for shortening because they were developed from "lard" and there were no substitutions then.

I agree with Clairelaine...use the internet for recipes...there are millions out there.

phalter,  Wow. I didn't think anyone still believed that "old wives tale" that "margarine is only one molecule away from plastic".... I am a Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator and I spend my life studying nutrition research and educating the public. I would like to dispell that myth for you once and for all.

Anyway, just read the ingredients on the nutrition fact labels of various "margarine" or "buttery spreads" to see what's actually in them.  All of the tub margarines/buttery spreads that are on the market today are not only trans fat free, but many are high in monounsaturated fats and are definately a "good substitute" for shortening as well as butter in recipes.

Please be careful about perpetuating "nutrition myths" on this web site as, although cc.com is a helpful web site with lots of informed users and scientifically educated people, there are still lots of young and impressionable users. We don't want to mislead them.

There's a very good write up on this urban legend on snopes.com, saying that very thing - gddrdld is right!

The Butter Truth

I'm old enough to remember old fashioned margarine during WWII. All the butter produced was going to the troops and we had ration cards for it.  The margarine came in a "plyofilm" pack (like a cellophane wrapper) and was pure white.  There was a yellow die tablet in the package and we had to massage it in to make the product yellow.  That stuff was the solid trans fat of it all.  My grandmother was horrified and promptly got another milk cow to produce more cream and made her own butter.   

Now we can get much nicer products.  I like New Balance spread. I look for the shortest, simplest list of ingredients on labels.  I do wish that I could find an unsalted margarine though. 

Original Post by gddrdld:

 All of the tub margarines/buttery spreads that are on the market today are not only trans fat free, but many are high in monounsaturated fats and are definately a "good substitute" for shortening as well as butter in recipes.

I thought the issue with butter substitutes was the hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils, that being the reference to "a molecule away from plastic" and I notice that some of the tub margarine, p-nut butters, etc., still have hydrogenated oils listed on their labels.

Prevention mag and their RD's are saying that hydrogenated (and partially hydrogenated) oils, designed to remain firm at room temp, remain firm inside your body as well, and are culprits of two things at least, clogging arteries and coating the intenstinal walls, the first contributing to heart disease and the second reducing the absorbtion of nutrients. 

That was my understanding about the problems with this type of product, and that we should not be consuming anything that contains a "---hydrogenated---" either in full or part and putting it in our bodies. 

are you saying something different?

bubbles- You are correct in that "partially hydrogenated" oils are the culprit for the production of "trans fats" which are definately bad. The process of partial hydrogenation is the addition of a hydrogen molecule to an unsaturated fat in order to make it more solid at room temp. This partial hydrogenation process has been shown to produce trans fats. (ie: stick margarines and shortening). "Full hydrogenation" does not produce trans fats, however. Also, as of Jan 06' food producers are required to list the amount of trans fats on the nutr fact labels. As long as the product has less than .5 gms trans fat per serving they can say it has 0 gms trans fats. Therefore, products that contain any partially hydrogenated fats can contain a small amount of trans fats but it is most likely not significant with normal usage of the product and when compared to a product like butter that is high in saturated animal fat is most likely a much better choice. Also, the health benefits of the monounsaturated fats in peanut butter and many tub margarines well outweigh any chance of a health risk associated with a trace amount of trans fats provided by the addition of the partially hydrogenated oils. Think about it in the same way as the Mercury content of fish vs the health benefits of fish. We don't want to "throw the baby out with the bath water" so to speak...

So, to sum it up, as an RD, we always try to look at the "big picture" of what a food contains and the nutritional value it provides. Nothing in nutrition occurs in a vaccum. Bottom line- both animal sources of saturated fats and trans fats should be limited in the diet. Use the nutrition fact labels to determine the breakdown of the types of fats provided by a specific food. This is a much better policy than to try to analyze the ingredients list.

SO SORRY...I wasn't aware it was an "old wives tale"....I read that in a book written by a RD just few months ago...and it was a new book with a 2007 publish date.  So glad to be corrected!  I guess we need to make that information more widely distributed!

Personally, I still think margarine is gross and butter (in moderation) would still be a healthier choice.  I can't imagine that a processed food product is better than "organic".

Again...I apologize for the error...and I won't be posting anything else on cc.com Since I am not an "expert" I wouldn't want to post anything incorrectly.

phalter,  You should not be discouraged from posting on cc! We are here to support eachother and I apologise if I sounded harsh to you. 

 I would LOVE to know the name and author of that book where you said you read that. I have a really hard time believing that a registered dietitian would write that, unless it was "tongue in cheek"...

Again, please feel free to cont to post your questions, comments and opinions freely on cc...but be prepared to be corrected. ;) That is what this site is about...the free exchange of info by lay persons and experts alike. I think that's part of what makes cc great! Don't you?

Take care!