Happy Holidays!!! This is the one time of year I attempt baking! I have a tradition with my daughter of baking and decorating sugar cookies for Santa, and today was the day we baked!
In my experience, a great way to reduce cholesterol and "bad fat", and add nutrition is to use plant-based ingredients. Luckily, there are a million options these days, to do just that, and not lose the flavor we all love.
These desserts are both made with Almond Flour and Vegan Butter.
Today I followed great recipes, and just made a few substitutions to add nutritional value, while keeping all that love for a holiday treat, and best part- made special holiday memories with my girl. (We still need to decorate the cookies- but was time for a break 😉)
Vegan Sugar Cookies
I followed this recipe and replaced all-purpose flour with almond flour.
I had read that you need to convert the AP flour amount when using almond flour, however, I had to play with it a bit to get the right consistency of dough. Also used AP flour when rolling it out to firm it up a bit. The delicious flavors were all there but had to play with consistency a bit. I ended adding about 1.5 cups almond flour (started with 1/4 cup ) vs the 2 cups AP in the recipe. Anyone have any advice on this?
Lemon Bars with Almond Flour and Vegan Butter
Lemon Bars have a special place in my heart as my grandmother always made them for our family's Christmas Eve celebration- and I LOVED them! She was Scandanavian, and her other specialty was Sandbakkels - which I also devoured and hoping to give them a whirl tomorrow!
I followed this recipe exactly, just substituted the butter for vegan butter. I also made the crust in the food processor- super easy! These are SO good!
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/gluten-free-lemon-squares-with-an-almond-flour-crust-recipe
Nutritional Notes:
Almond Flour provides a great alternative to AP flour to add nutritional value (vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants) and is gluten free.
Almond Flour is rich in heart healthy fat that can help reduce cholesterol, as well as dietary fiber,
Almond Flour is a low glycemic index food, which can help with managing blood sugar levels
More info can be found here: https://www.webmd.com/diet/health-benefits-almond-flour
Vegan Butter is a plant-based alternative to butter, containing more "good fats" and is free of cholesterol. More info here: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/plant-butter
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