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Following a low-fat lifestyle does not sentence you to a life of boring and tasteless baked goods. Instead, it offers a chance to redevelop favorite recipes into healthy alternatives with the same rich and wonderful flavors but with less fat and usually more fiber. Here are the basic tips to consider when baking the low-fat way.

Spray Away the Fat
Using nonstick cooking spray to coat cake pans, cookie sheets, and pie dishes will help keep baked good from sticking and will not affect the taste. Most chefs began using this method and found it easier to grease and flour cake pans with the cooking spray and flour.

Eat Your Veggies and Chocolate
Use vegetables, fruits and even beans to add texture and richness to any of your favorite baked items. Oatmeal cookies taste even better with apples and carrots and who would have thought beans could make brownies so rich and flavorful? Bananas can be added to most recipes, like chocolate chips, cloning the richness of butter and sweetness of cream.

An "Eggsquisite" Idea
Using egg substitute will cut the fat and leave the flavor. Since baking is truly a science, it is difficult to tamper the basic leveling ingredients that help cookies, cakes and breads rise. Egg substitutes are a perfect way to allow lowered fat content without worrying about fallen and flat goodies.

You Can Do It
They now offer fat-free evaporated milk and it works and tastes the same as the full fat version. There are even some wonderful fudge recipes that a pro would have difficulty deciding which had the fat and which one is sans fat.

Pies to Die For
The yummiest pie crusts are made with butter, shortening, flour and water. That great combination does not have an equal counterpart in the low-fat world. However, pie crusts can be replaced with graham cracker crusts and even phyllo dough. Not only does this save on fat content but it actually adds tasty and interesting texture.

No Fat Here
Fats, like oil and butter, can easily be replaced in baked goods with applesauce or yogurt. Using flavored yogurt can actually add delicious undertones to your dessert. Banana yogurt used in a chocolate cake mix develops a great base for a banana split cake when paired with fresh strawberries and bananas.

Healthy eating shouldn't mean giving up good flavor. You can still enjoy your favorite baked goods by making a few simple adjustments to your favorite recipes. Simply take a recipe, weed out the fat laden items and replace them with some of these ideas. You are likely to end up with a richer, moister and even more flavorful dish.

Learn more about this author, Vivian Nelson Melle.
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