Friday, September 5, 2008

Fruit sugars

Fruit sugars- This isn't anything ground-breaking, but using sweet-tasting fruits with other things can help cut down on the need for added sugars. Good examples are strawberries, mango, apples, peaches, and bananas. Think about your recipe and what enhancements make sense for what you are making. For baked goods, mashed bananas not only add a sweetness and moistness to the crumb, it also adds a wonderful, unmistakable flavor as well as lots of potassium that you wouldn't get otherwise. Mango is wonderful with steak as a salsa and peaches compliment pork tenderloin and chicken fantastically. Even simmering these fruits in the skillet while you are finishing meat adds a depth of flavor to the dish which can be enjoyed alongside the vegetables that you are making with your dinner.



Example recipe:

Banana Bread - Adapted from Molly Wizenberg, Orangette
Fruit Sugars, honey, and Agave Nectar
3 bananas
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup agave nectar
2 eggs
1/4 cup water
1 & 1/2 cups all purpose flour


Topping:
2 & 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tablespoon of sugar


In the bowl of a stand mixer, break up the banana into small pieces. Leave chunky for sticky pieces of banana in the bread, or mash if you prefer an even texture.
Add the oil, sugar, eggs, cinnamon, honey and agave nectar. Trick- whenever you are measuring honey, always grease the measuring spoon with a little oil. In this case, I just measured both the honey and the agave nectar in the same measuring cup immediately after I used it to measure the oil. Works perfectly- you aren't left scraping it out. I hesitated on whether to post this, because I still thought this bread was awfully sweet. I think the next time I make it I will reduce the sugar to a 1/2 cup. I considered omitting it all together, but I am hesitant to given that the honey and agave nectar will yield a different crumb than the sugar. There is a possibility that it will be quite dense. If you are really trying to limit sugar, and want to give it a try I would use the following ratio: 1/4 cup honey, 1/2 - 3/4 cup agave nectar.
Mix on low speed until just blended. Then sift in the flour, baking soda and salt. Again mix until just incorporated and then stop. It will be thin, like this:Pour the batter into a prepared bread pan, I used a 9x5 inch pan. Mix the sugars and cinnamon in a bowl for the topping. This also helps you cut down the sugar in the recipe. You use a lot less of sugar in a sugar topping that you would usually add to the recipe. Plus the person enjoying the bread gets that sweet kick right up front, so it is missed less in the rest of the bread. Sprinkle the mixture over the top of the bread, and bake at 350 for about an hour.

The bread has a nice texture, and the crumbly topping makes it feel like dessert. I kind of like the chunks of banana that find their way to the bottom, but if that bothers you, just mash the banana more before you start adding the other ingredients, or use frozen bananas.Enjoy all on its own- it doesn't need anything. although it would be great with marscapone or cream cheese. : )

I know that this isn't a "low sugar" recipe, but it does make some nice swaps, and I think the end result is better than the other. The flavor of the agave nectar is so clean and nice. I have another recipe that I used it in that I will share next. Keep an eye out for it in the Trader Joe's baking section. You will end up using it more than you can imagine!

I will keep adding to this category going forward. Hope it provides some good ideas, and I hope that you will share your strategies as well! I probably won't add anything for a week or so, but I am sure I will have lots to share when I get back!

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