3 healthy desserts to bake with your kids
When we were kids, my mom loved to bake with my sister and me. She would put my sister in charge of mixing the dry ingredients and I was in charge of the wet. We loved having a job in the kitchen and we looked forward to eating the delicious cookie recipes we made as our after-dinner treat.
It turns out my mom was onto something by keeping us busy in the kitchen: experts say that when kids help plan, cook, serve and clean up after meals, they'll be more interested in eating with the family since they have a stake in the meal. Since it's so important for kids to eat a healthy diet, choose to make healthy recipes kids will love. While sweets should be a limited part of any child's diet, a little treat in moderation is OK once in a while. By making these suggested recipes for healthier versions of kids' favorite desserts, you can teach kids about replacing less-healthy ingredients with healthier ones while you have fun cooking together.
Here are three easy recipes to bake with your kids:
Apple Cupcakes with Cinnamon-Marshmallow Frosting: Even little ones can help with this recipe by putting the cupcake liners in the muffin tin. These cinnamon-spiked cupcakes stay healthy because shredded apple replaces some of the oil and keeps the cake moist.
Swirled Cheesecake Brownies: These beautiful brownies are made with whole-wheat flour and use reduced-fat cream cheese in the marbled topping. Help your kids cut them into bite-size pieces for fun finger-food eating and to help keep the calorie count in check.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies: These oatmeal chocolate chip cookies have the familiar flavors of brown sugar and chocolate, but get a sophisticated twist from tahini (sesame paste). Tahini helps to lower the saturated fat by more than 66 percent while adding a nutty flavor to an old classic. As a result these cookies have less butter than regular chocolate chip cookies and they get a boost of fiber from oats and whole-wheat flours. Kids can help out by mixing the ingredients together. You can store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 days or freeze for longer storage.
2 cups rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour (see Ingredient Note, below)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup tahini (see Ingredient Note, below)
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1. Position racks in upper and lower thirds of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Whisk oats, whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Beat tahini and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until blended into a paste. Add granulated sugar and brown sugar; continue beating until well combined-the mixture will still be a little grainy. Beat in egg, then egg white, then vanilla. Stir in the oat mixture with a wooden spoon until just moistened. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.
3. With damp hands, roll 1 tablespoon of the batter into a ball, place it on a prepared baking sheet and flatten it until squat, but don't let the sides crack. Continue with the remaining batter, spacing the flattened balls 2 inches apart.
4. Bake the cookies until golden brown, about 16 minutes, switching the pans back to front and top to bottom halfway through. Cool on the pans for 2 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Let the pans cool for a few minutes before baking another batch.
Makes about 45 cookies.
Per cookie: 102 calories; 5 g fat (2 g sat, 1 g mono); 7 mg cholesterol; 14 g carbohydrate; 2 g protein; 1 g fiber; 45 mg sodium; 53 mg potassium.
Ingredient notes: Tahini is a paste made from ground sesame seeds. Look for it in natural-foods stores and some supermarkets.
Whole-wheat pastry flour, lower in protein than regular whole-wheat flour, has less gluten-forming potential, making it a better choice for tender baked goods. You can find it in the natural-foods section of large supermarkets and natural-foods stores. Store in the freezer.
By Hilary Meyer
EatingWell assistant editor Hilary Meyer spends much of her time in the EatingWell Test Kitchen, testing and developing healthy recipes. She is a graduate of New England Culinary Institute.
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