Customer Reviews

Fat-free Baking

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Sandra Woodruff, RN, is a nutritionist. Her book is informed by her personal experience that "healthy foods serve no purpose if they aren't eaten." Woodruff states that this "is the perfect book for those who want to reduce the fat in their diet, maximize their nutrition, and still enjoy great-tasting sweet treats."

After the introductory chapter on the importance of limiting fat, she presents 130 no- and low-fat recipes, often using creative fat substitutes such as fruit, yoghurt, buttermilk, corn syrup, jam, pruunes, sweet potatoes, and date sugar. (She's also mindful of salt and cholesterol.)

The recipes vary from Cherry Apple Scones (0.3 grams of fat per serving) to Buttermilk Chocolate Cake (1.3 g), pumpkin gingerbread (0.3 g), Pear and Walnut Bundt Cake (0.7 g), Plum Delicous Bran Muffins (0.7 g), and old favorites like oatmeal raisin cookies (0.3 g).

As you can see above, the fat content is indeed low, which sometimes sacrifices the flavor and texture found in higher-fat recipes. (Though I think one reviewer here went a little too far in criticizing the taste). This is a good beginner's book with a variety of recipes, and offers useful cooking tips, a list of stores selling low-fat ingredients, nice old-fashioned color photos, and an index. For a little more flavor (and perhaps a little more fat?), take a look at "Let Them Eat Cake." For those who want to eat their favorite sweet things with minimal fat, this is an excellent book.

This is an excellent cook book for those who need to cut out as much fat as possible (I make many of the dishes for those in my office who have had heart attacks) and with care the baked goods are great. For those who can afford a bit of fat I prefer the recipes in Sandra Woodruff's larger all-purpose Secrets of a Healthy Kitchen cookbook, which use a little bit of oil in the baked goods. Her quick breads are excellent and the muffins really hearty; a great way to start the morning. I own both this book and the larger green cookbook and bounce back and forth between the two, often combining recipe elements and experimenting.

Most of the recipes in this book turn out too grainy tasting. My muffins have turned out really tough. Other recipes (such as the white cake with strawberries) weren't even edible. These recipes call for a lot of odd ingredients, too. However, the tips in this book for reducing the fat in your own recipes work great. I've tried them several times with much success. If you buy this book, but it for the tips--not the recipes.

A heart problem requires that I eliminate fat from my diet. This book allows me to contine eating a lot of yummy bakery products. I have used a variety of the included recipes, and have been quite pleased. Its great to have delicious, fresh scones for breakfast that contain not a bit of cholesterol or fat in them.

I have tried over a dozen recipes and they all were good. I am a member of Weight Watchers International and must watch what I eat. This book provides me with delicious desserts with virtually no fat in them. Be aware these recipes are time consuming to prepare and require some unusual ingredients at times; however, I am pleased to have this book in my cookbook collection.

Each chapter is based on a set of recipes using on fat replacers: prune puree, dairy, mashed vegetables, etc. There's one recipe per page, with some small space for notes at the bottom. It also provides nutritional info. There are some whimsical food drawings scattered through the book.

In other sections of the book there are tips for how to convert family favs to lower fat versions. It also explains why the oven temps and cooking times are sometimes lower than "normal," and how to best use the correct flours to avoid dry or hard results. (ex: whole wheat cake/pastry flour and not all-purpose for airier results, caution not to overmix so the dough doesn't get tough).

Although care is needed to produce moist, properly cake-y cakes and cookie-y cookies with the right texture, all you need to do is just be careful about following the directions.

There are some already vegan versions and changing the others is usually a matter of trading egg whites for something like Ener-G egg replacer. Not a big hassle compared to coverting other recipes in other books.

This is baking from scratch, so there will be some time taken up with measuring. If you prefer your baking to be more of a "just add eggs and water to a mix" type you aren't going to be happy with the longer ingredient lists measuring out tiny amounts of things. Those who are used to cooking or enjoy baking will have no problem and will have the ingredients on hand -- the only two "unusual" things the "average" person may not be used to are powdered egg replacer and lecithin granules, but the majority of the recipes don't go there and just use plain ol' baking powder, flour, sugar, etc.

A small section on bakeware would have been nice -- at least mentioning to watch dark colored bakeware for burning for those who are totally new to baking. It's not critical though.

Overall, a welcome addition to my cookbook collection. Successful LF vegan baking can be quite the challenge and this makes it easy!

The book gives some good ideas of what you can do for low fat for those starting out. Advanced? It is handy to have the hints in hard copy but most of them I can find on the net.

I got it for husband who has a sweet tooth and a bad heart. He didn't like the recipes from it and he has loved other low fat baking goods that either he [the real baker in the family] or I have made. It had a large number of muffin recipes until I felt as if I was reading a muffin cookbook. That would be nice if either of us liked muffins.

The pie recipes sounded interesting but called for a crust made of fat free graham crackers which is not available in our area. The same with fat free buttermilk. You can't find it here and are not easy to make however the book provides no alternative such as a recipe for fat free graham cracker. That would have been really nice.

It has been stuck on the back self simply because the hints are handy to review otherwise I was very disappointed with the source.

As a baking fanatic, I was in search of a cookbook that would allow me to continue baking, while not expanding my waistline in similar proportions. This book is the answer! I was somewhat skeptical at first...as I am a firm believer in shortening and sugar. But Ms. Woodruff's book is filled with delicious recipes! I was thoroughly surprised, and very happy. I make a different muffin recipe each week, and bring these low-fat muffins to work as breakfast all week long (sure beats Pop-Tarts or hi-fat muffins). A favorite is the Mandarin Orange Blueberry muffins. And for cookies, the Butterscotch Crisps are sure to satisfy the sweet tooth in all of us. I can't wait to purchase Ms. Woodruff's OTHER cookbooks!

This is a great book, it teaches you how to modify your favorite recipes for lower fat and cholesterol content. The recipes are simple, fun to make and have ingredients that are easy to find. Best of all - my family will eat this food! they love it and don't know it is healthier, except of course that they feel better! Good job Ms. author, I will definately check out your other books.

I just returned from our monthly stockclub meeting. Our hostess served a tray of baked goodies from this book. They were the best low-fat treats I have tasted. After a quick glance through the book, I had to have it!!