Healthy Kitchen Hacks #28 – Holiday Baking Edition

*How to Bake Without Eggs * How to Make a Healthier Frosting * How to Make a Flaky Whole Grain Pie Crust * Quick Way to Flour a Surface * Dark Chocolate Fondue in the Slow Cooker*

It’s that time of year – dust off your spice rack, cookie cutters and rolling pins and get ready for this week’s Healthy Kitchen Hacks.

Here are my top 5 favorite healthy baking hacks that I’ve recently tested to help you have a bit of a healthier holiday and perhaps a little extra time, too (because actually that’s what I’d love for Christmas – an extra day of doing nothing :).)

1) How to Bake Without Eggs
Abby @The Frosted Vegan


Now, I regularly bake WITH eggs so this hack would only be useful to me if 1) I had to make a recipe vegan or 2) I ran out of eggs (ack!) The secret is to make a “flax egg” with ground flaxseed and water.

Abby shows how to make a flax egg and she points out that this egg substitute is best for recipes like chocolate chip cookies, brownies, quick breads, heartier baked goods or recipes that use no more that 2 eggs. So, the flax egg swap won’t cut it in eggy dishes like French toast, custards, cream pies or lighter desserts like chiffon or angel food cake.

I tried it in a chocolate chip version of my biscotti recipe and it really worked!

2) How To Make a Healthier Frosting
Regan @Healthy Aperture

You’ll boost the protein and swap out the fat with this frosting made from just two ingredients: Greek style yogurt and powdered sugar. Regan shows you how to make Greek Yogurt Frosting in this quick video.

I used this recipe for my Butternut Squash Cake Roll and it was a winner. This frosting works well on top of all types of cakes and cupcakes. Try flavoring it with citrus zest, your favorite baking spices or extracts.

3) How to Make a Flaky Whole Grain Pie Crust
Katie @Healthy Seasonal Recipes

I often swap in whole wheat pastry flour for some of the regular flour when I’m baking but it’s usually for only half or less of the total flour in a recipe.

Katie has a wonderful, flaky, whole grain pie crust recipe that’s 2/3rds whole wheat (way better than my half or less ratio.) She uses it in her a swoon-worthy Chocolate Swirl Pumpkin Pie (<–I’ve made this pie a few times now, it’s THAT good.)

Bonus hack: Use leftover pie scraps to make these simple but festive Whole Grain Pie Crust Cookies.

4) A Quick Way to Flour a Surface
via America’s Test Kitchen

Here’s a small hack that I really love and now use every time I have to flour a surface for rolling out dough. Fill a powdered sugar shaker with whole wheat pastry flour and in just a few shakes, you got a dusted countertop. (I’m serious loving this hack!)

Storage tip: Keep your flour shaker in the fridge or freezer to preserve the flour.

5) Make Chocolate Fondue in Your Slow Cooker
@CookingLight & Ellie @FoodNetwork

So, this is a bit off of the holiday baking theme but it’s a fun dessert idea for a holiday party featuring dark chocolate, lots of fruit for dipping and a Crockpot. I got this idea from the December issue of Cooking Light.

I used their slow cooker fondue method (cook on LOW for 1 1/2 hours and then turn to WARM for dipping) and applied it to Ellie Krieger’s easy Dark Chocolate Fondue. I brought it over to a friend’s house with strawberries, sliced bananas and orange sections – both the parents and kids LOVED it.

And another fondue tip from Cooking Light–> pat the fruit dry before dipping so fondue coats well.

Would you try any of these hacks? Do you have healthy kitchen or healthy living shortcuts to share? Shoot us an email (ddaly@teaspooncomm.com or sball@teaspooncomm.com ) or share below in comments and we’ll try them out.