Twins ingredient tips for recipes

Friday, November 13, 2009 at 02:00 PM

Hello friends,

We wanted to go over some of the ingredients that we have been using in our recipes as well as provide you all with some substitutes.

Now many of these ingredients may be new to you or yes a little more expensive than SUGAR. But the health benefits out weight all that : ) We are fortunate enough that with our bakery we get to play around with these ingredients. So if you ever get the chance to play around with these ingredients we hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

At the end of the post we provide where you can get all these goodies!

Ingredient and substitution lesson with the twins:

grab a paper and pen ;)

Ready-

Here we go-

Coconut oil

Full of lauric acid, provides energy for the body, good fat, great for the metabolism and thyroid.

Common use: baking, cooking, face, smoothies, sauces, puddings, sports drinks, bars, any desserts

Substitutes: olive oil, soy butter (if you can tolerate soy), ghee (for non-vegans), palm oil

Yacon Syrup

Low-glycemic sugar, lower in calories then most sweeteners, taste like molasses and caramel, can improve digestive health due to containing prebiotic (which is the food for the good bacteria)

** yacon also comes in powder form

** it does have an unique flavor so it may take a few times to get used to the flavor although we LOVE IT!

Common use: replace honey or maple syrup, or any liquid sweetener (we like to use it more than agave because it has more health benefits than agave), add it to anything that you want a little bit more sweetness like smoothies, puddings, any desserts, fruit, sauces, dressings, nut milks

Substitutes: maple syrup, molasses, dark or light agave, honey

Lucuma powder


Low-glycemic sugar substitute, rich maple-like flavor, full of vitamins and minerals like beta caratone, niacin, calcium and iron

Common use: great in ice creams, yogurts, desserts, smoothies, puddings, pies, nut milks

Substitutes: maca powder, yacon powder, stevia (though will have to alter the ratio in recipes), nut flour, coconut flour, rice protein powder or hemp protein (though will need to add some other sweetness to the recipes)

Maca powder

Rich in amino acids, phytonutrients, vitamins, and minerals, increases energy, can help with endurance, supports the immune system and adrenal function (helps with stress) and we just love the flavor!! Gives things a malted flavor : )

Common use: desserts, pudding, smoothies, yogurt, ice cream, nut milks

Substitutes: lucuma, yacon powder, nut flour, coconut flour, rice protein and hemp powder (these will alter the taste and texture)

* we have discussed maca here before

Stevia

Zero- glycemic level, zero calorie, can improve digestion, excellent choice for those watching sugar and calories, comes in liquid or powder form

Common uses: drinks, smoothies, coffee,tea, any dessert (will have to alter the wet to dry ration), yogurt, puddings

Substitutes: although there really is no substitute if you using it for the reasons listed, although all the sweeteners list here would work, just have to alter the recipe

Dates/date paste

Natural sweetener, high in glucose (a carb for fuel), rich in fiber, full of calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, sulfur

Common uses: desserts, sauces, dressings, smoothies, puddings, snacks, bars, granola

Substitutes: dried figs, dried apricots, plus the other sweeteners listed above

Please keep in mind  when you make substitutions in any recipe, not just ours, that we ask you to please use some common sense ;)   If they batter is dry add more liquid and vice versa. Example, if you use high fats nuts (walnuts)  in your recipe, you can use less liquid due to the natural oil from the nuts. Or if you prefer stevia as your sweetener, whether liquid or powdered, you will need to “make up”  for the volume missing, so either add more dry ingredients or liquid.

We hope these tips help, and you have any questions with using these different ingredients please email the twins at twins@pure2raw.com. We would love to help you out : )

Our favorite places to get our ingredients:

Here are some new places we have come across, we have not tried them yet, but look good!

And to continue on with our dessert theme week today is

RAW SMORE’S

Now Matthew Kenney has his recipe of this classic in his book Entertaining in the Raw. And our friend Shannon Marie has done her own twist on this dessert.

And we wanted to get in on the action…. We will see this later what we did. It is still in production. We will get the recipe and pictures to you as soon as it is ready!!!

Till next time,

The Twins

L&M

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Posted in: Health, Raw Recipes, Theme Week

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