Recipe Makeover: Nancy's Pumpkin Bread

Every year for the past 5 years, a friend of mine brings a much anticipated and appreciated loaf of pumpkin bread over as a holiday gift. And every year I think to myself that it just might be one of the best-tasting pumpkin breads I've had. Well, this year I asked her for the recipe.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I did warn her that I would be "messing with" her recipe by lowering the fat, saturated fat, and sugar and switching to half whole-wheat flour. If you are a sweet potato fan, then by all means use cooked, pureed sweet potatoes in place of the canned pumpkin.

Here's what happened nutritionally:
The calories decreased from 258 to 169 and the grams of fat and cholesterol were chopped in half, saturated fat was cut by 2/3rds, and fiber doubled.

Nancy's Light Pumpkin Bread

Photo: Elaine Magee

Ingredients:

1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup egg substitute
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup lite pancake syrup or maple syrup
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
6 tablespoons lowfat milk or fat-free half-and-half
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup unbleached white flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon each ground cinnamon, nutmeg & ginger

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with foil or paper liners, or if making bread, coat a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with canola cooking spray (dust lightly with flour if desired); set aside.
2. In large mixing bowl, combine all the wet ingredients by beating on medium speed until well blended.
3. Pour the dry ingredients, all at once, into the mixing bowl and beat on medium-low until blended, scrape sides of the bowl and blend again.
4. Fill prepared muffin cups with 1/4 cup of batter or pour all of the batter in the prepared loaf pan. Bake until top of muffins spring back nicely after gentle pressure (about 30 minutes). If making a loaf, bake for about 70 minutes.

Yield: makes 12 muffins or 1, 9 x 5-inch loaf. If you want to make 2 loaves or 24 muffins, just double the recipe.

Nutritional analysis per serving: 169 calories, 3 g protein, 29 g carbohydrate, 5 g fat, .5 g saturated fat, 3 g monounsaturated fat, 1.5 g polyunsaturated fat, 18 mg cholesterol, 2 g fiber, 185 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 27 percent. Omega-3 fatty acids = .4 gram, Omega-6 fatty acids = 1 gram.

Original recipe contains 258 calories, 10 grams of fat, 1.5 grams saturated fat, and 36 mg cholesterol per muffin or slice.

NOTE: If you want to add the Cinnamon Vanilla Glaze - In a mixing bowl, combine 1/4-cup light cream cheese, 1/2-cup powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons fat free vanilla creamer or similar, and 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon.

Related Topics:

• Healthy Cooking with Elaine Magee, RD
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Fall Baking: Overnight Brown Sugar Pecan Coffee Cake

Okay, I live in one of the warmer states, but even I am beginning to feel the fall season approaching and you know what that means? Time to start your mixers...it's fall baking season!

Making some of the old favorites is a given, but I thought I would throw a new recipe your way to try on one of these cool fall nights - Overnight Brown Sugar Pecan Coffee Cake. You mix up the batter in the evening and it sits in your refrigerator overnight and then you pop it in the oven in the morning. All there is left to do is enjoy it piping hot from the oven with a cup of tea or coffee.

Overnight Brown Sugar Pecan Coffee Cake

Photo: Elaine Magee

If you want to mix up the topping quickly and you haven't chopped up your pecans yet, just place the brown sugar, pecan halves and cinnamon in a small food processor bowl and pulse briefly to blend the topping ingredients and chop the nuts.

Ingredients

6 tablespoons light margarine (with plant sterols added if possible)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, higher omega-3 if available
1/2 cup fat free or reduced fat sour cream
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (you can use 1/4 teaspoon if desired)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping:
1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup chopped pecans or walnut
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Coat an 8x 8-inch baking dish with canola cooking spray. In large mixing bowl, beat margarine and sugar together on medium speed until nice and creamy. Add in the egg and sour cream, beating well after each addition.
2. In another bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, nutmeg and salt with whisk or fork. Add flour mixture to the margarine mixture, beating on low just until blended. Pour into prepared baking dish.
3. In small bowl, combine brown sugar, chopped pecans and cinnamon and sprinkle mixture evenly over coffee cake batter. Cover baking dish and refrigerate overnight.
4. Remove dish from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake coffee cake for about 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cut coffee cake into 9 squares and enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee!

Yield: Makes 9 servings

Nutrition information per serving: 177 calories, 3 g protein, 26 g carbohydrate, 6.7 g fat, .8 g saturated fat, 3.2 g monounsaturated fat, 2.4 g polyunsaturated fat, 27 mg cholesterol, 2 g fiber, 83 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 34 percent. Omega-3 fatty acids = .2 gram, Omega-6 fatty acids = 2 grams.

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• White Chocolate-Cranberry Coffee Cake Recipe
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Taste Test Tuesday: Starbucks Gluten-free Valencia Orange Cake

On top of the pedestal in the bakery case at my local Starbucks was this little orange round cake. You might pass it up thinking it's loaded with sugar and white flour...or you might pass it up because you just noticed the name tag on the product boasts "Gluten-Free", a term that may have come to mean "taste-free" in your house based on sampling other gluten-free products.

But...I didn't pass it up and I shared it with a friend and we were both pleasantly surprised with the taste and the texture. This little cake was so good there is no way I'm sharing my next one!

The first five ingredients are:

Whole eggs
Valencia orange pulp
Almonds
Sugar
Orange peel

If you are slightly alarmed by whole eggs being the first ingredient, know that each cake contains 125 mg cholesterol, which is the equivalent of slightly more than half of an egg. The second ingredient, the orange pulp, is contributing a good portion of the impressive 4 grams of fiber that comes with each cake. Yes, it's pretty high in fat, 16 grams, but there are only 2 grams of saturated fat and zero grams of trans fat per cake serving. Where is the 16 grams coming from anyway? If there is a little over half an egg in each cake then that accounts for 3 grams of fat. And with a little detective work I found out that most of the remaining fat grams come from almonds. The Valencia Orange Cake is composed of 24% almonds in the form of sliced almonds sprinkled on top of the cake and almond flour used in the cake batter. That's good news because almonds are a great source of smart fats and phytochemicals.

The cake definitely doesn't taste too sweet and there is actually less sugar added than there are almonds sprinkled on top as garnish, according to the list of ingredients. Here's what each cake contains:

290 calories
16 g fat
2 g saturated fat
0 g trans fat
125 mg cholesterol
32 g carbohydrate
4 g fiber
40 mg sodium

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• Healthy Fruit Dessert Recipes
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5-Minute Chocolate Mug Cake Makeover

Who doesn't love the idea of mixing up chocolate cake batter in a coffee mug and then cooking it in the microwave for a warm chocolaty treat? A recipe for "5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake" is making the rounds on the Internet... so much so that a few different people emailed me the recipe so that I could give it a makeover.

I tried out a lighter, higher fiber version of this cake and it was definitely moist and flavorful. My teenage daughters gave it a taste too and gave it the thumbs up. I used all whole-wheat flour instead of white flour and reduced the sugar by 25%. Instead of 3 tablespoons of oil I used 1 tablespoon of canola oil and 2 tablespoons of fat free sour cream.

Making these changes made quite a difference in the nutritional content. Check this out:

• Calories went DOWN from 415 to 240
• Fat grams went DOWN from 25 to 8 grams
• Saturated fat went DOWN from 2.8 to .7 grams
• Cholesterol went DOWN from 113 to 2.5 milligrams
• Fiber went UP from 1.4 to 3 grams

Here's the new and improved version of this recipe!

5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

Photo: Elaine Magee

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons whole-wheat flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup egg substitute (with yolk) or 1 egg
3 tablespoons lowfat milk or fat free half and half
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 tablespoons fat free sour cream
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons semi sweet chocolate chips (optional)
light vanilla bean ice cream (optional)
sliced strawberries or other fresh fruit (optional)

Preparation:

1. In microwave-safe coffee mug, combine whole-wheat flour, sugar, and cocoa.
2. Pour egg substitute or egg, lowfat milk, canola oil, sour cream and vanilla into the mug with dry ingredients and mix well with fork.
3. Stir chocolate chips into the cake batter in mug, if desired. Place mug in center of microwave (preferably one that has a turn table) and cook on HIGH for 3 minutes. The cake will rise about an inch or so above the top of the mug (don't worry it won't drip down the sides of the mug).
4. Let cake cool in mug for a few minutes then turn mug upside down over a serving bowl (the cake should slide out fairly easily).
5. Cut cake in half for a smaller sized serving and top with a small scoop of light vanilla bean ice cream and sliced strawberries (or other fresh fruit).

Serving Suggestion: Serve with a scoop of light vanilla ice cream and some fresh fruit like sliced strawberries or raspberries.

Yield: Makes 2 servings

Nutritional Information:
Per serving (if two per recipe): 240 calories, 7 g protein, 35 g carbohydrate, 8 g fat, .7 g saturated fat, 2 mg cholesterol, 3 g fiber, 115 mg sodium. Calories from fats: 30 percent.

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Fall Favorites: Spiced Apple Cake

Week #3: SPICED APPLE CAKE

Photo Credit: Elaine Magee

This is a double fall favorite because it has spice cake and apples all wrapped up in the same dessert. I made all sorts of changes from the original recipe. I replace a majority of the white flour with whole-wheat flour and I cut the amount of granulated sugar in half. The 2 sticks of butter in the original recipe were replaced, in part, with 5 tablespoons canola oil and some applesauce. And instead of throwing away the rum (after soaking the dried fruit in it), I added it to the batter to replace the rest of the butter that was originally called for. Lastly, only 1 egg and some egg substitute helped blend the batter instead of the 3 eggs originally called for.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries or dried berries
1/4 cup dark or golden rum, apple cider or juice, or amaretto liqueur
1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1 large egg, higher omega-3 if available
1/2 cup egg substitute
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups diced, unpeeled, apples* (cored and cut into 1/2-inch pieces)
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans (optional)
1/4 cup crystallized ginger, finely chopped (optional)

Preparation:

1. Position rack in the middle of oven and preheat to 350-degrees. Coat the inside of a bundt pan with canola oil or canola oil cooking spray. Dust the inside with flour and shake out any excess.
2. In small, microwave-safe bowl, combine dried fruit and rum. Microwave for about 30 seconds on HIGH and set aside.
3. In large mixing bowl, combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt by beating on low for a minute. With mixer off, pour in the brown and granulated sugars, canola oil, applesauce, egg, egg substitute, vanilla, and the rum from the dried fruit mixture (reserve the dried fruit for the next step) and beat on HIGH speed, until batter is smooth (about 1 minute), scraping down sides of bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Stir in the apples, pecans and/or (if desired), and the rum-soaked dried fruit.
4. Spoon batter into prepared pan and smooth top with spatula. Bake in center of oven until a fork inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean (about 1 hour).
5. Cool the cake in pan on rack for 10 minutes, then invert cake pan onto a serving plate and cool completely. The cake can be stored at room temperature wrapped tightly in foil or plastic wrap for up to 3 days.

* Sweet apples, like Red Delicious, work well in this recipe. To test the recipe though, I used a combination of Red Delicious and Granny Smith (because that's what I had in the fruit crisper) and it worked out wonderfully.

Yield: Makes 12 servings

WebMD Weight Loss Clinic members journal as as 1 piece small muffin + 1 piece fruit OR 1 medium dessert + 1 piece fruit OR 2 pieces pancakes, waffles, french toast + 1 piece fruit

Nutrition Information Per serving: 281 calories, 4.5 g protein, 51 g carbohydrate, 6.5 g fat, .6 g saturated fat, 18 mg cholesterol, 3 g fiber, 229 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 21 percent.

Week #1: Topless Chicken Pot Pie
Week #2: Super Slow Cooker Pot Roast
Week #3: Spiced Apple Cake
Week #4: Ginger Pumpkin Bread

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