The Trouble with Pies
Well all love a warm piece of pie. If you are like me, you love decadent desserts a little too much. So you have to cut back because you are on a dreaded diet.
Not so! I have found that I can make some simple little steps here and there throughout the recipe that makes huge calories and fat reductions!
Let us learn some of them now and we will use a traditional Apple Pie recipe. This Apple Pie recipe is fairly consistent with most that out there.
So lets analyze!
Getting Started-
Traditional Apple Pie Recipe
First, lets say that a serving is about an 1/8 of a pie. Perfect! That is all we really need of this sweet dessert.
Here are the original ingredients
This comes to 506 calories per serving; 29 grams of fat per serving
What!?!? For the whole pie? Nope. Just one serving. You can have one piece of pie or dinner. You can have one piece of pie or two bags of M&M's.
Disappointing.
Here are the original ingredients
- Crust:
2-1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup shortening or butter
¼ to ½ cup of ice cold water
Filling:
8 cups thinly sliced, cored and peeled tart apples (about 5-6 large apples)
1/2 cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 Tbsp. butter (melted)
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 Tbsp. lemon juice (optional)
This comes to 506 calories per serving; 29 grams of fat per serving
What!?!? For the whole pie? Nope. Just one serving. You can have one piece of pie or dinner. You can have one piece of pie or two bags of M&M's.
Disappointing.
Let's Fix This Apple Pie
Light and Healthy Alternatives
1. Butter- replace with Smart Balance Light Buttery Spread (entire recipe) This will bring down the most of your fat content right here! There is butter in both the crust and filling, so this one step has major impact.
-137 calories per serving
-15.6 g fat per serving
2. Replace sugar and brown sugar with Splenda No Calorie(entire recipe): This one is easily adjustable. You can also use the Splenda baking blend or just make your own blend of sugar. Say 3/4 Splenda and 1/4 sugar. You can still have the sweet- and keep your peace of mind.
-75 calories per serving
3. Make only the top crust with original ingredients: I know! Crust is fun. But instead of a pre-packaged dessert good, would you not rather have a delicious warm slice of apple pie - even if you only get half the crust. Think of it like a cobbler!
-191 calories per serving
-13 g of fat per serving
4. Make the top crust, replacing butter with Smart Balance Buttery Spread and sugar with Splenda no calorie: Oh, we are on a roll now!
-265 calories per serving
-20.8 g of fat per serving
Grand total
Combining all tricks together:
Half crust- just on top
Splenda throughout
Smart Balance throughout
Will equal 161 calories and 6.6 grams of fat per serving
(Original pie 506 calories and 29 grams of fat per serving)
Find more great
Light and Tasty Pie Recipes!
Where would you like to go next?
Recipes | Desserts | Dinner | Light | Quick & Easy | Getting Started | Pie Crust
Nutrition & Diet | Low Calorie | Vegan | Gluten-Free | Low Cholesterol | Diabetic
-137 calories per serving
-15.6 g fat per serving
2. Replace sugar and brown sugar with Splenda No Calorie(entire recipe): This one is easily adjustable. You can also use the Splenda baking blend or just make your own blend of sugar. Say 3/4 Splenda and 1/4 sugar. You can still have the sweet- and keep your peace of mind.
-75 calories per serving
3. Make only the top crust with original ingredients: I know! Crust is fun. But instead of a pre-packaged dessert good, would you not rather have a delicious warm slice of apple pie - even if you only get half the crust. Think of it like a cobbler!
-191 calories per serving
-13 g of fat per serving
4. Make the top crust, replacing butter with Smart Balance Buttery Spread and sugar with Splenda no calorie: Oh, we are on a roll now!
-265 calories per serving
-20.8 g of fat per serving
Grand total
Combining all tricks together:
Half crust- just on top
Splenda throughout
Smart Balance throughout
Will equal 161 calories and 6.6 grams of fat per serving
(Original pie 506 calories and 29 grams of fat per serving)
Find more great
Light and Tasty Pie Recipes!
Where would you like to go next?
Recipes | Desserts | Dinner | Light | Quick & Easy | Getting Started | Pie Crust
Nutrition & Diet | Low Calorie | Vegan | Gluten-Free | Low Cholesterol | Diabetic
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