A New Way to Bake

January 16, 2017
The Kitchens of Martha Stewart have updated 130 classic recipes with healthy swaps—such as nut flour, farro flour, or whole-grain flour in place of white, as well as the use of natural nonsucrose sweeteners and nut milks—to increase the nutritional value of baked goods, including cookies, cakes, pies, and breads. Headnotes suggest additional variations such as using cinnamon in place of rosemary in the wheat-based parsnip-rosemary muffins; rice syrup in place of honey to veganize fruit and nut bars; and sweet potatoes to replace the cauliflower in stuffed whole-wheat flatbreads. Avid readers of Martha Stewart Living will recognize recipes from its glossy pages, such as the “ideal casual company cake,” orange-barley pound cake. An herb quiche with rye crust lends itself to easy entertaining, as do the homemade whole-grain crackers and blueberry ricotta tart. Kids might be enticed off the processed cookie wagon with cashew butter and jam thumbprint cookies. Those with nut allergies in the family will want to carefully review the recipes, as a number of them include nuts, nut milks, and nut butters. This is a healthier, yet no less tasty collection to rely on.

February 15, 2017

Prolific cookbook author Stewart (Martha Stewart's American Food) lends her ideas to the popular quest for baking with healthier ingredients. Traditional methods have relied on white sugar, butter, and other ingredients that experts say can be harmful in the long run. The recipes presented here suggest substitutions such as whole-wheat flour instead of white flour and yogurt instead of whole milk. Fats that come from vegetable oils are replaced with olive or coconut oil. For sweeteners, white sugar is set aside for cane sugar, honey, or maple syrup. The health benefits of the substitutions are not addressed. Instead, this book jumps right into the recipes, offering chapters on breakfast items (pancakes, muffins, rolls, and biscuits), cookies, pies, cakes and breads. Recipes for making your own buttermilk, baking powder, and yogurt are also included. Familiar desserts such as German Chocolate Cake and Sticky Buns are featured along with perhaps lesser-known items such as mushroom tart with olive oil cracker crust. Most of the recipes are simple and straight-forward; all are illustrated with photographs. VERDICT Bakers looking for healthier alternatives to traditional ingredients will find this book helpful. [See "Editors' Picks," p. 28.]--Phillip Oliver, formerly with Univ. of North Alabama, Florence

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