Healthier alternatives to butter for your pastries

Butter, we love it, we adore it, we cherish it, we put it everywhere, sometimes even a little too much. Eh yes ! We should not forget that if we abuse it, it can be very bad for your health. Beyond that, some cannot even consume, in particular by choice. Is this a reason to deprive yourself of cooking pastries? Absolutely not !

Did you know ? In a cake preparation, butter has the role of providing softness and waterproofing the dough. A property common to all fats, such as oils or oilseed purees. If you swap the butter for mashed almonds, hazelnuts or peanuts in your next pastry recipe, the texture will be unchanged, but your health will be preserved since you will be able to benefit from good nutrients that are not found in the animal-based butter.

As said before, all butters and oils have the same properties when it comes to baking… so why not vary the pleasures? If you want to add an original touch to a cake, olive oil is undoubtedly what you need. Kill it with one stone and enjoy its sun-kissed taste and its multiple benefits. If you don’t like strong flavors, you can always opt for neutral vegetable oils like sunflower oil.

Another healthier alternative to butter: vegetables. Indeed, if for some years zucchini has been well known to replace butter in a famous chocolate cake recipe, other vegetables such as pumpkin, sweet potato or even avocado can play the same role. To do this, you sometimes have to cook them beforehand, but not always, read the recipe carefully!

You can also opt for applesauce to substitute butter in your cakes and pastries. Choose it preferably without added sugars. For the pieces, it’s up to you, if it’s interesting to have some in the recipe why not, otherwise prefer without. For the proportions, you have to add about 25% more material than the butter. For example, if you need to add 150g of butter to your recipe, you would add 225g of compote.

Last possible option: the banana! To replace butter, simply mash it into a puree with a fork. For the quantity, no need to change it, keep the same weight recommended in the recipe. Be careful though, this fruit will give flavor to your preparation, especially if it is very ripe. Generally, it works well when paired with chocolate.