In our own kitchens we stir, knead and roll out the dough for all the delicacies that sweeten the Advent season every year and make children's eyes shine. We have put together some tips on how to enjoy and prepare these culinary delights with cinnamon, vanilla, etc., in a health-conscious way.
- Reduce fat by lining cake tins or baking trays with baking paper.
- Use fibre-rich, vitamin-rich wholemeal flour, or wheat flour with a high type number or mixed it with conventional refined flour.
- 'Less is more' applies in particular to sugar. Use other sweeteners or fructose instead. A healthy alternative is agave syrup. You can add natural sweetness as well as minerals and fibre by adding raisins and other dried fruits.
- Avoid honey. As heating destroys the valuable enzymes and vitamins, you should remove it from your list of baking ingredients.
- Replace butter with neutral vegetable oil or high-quality margarine. In this way, you reduce the proportion of saturated fats in your treats. A few grams of the indicated amount of fat can also be replaced by buttermilk.
- Do not use cream for fillings. Quark or yoghurt are a better choice here. Eggs can also be replaced by quark.
- And don't forget the nuts as well: They're small but healthy calorie bombs. In addition to a high proportion of unsaturated fats, they contain B vitamins, important minerals and trace elements.
- Typical spices such as coriander, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, aniseed and vanilla are also suitable for the healthy preparation of sweet Christmas baking. For example, vanilla is known for its strengthening effect on the immune system, cinnamon lowers blood sugar and cholesterol levels and aniseed stimulates digestion.
We wish you all the best and a healthy Advent season!