After being in isolation from the pandemic for 6 months, many parents have realized that kids love sweets. Some of us are bringing out our inner chefs by baking more, while others are stocking up on store-brand sweets and treats filled with sugar from the store.
Chefsville wanted to offer a slightly different approach to appeasing our little chefs who love sweets.
1) Build your own yogurt parfaits, bake your own cookies, scones, and introduce more fruit desserts.
“Building your own” is fun and ingredients can be swapped to introduce new flavors and flavor combinations to help kids get past the picky eater stage.
2) When baking, reduce the sugar by 25%.
In other parts of the world, kids love sweets too but kids are given sweets with much less sugar. Why then does the American diet have so much sugar? Well, we all got hooked on national brand sweets and treats as far back as 100 years ago. Sugar is cheap and kept kids loaded with energy. Back then kids went outside to play, had responsibilities on the farm and did much more physical activity than today. Nowadays, with so much video play and excessive screen time, kids don’t use the same outlets that prior generations used. However, the producers of sweets never backed off on the sugar content. So America got hooked!
3) Change up the flour. Again in America, all-purpose flour is cheap.
However, to be honest, wheat’s color is not “white”. When purchasing all-purpose flour there are 3 words clearly marked on all bags, boxes and labels – “Bleached, Enriched, Sifted”.
“Enriched” means that the fall away parts of the wheat during the bleaching processed are re-introduced back into the mix before the sale.
Other countries don’t dominate their baked goods with wheat flour. They use many other kinds of flour. Sweets and treats and sweets made with up to 50% almond flour provide a more healthful option. Feel free to use this replacement often – use up to 50% “almond flour”. There is also rice flour, tapioca flour, coconut flour, bean flour and other nut flours. The demand for these flours has increased to the point that they can be found in your local convenience store.
4) How about making biscotti?
Show kids what they can do with twice-cooked cookies.
Chefsville has a chocolate biscotti and an orange & almond biscotti recipe perfect for any occasion.
The suggestions above will help kids get their sweet treats but with less sugar and hopefully less headache for adults. This sounds like a win-win for everyone.
Chocolate Biscotti v2
Biscotti – Orange and Almond v2
Please stay safe always!
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