I have a banana cake recipe handed down from my grandmother that I would love to update and see if I can make a lower points version. It calls for an ingredient called spry. Does anyone know what that is? My grandmother and father have passed on, and my aunts don't remember what it is. Some kind of shortening maybe?
Now - does anyone have any ideas what I could use to substitute for this to save on points? I use applesauce for oil, but this isn't quite the same texture.
It's crisco (it was a competitor, way back in the 50's and 60's). You could use 1/2 the amount and the rest applesauce or strained baby pears (what flavor is the cake?) What you can't do, without sacrificing all the texture, is replace all the fat w/ the substitute. What KIND of cake is it?
oopps yes, you said banana -- you could use one extra banana for some of the volume of the spry -- also, instead of the applesauce, which will give it additional banana flavor. Margarine would be a good subsitute instead of the crisco -- but it does have a higher water content than crisco, so you might want to use 1-2 tablespoons LESS applesauce than the amount you'd subst. and then the rest in margarine. That should work. (I used to work in a bakery -- they did that all the time with good results.)
I have the W W Complete Cookbook with a recipe for Banana Cupcakes. 2 1/4 c. flour
4 bananas, 1 c. fat free buttermilk, 1/2 cup
reduced calor tub margarine, 1 1/4 c ricotta cheese. Plus the usual sugar spices etc.
Another recipe that calls for the same amt. of flour (maybe from Cooking Light) calls for 1/3 c. margarine, softened, and 2/3 c.
yogurt.
Another recipe from Cooking light that uses 1 1/4 c flour has 1/4 c. chilled stick margarine cut into pieces and 3 tabl. 1% milk.
I know Jeanne Jones (cook book author) always lightens her recipes with buttermilk. I'm not sure of the portions. She lightens recipes in our weekly food section of the paper. Sent her your recipe to lighten.
Jeanne Jones Cook It Light Po Box 1212, La Jolla Ca. 92038
You might go to a book store or the library and see if any of her cook books are there and you can look for some options. You might try Joanna Lund's cookbooks. She cooks healthy with nutrition info. in all her recipes as does J Jones.
I have successfully used the Sunsweet Lighter Bake as a fat replacement. It actually replaces all the fat in a recipe. Also, you could use baby food like plums w/apples in place of the fat. I don't know if these options would work in your recipe or not, but they work well in muffins.
Another fat replacement idea . . . now, don't say "eeew, gross" without trying it!:
Drain and rinse canned, cooked white beans (Great Northern are perfect), then puree them and use for up to half the fat in a recipe. The flavor is so mild that you can't taste them at all but they also boost the fiber nicely. You can still use applesauce or other fat replacers for the other half of the fat.
Thanks for the subsitution ideas. I'll experiment with them, and post the recipe if I can get it to taste right. As I remember it, the cake is really good with chocolate frosting, so I'll have to see how low in points I can get the whole thing.
What is "spry"?
Spry
Karen
