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Overview
Stacey Harris was diagnosed with diabetes while training to become a pastry chef. She thought her career--not to mention her lifetime love affair with desserts--was over. Her devastation gave way to innovation, resulting in the inventive and simple substitution system presented here. Now Harris, and the more than twenty million other Americans who also have diabetes, can enjoy desserts specifically designed to satisfy the sweet tooth without sacrificing flavor.Hundreds of nutritionally sound low-calorie, low-carbohydrate recipes ranging from Cinnamon Coffeecake and Gingerbread-Jam Muffins to Key Lime Cream Cheese Pound Cake, Coconut Custard, and Chocolate Mousse are presented here, accompanied by easy-reference nutritional information for each entry. Tips about what types of substitutes work best, no-fuss shortcuts, and basic baking techniques enhance the volume.
From the familiar to the fancy, the dishes make use of a creative arsenal of alternative yet easy-to-find ingredients to lower the carbohydrate and calorie counts. Harris experimented with different combinations of flours (from conventional cake flour to the exotic coconut flour) and sweeteners (Splenda , agave nectar, and white sugar, to name a few) to discover what works and what doesn't work for traditional desserts. Some low-carb flours, for example, work better for piecrusts than for cookies.
So start blending the flour, swapping out the sugar, eliminating the trans fats, and cutting the milk carbohydrates. Delicious and satisfying Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, Chocolate Chunk Muffins, Best Banana Bread, and Easy Peanut Butter Cookies are only a substitution away.
Synopsis
This cookbook focuses on adopting a healthier way of baking for diabetics, avoiding white flour, sugar, and trans fats while still delivering satisfying, traditional desserts. The 200 recipes, such as Sourdough Pancakes, Peanut Butter Bread, Orange Chiffon Cake, and Miniature Cheesecakes, will be sure to please any diabetic looking for a healthy sweet fix. Chapters include cakes, cookies, pies, puddings, and more.
Publishers Weekly
While training to become a pastry chef, Harris discovered she was diabetic. Rather than hang up her apron, she decided to adapt her favorite recipes for her dietary needs, and the resulting collection will prove a welcome, trustworthy resource for diabetics who had given up on chocolate chip cookies, apple pie and crème brulee. Harris provides sage advice on the properties of various flours, the care and feeding of a sourdough starter, and plentiful consideration of sugar and the unique characteristics of its substitutes (like Splenda). Harris does a terrific job keeping her recipes accessible by offering plentiful options: among 13 recipes for muffins, she includes Two-Ingredient Muffins, which call for nothing more than a can of pumpkin puree and a boxed chocolate cake mix. Not all recipes are so simple (or rely on pre-made ingredients): Harris's tangy Sourdough Pancakes require a starter, and her cheesecake asks cooks to mix and bake their own crusts, rather than simply crushing cookies. Harris' directions are to-the-point and employ easy-to-find ingredients, but she often fails to describe the finished dish, leaving readers to imagine what the final product should look and smell like.