Brunches are especially popular during the holidays, but the dishes served are often laden with fat. We chose two readers' favorite brunch recipes that were heavy on the fat and converted them to delicious variations with more reasonable nutritional levels.
The Cranberry Streusel Coffee Cake recipe submitted by one reader was tasty, but with its 13 grams of fat per serving, it presented not one but four opportunities for our fat-busting team.
The first three have become standard procedure in our test kitchen: Delete an egg yolk, substitute nonfat yogurt for the full-fat sour cream, and eliminate butter from the streusel topping (switching to a mixture of apple-juice concentrate and a little vegetable oil).
The fourth device -- replacing butter in a cake batter with pureed pears -- is one we have refined over the past year. Prune puree has received a lot of attention as a fat substitute in baking, but its dark color and strong flavor make it inappropriate for light, delicately flavored cakes. We have found that a thick pear puree (made from canned pears) keeps a cake moist, and the puree's flavor is unobtrusive.
The result of these fat-saving techniques is impressive: The revised cake contains less than one-third the fat of the original.
Cranberry Streusel Coffee Cake
Serves 12
STREUSEL:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup white flour (all-purpose or cake)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, preferably canola oil
CAKE:
1 16-ounce can pears packed in light syrup, drained
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, preferably canola oil
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups cake flour (unsifted)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup nonfat plain yogurt or nonfat sour cream
1 12-ounce package fresh cranberries (3 cups)
To make streusel: In a medium bowl, stir together brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Sprinkle in apple juice concentrate and oil and blend with a fork or your fingers until crumbly.
To make cake: In a food processor or blender, puree pears. Transfer to a wide saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring almost constantly, until reduced to 1/2 cup, 8 to 10 minutes.
Transfer to a large bowl and let cool completely.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 9-by-13-inch baking dish or coat with nonstick cooking spray.
In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Cook, swirling the pan, until the butter turns a light nutty brown, about 60 seconds. Whisk into the pear puree. Add sugar, egg, egg white, oil and vanilla, whisking until smooth.
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to the pear mixture alternately with yogurt or sour cream.
Spread half the batter in the bottom of the prepared pan. Top with cranberries, then the remaining batter. Sprinkle streusel over the top. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm.
284 calories per serving: 5 grams protein; 4 grams fat; 59 grams carbohydrate; 225 milligrams sodium; 21 milligrams cholesterol.
Test kitchen tip: In recipes for cakes, muffins and quick-breads, replace sour cream with plain nonfat yogurt or nonfat sour cream. This saves you 24 grams of fat per cup. Substituting reduced-fat sour cream is also an option, but you will save less: 16 grams of fat per cup.
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A hearty breakfast of eggs, sausage and cheese is certainly appealing, but after digesting the nutritional numbers for fat and cholesterol (34 grams of fat and 281 milligrams of cholesterol per serving) in a reader's Good Egg Casserole, it's bread and water for the rest of the day.
Presented with the daunting task of cutting two-thirds of the fat from the recipe, we realized that more than one-for-one substitutions were needed.
Decreasing the sausage and making up the difference with potatoes, a natural partner for sausage and eggs, resulted in the greatest fat savings. It also provided the bonus of complex carbohydrate.
Reducing the amount of cheese and eliminating seven egg yolks brought the saturated fat and cholesterol within reasonable limits without spoiling the hearty character of a very good brunch dish.
Good Egg Casserole
Serves 12
1/2 pound bulk turkey sausage
1 teaspoon vegetable oil, preferably canola oil
3 medium Yukon Gold or red potatoes (1 pound), peeled, quartered and thinly sliced
5 large eggs
7 large egg whites
1 pint 1-percent cottage cheese, preferably small curd
4 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese, grated (1 1/4 cups)
2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (1 cup)
2 4-ounce cans green chilies, drained and chopped
1/3 cup all-purpose white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Place oven rack in top third of oven; heat to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 9-by-13-inch baking dish or coat with nonstick cooking spray.
In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, cook sausage until no longer pink, breaking it up with a wooden spoon; transfer to a paper towel to drain, blotting the top with a second paper towel.
Wipe the skillet clean and add oil; heat over medium-high heat. Add the potatoes and saute until tender and browned, 10 to 12 minutes. (Reduce heat if potatoes are becoming too dark.) Let cool slightly.
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and egg whites. Add cottage, Cheddar and Parmesan cheeses, chilies, flour, baking powder, salt and pepper and whisk to mix thoroughly.
Add the cooked sausage, crumbling up any large pieces, and the potatoes; mix well. Pour into the prepared dish. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until golden on top and set in the center.
213 calories per serving: 19 grams protein; 9 grams fat; 13 grams carbohydrate; 857 milligrams sodium; 118 milligrams cholesterol.
Test kitchen tip: Fat is a flavor enhancer, and low-fat foods can taste bland. When you adjust recipes, you may need to increase the amount of aromatic vegetables, such as onions or mushrooms, herbs, pepper and spices.