Healthy substitutions can transform decadent desserts into delicious snacks

While sweet treats aren’t the best for you, there are ways to improve their nutritional value and lower your calorie intake without sacrificing the tastes you love.

Sweet treats are often stuffed with processed oils and butter, which are high in saturated fat and have little to no nutritional value. Avocados, on the other hand, are packed with vitamins and nutrients, and they contain heart-healthy monounsaturated fats. These fats help lower cholesterol and can be used in lieu of the saturated fats found in butter and oil.

A great way to incorporate these healthy fats into your diet and eliminate saturated fats is to substitute avocados in for butter in normal recipes. For every one cup of butter, substitute one cup of mashed avocado. One cup of butter contains around 1,700 calories and 184 grams of fat opposed to one cup of avocado’s 234 calories and 21 grams of fat, only 3 of which are saturated. Luckily, the avocados do not alter the taste and even make the texture of your food smooth and creamy.

To put this substitution to the test, I healthified some chocolate chip brownies using the avocado method and gave them to my friends to see if they could tell that the brownies were made with avocado instead of butter and oil.

Recipe: 

4 large eggs

2 cups palm/coconut sugar, sifted

1/2 cup flour, sifted

1 1/4 cups cocoa powder, sifted

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups mashed avocado

½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

First, beat eggs and sifted sugar together.

Next, add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well combined.

Finally, stir in chocolate chips and pour mixture into a greased and floured baking dish.

Bake at 275 degrees for about 55 minutes or until you can stick a knife in the middle and have it come out clean.

Wait until brownies are cooled to cut and serve.

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