Make Halloween Treats With Less Sugar, Fat

My friends seem to abandon health and nutrition on certain holidays. Take Kay, a stalwart follower of low-fat, healthy cooking 364 days of the year with Halloween being the one exception.

Kay has three children, you see, who complain loudly about anything but traditional trick-or-treat goodies. “After eating all that junk,” she said with a sigh, “hyperactive is too mild a word for them. This year I’d like to try something new.”

Crisp fall days already speak baking to me, so it was no hardship to lure Kay into the kitchen one Saturday with the promise that I would help her make treats her kids would love, maybe even enough to pass around at school. What mom needs more confidence votes than that?

When we put on our aprons that Saturday morning, I first explained some basics to Kay. Making treats without butter, egg yolks, whole milk, sugar and white flour is not as simple as it sounds.

Take sugar, for example. Cookies and bars are mostly sweetener, and in traditional recipes, sugar bonds the dough by crystallizing as it bakes, making the cookies crisp and crunchy. If you’ve already tried an alternative sweetener, such as honey, maple syrup or even fruit juice concentrate, you may have discovered some differences - such as soggy cookies, or unpleasantly doughy insides.

How about fat? In baking, fat includes dairy products, egg yolks and oils. Low-fat cooking means very little of the first, no egg yolks at all and greatly reduced amounts of oil. Fat makes baked goods moist and creamy-tasting; it adds lightness and lift. When you take out the fat, you get dense, heavier products.

What’s the solution? Two simple ingredients that solve both fat and sugar blues are fruit purees and egg whites.

Unsweetened applesauce, pureed dates or prune puree are viscous enough to hold moisture in a cookie or muffin dough. You can substitute an equal amount for up to half the oil in most baked goods, with little flavor or texture loss. Egg whites, softly whipped and folded into a batter, add practically no fat and a lot of rising power.

Kay was thoroughly pleased with the recipes we tried and, most importantly, so were her kids. Try the recipes below this Halloween and enjoy the delight on your kid’s face when he tells you everyone ate all the homemade treats you placed in his lunch box.

Orange-Date Bars

Orange juice and date puree make these cookies chewy and sweet without additional sugar.

1 cup pitted chopped dates

2 cups apple juice

1/2 cup orange juice

3 tablespoons grated orange peel

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Puree dates, 1/2 cup apple juice, orange juice, orange peel and vanilla in food processor or blender.

In a clean, dry blender, grind oats to powder, for about 1 minute. Stir in flour and cinnamon. Moisten oat mixture with remaining 1-1/2 cups apple juice to form stiff dough.

Press dough into bottom of lightly oiled 8-inch-square pan. Spread date puree evenly on top. Bake at 350 degrees 35 minutes or until crust is firm. Let cool completely. Cut into 2-inch squares.

Yield: 12 to 16 pieces.

Raisin-Bran Muffins

Buy yourself a gem-sized muffin pan or two and whip up a batch of these wonderfully sweet treats. They’re easy to pass out on Halloween if you line the muffin pans with colored baking papers.

2 cups oat or wheat bran

2 cups flour

3/4 cup raisins

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/3 cup molasses or prune puree

1/3 cup honey

1 cup nonfat milk

1 cup low-fat buttermilk

Lightly oil gem-sized muffin pans or line with baking papers.

Combine bran, flour, raisins and baking soda in large bowl.

Combine molasses, honey, milk and buttermilk in separate bowl. Stir wet ingredients into dry, then immediately spoon into muffin tins.

Bake at 350 degrees 12 to 18 minutes or until tops are springy to touch. Remove muffins from pans and let cool on wire racks.

Yield: 36 gem muffins.

Popcorn Balls

Let the kids join you in making these tasty popcorn balls. They can be wrapped in squares of plastic wrap for sharing at school.

1/2 cup honey

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 cups air-popped popcorn

Combine honey, maple syrup and water in saucepan. Bring to boil over medium-high heat. Cook until mixture becomes thick (syrup should form ball when you drop 1/4 teaspoon into glass of very cold water). Stir in vanilla, then pour syrup over popcorn in bowl.

Lightly oil hands and toss popcorn to thoroughly coat with syrup. Form into 12 balls. Wrap in squares of plastic wrap to store.

Yield: 12 balls.