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How to Use Applesauce When Baking Light Desserts

There are many ways to make desserts more balanced when it comes to sugar and fat. One simple trick is to use unsweetened applesauce in muffin, cookie and certain cake recipes, such as pound cake. Here’s how you can create tasty desserts that’ll have a place in any healthy meal plan!

Is it possible to replace all the sugar in a recipe with applesauce?

 

 

It’s important to always keep a little bit of sugar in dessert recipes as it plays a pivotal role when it comes to flavour, texture, preservation and browning. Sugar helps to make cakes soft and keep a dough’s texture light. It’s also imperative to note that, by replacing sugar with unsweetened applesauce, which doesn’t have the same properties as sugar and adds moisture to the mixture, the result will be different.

1. For less sweet desserts

Naturally sweet, apples that have been puréed have a noteworthy sweetening power that’ll allow you to replace some of the refined sugar in dessert or snack recipes. This apple crumble pie, for example, uses 1 cup (250 ml) of unsweetened applesauce in its filling, giving it just the right amount of sweetness, along with an enjoyably tart flavour.

2. For a soft texture

Applesauce also conveniently ensures maximum tenderness in desserts. Such is the case in these zucchini, apple and raisin muffins which, thanks to the applesauce, have a wonderfully moist texture.

3. For less fat desserts

It’s possible to reduce the amount of vegetable oil in a recipe by replacing some of it with applesauce, which contains zero fat. Be sure to retain some of the oil called for in a recipe as it helps keep textures moist and soft. In this apple cookie recipe, we used ¼ cup (60 ml) of vegetable oil and the same amount of unsweetened applesauce for a perfect balance.

Making homemade applesauce

Whether you opt for homemade or store-bought applesauce, make sure that it’s unsweetened. Making your own applesauce is child’s play! To store extras in the freezer, the recipe can be doubled or even tripled easily:

  1.  Take cored and chopped apples and let them simmer in a pot for a few minutes.
  2.  Blend everything until smooth, which won’t change the texture in a recipe once incorporated.
  3.  Once the applesauce has completely cooled, it can then be frozen for future use by dividing it into smaller portions to go into freezer bags or containers.

Don’t have apples on hand? Store-bought applesauce works well to help replace some of the fat or refined sugar in recipes.


By choosing recipes that include applesauce, you’re guaranteed a dessert that’s moist, and contains less refined sugar and fat.

For a few more ideas on reducing the fat in certain recipes, read this article: