Crispy cheesy snacks for dieters

Question

I am going to experiment making a savoury cheese crispy snack like Twisties or Cheezels. I have these ingredients in mind.

Corn, Vegetable Oil, Rice, Whey Powder, Cheese Powder (parmesan), Vegetable Salt, Cream Powder, Milk Powder. I will experiment with onion, lemon, lime and chili flavourings.

My question is this. Which of all the vegetable cooking oils is the least fattening? Please do not recommend Canola (aka rape seed oil, as I have heard negative facts about this oil)

Is it possible to source an oil that is nutritious as well as low fat? Or maybe I should just be happy with the healthier options of fatty acids?

Asked by Carol

Answer

All vegetable oils are 100% fat, and have 900 calories per 100 gramm. It is not possible to reduce an oil's fat content by diluting it, this is only possible with hydrogenated oil (margarine). But low fat margarines are not suited for frying.

When dieting, you have two concerns. First, if you eat more calories than you use up, you get fatter. Second, if you eat just enough, but the weight regulating mechanisms in the body are not in "shedding fat" mode, you don't lose weight. Changing the oil has absolutely no effect on the amount of calories, you just have to restrict the amount of snacks to reduce calorie intake.

The second point could be influenced by oil choice, as different plants deliver oils with different types of fatty acids, and they could have different effects on body chemistry. But discussing such nutritional topics (not the calories count, but the effect of different food on body chemistry) is off topic here on SA, so if you asked more about this, your question will be closed. Anyway, I doubt that anybody here has such information at all. You either need to look it up in a nutritional information source you trust, or just pick any oil. The amount you can consume on a diet is so small that it probably won't make a difference.

Answered by rumtscho

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Peanut-Butter Treat - Using Less Sugar and Less Butter

Question

I'm making a chocolate covered peanut-butter treat this weekend. I'm going to play with the recipe, to have less fat and calories, and I'd like some suggestions.

3 lbs. confectioners sugar
1 lb. butter
2 lbs. peanut-butter
3 tbsp. vanilla

Reducing the amount of butter and sugar comes to mind, but I'm wondering how it will affect the taste and texture.

Answer

When I make buckeyes using this recipe from Smitten Kitchen, I tend to reduce the amount of butter a little, and the sugar a lot. Then I increase the graham crackers, and add some low-sugar puffed rice (Rice Krispies-like cereal) for texture. You might be able to work with some "filler" ingredients like that to make up for the lost fat from the butter. The cream cheese in this recipe probably helps to counter any reduction in butter so that might be worth experimenting with in various amounts; you could use Neufchâtel cheese instead of cream cheese to reduce the fat there.

Another great option is homemade peanut butter. Your basic creamy Skippy-brand peanut butter has 17g of fat in 2tbsp. Creamy Jif has 16g in 2tbsp. Depending on what recipe you use, you can reduce that quite a bit - this recipe has about 11g of fat in 2tbsp. That's a huge difference when you scale it up to 2 lbs!

Obviously with all these substitutions they won't taste exactly the same as you're used to, but for what it's worth, I made the buckeyes exactly as the recipe said the first time; the second time I modified it as I said in the first paragraph (using store-bought peanut butter) and I preferred the latter much, much more. The original version was just too sweet...and the original version is a modification of another recipe that used double the confectioner's sugar!

Since this treat you're making is likely similar to the buckeyes (in that you don't need to bake at any point), I would highly recommend cutting the ingredients down to very small amounts, and try making a few different versions and having a taste test with some variations.

As an aside, one tip I learned through practice: if you're dipping peanut butter treats (instead of pouring the melted chocolate onto them), and are having trouble with them being too crumbly when you reduce the butter and thus they are falling apart into the chocolate, you can freeze the peanut butter balls/treats for a while to make them firmer - this makes them much easier to dip.

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Flavoring popcorn without using fat

Question

I have a popcorn machine that produces popcorn without using fat. It basically blows hot air over corn cores, and after 2 minutes they start popping. You're not supposed to add any flavoring agent (salt, sugar, ...) in the machines as it's not made for that. So when I want to add flavor, I spray water onto the popcorn right after it has popped, and then scatter the flavoring agent. This works relatively well

The downside:

• the corns can become damp (I solve this by leaving the machine on, which blows hot air over the popcorn)
• you can waste some flavoring agent (not all of it sticks to the popcorn, some of it falls on the bottom of the bowl

The upside:

• no fat used, healthier and your fingers will be less "greasy"

Any other ideas how to flavor your popcorn using no or a minimal amount of fat?

Answer

Don't spray with water with a standard squirt bottle. Get an olive oil spritzer. It's pressurized, so you get an almost aerosol-fine mist, which prevents the kernels from getting soggy. It also adds flavor, in addition to the powdered seasonings you add with it. Or you could use an infused oil and skip the powdered seasoning altogether.

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fat-free pudding

Question

I would like to make fat-free pudding like Jello fat-free pudding mix, but I don't want to use a box mix. Is there a way to make fat-free pudding from scratch?

For example, chocolate pudding recipes tend to include both cocoa powder and milk, so I don't see any obvious fat-free substitutions.

Answer

A very common type of pudding is a pudding made from liquid thickened with starch. It is usually made with milk, but you can use other liquids as you see fit. Fruit juice will probably work best. For starch, use plain potato, corn or wheat starch. The "absolutely no fat" condition is very detrimental to the taste. A trick to make it taste richer would be to include some whey powder. Any sweetener will work - sugar, baking sweeteners like honey or agave syrup, or artificial sweeteners (keep in mind the max temp for artificials). You can enhance the flavor wit the usual suspects - vanila, cinnamon and other spices - and/or serve with syrup poured over. Adding food coloring is also a good option, as it affects the perceived taste too.

To prepare the pudding, use a base ratio of 1 part starch to 10 parts liquid (you can change that later, depending on your preference for firmness). Mix the dry ingredients (sugar, cinnamon) with the starch in a small bowl. Stir in some cold liquid, around 1 tbsp per 25g starch, until you have a slurry. Bring the remaining liquid to a boil. Remove from the heat and quickly stir in the slurry. Return to the (reduced) heat and let simmer for some minutes, stirring contantly. Stir in the liquid ingredients (e. g. honey, molten caramel). Pour into the form(s) and leave it to cool, at best overnight. It will set and should be firm enough to slice. Alternatively, it can be eaten warm (and still soft) from bowls.

You mention Jello. I don't consider gelatine jellies to be a "pudding", but maybe this is a language problem on my part. You can make a gelatine "pudding" with powdered gelatine, just follow the instructions on the package. Gelatine itself is pure protein and does not contain fat.

It is also possible to use modern thickening agents to thicken a juice or another liquid to a more or less pudding-like consistency, but this is unusual in home cooking. If you are interested, look up guar gum or xanthan gum. There is a free e-book oh hydrocolloids often linked here on SA, but it probably goes much beyond what you need. Still, you can search for it if interested.

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