"LightLife" news and stories

A light panna cotta is a great way to end a romantic evening, like Valentine's Day. It is easy to prepare and can be set up in advance, which leaves you free to worry about other aspects of your night. When discussing panna cotta, "light" usually refers to the delicate texture and melt-in-your mouth appeal of the lightly gelled dessert, not necessarily to the fat or calorie content of the treat. There is nothing wrong with a little indulgence, but it's nice when a dessert that is light in texture is also light in the stomach, so I have made this panna cotta a little more figure-friendly by using yogurt and light cream (half and half) in place of the all-cream standard. I added some berries for color and a little bit of sugar for sweetness. The result is a dessert with the appealing texture of panna cotta, far less fat and the slight tang of yogurt.

Replacing the fat in baked goods is something that we have done a few times now, but for some people fat is not the issue that they want to tackle - it's sugar. Baking without sugar is much harder than baking without fat because fats contribute to the texture of the finished product, but not as much to the flavor. Granted, a buttery flavor can be nice, but I have had fat free cookies (made with applesauce) on numerous occasions that have tasted quite good, even if they are lacking in the texture department.

Reducing fats in baked goods is difficult, without question. The reason that so many recipes involve copious amounts of butter and sugar is that they taste best that way. Shortbread without butter is just a cracker and a pecan pie without sugar is just a bunch of nuts. Since baking is actually more science – a delicious science - than not, each ingredient in a recipe has a role to play, so changing them can adversely effect the outcome you are trying to achieve when your real goal is to indulge without expanding your waistline.

Fats in particular are important. They are important to dieters and they are important to bakers. Light Life, which is a new feature here at Slashfood, is going to take a look at lightened and low fat recipes, as well as at some commercially avaliable products, like baking mixes.