Holiday entertaining without some scrumptious baked goods would be like Santa sans beard. Is it any wonder that government studies show the average American packs on about two pounds – and some as much as seven - over the winter?

It makes sense to try to lighten your holiday meals and many Americans are doing just that. But while it’s relatively easy to trim fats by serving your family turkey breast instead of the leg, or substituting skim milk for whole in your mashed potatoes, even the most dedicated fat-cutter can be flumoxed by holiday baking.

Fat is an essential ingredient in baking everything from pumpkin pie crusts to holiday cookies. It contributes flavor and facilitates the baking process. It’s added to baked goods in the form of butter, shortening, margarine or vegetable oil. Unfortunately, many of the man-made fats commonly used in American baking raise cholesterol levels and contain dangerous trans fats thanks to the hydrogenation process.

However, a growing number of holiday bakers are discovering a healthful alternative, one that both eliminates trans fats and adds a powerful punch of antioxidants and other nutrients: palm oil. While palm oil shares or exceeds the health benefits of other alternative oils like olive or canola, unlike those oils, palm works well in baked goods.

“Because palm oil is naturally a semi-solid at room temperature, it can be substituted in baking for other less healthful oils and shortenings that contain trans fats,” says Salleh Kassim of the American Palm Oil Council. “Not only does it work well in baking, palm oil increases good cholestorol (HDL) more than any other food ingredient. Increased HDL is associated with decreased risk of heart disease, and cancels out increased risk associated with elevated bad cholesterol (LDL). Palm oil also contains powerful antioxidants like tocotrienols, beta-carotene, and vitamins A and E. Other shortenings used in baking simply don’t measure up nutritionally to palm oil.”

Anyone who’s ever tried to substitute olive or another kind of oil for the shortening, butter or margarine required in many Christmas cookie recipes knows the sad results: batter that oozes or runs, cookies that never form properly and are either gummy, oily or dry, and an “off flavor” caused by the strong taste of the substitute oil. Cakes, breads and other confections can be equally disasterous with the wrong substitutions.

Palm oil’s unique semi-solid consistency and chemical makeup, however, actually enhances the texture of baked goods. It delivers the plasticity needed to enable the baker to repeatedly roll and knead dough, as well as the aeration that makes your cookies crumble perfectly, cakes light and fluffy, and breads fresh and tasty. It is virtually flavorless, so it doesn’t overpower the flavors of the other ingredients. Palm oil also melts at higher temperatures, meaning it doesn’t melt too quickly and ruin the batter before it’s cooked through.

To substitute palm oil in your favorite holiday baking recipe, simply use a one-to-one ratio. If the recipe calls for 1 cup of shortening, use 1 cup of palm oil. Be sure to purchase the original form of palm oil, which is white and resembles shortening, rather than liquid red palm. The liquid form is better used in other cooking, like frying.

By using palm oil, you can cut trans fats and eliminate hydrogenated oils and shortenings in recipes for cakes, cookies, breads, puff pastries and even candy. And because palm oil is very stable, you can store it at room temperature for many months and it won’t go rancid – even when you heat it for baking.

Palm oil can be found at Whole Foods Markets and other specialty food stores. Visit www.wholefoodsmarkets.com to find a store near you. To learn more about the benefits of palm oil, or to find a list of distributors in your area, visit www.americanpalmoil.com or call (877) ASK-PALM (275-7256).

Try this holiday-friendly cookie recipe, courtesy of Whole Foods Market, to see how palm oil performs in holiday baking:

Ginger Palm Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup natural vegetable shortening from palm oil
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup unsulphured molasses
1 egg
2 cups unbleached white flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger (minced, crystallized ginger can also be added for extra ginger bite)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup natural turbinado sugar (optional)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a large mixing bowl, blend the palm shortening with the brown sugar and molasses. Whisk in the egg. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Add this mixture to the liquid ingredients, stirring carefully to fully combine. You may wish to gather the dough in your hands to continue mixing as the dough is a little stiff.

Form 48 rounded teaspoons of dough. If desired, roll in the turbinado sugar. Place the dough rounds onto cookie sheets spacing about 1 inch apart. Gently press down with finger tips since these cookies do not spread.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on sheet for five minutes. Continue cooling on wire racks. The cookies get crispier as they cool. Store the cookies in an air-tight container.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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