Healthier baked items
Sweet and savoury baked items can add variety to a menu, but it’s important to make sure that healthier options are provided for children. Try some of these simple suggestions to make the baked items on your menu healthier.
What makes a baked item healthier?
- Replace butter and cream with healthier options. Butter and cream are high in saturated fat which is unhealthy for children. Replace butter and cream in recipes with healthier polyunsaturated and monounsaturated oils and margarine.
- Use small amounts of oil or margarine. Use small amounts of any polyunsaturated or monounsaturated oil or margarine in recipes. Examples include canola, olive and other vegetable oils.
- Use small amounts of sugar. As a rough guide, for sweet baked items such as muffins, aim for a maximum of 5g (one teaspoon) of sugar per serve. For example, if you are making 12 regular sized muffins, include a maximum of 30g of sugar in the recipe (2 tablespoons). Consider replacing some sugar with fruit.
- Include some wholemeal flour. Wholemeal flour adds fibre and other vitamins and minerals. Replace at least half the white flour in your recipes with wholemeal flour.
- Include some fruit and/or vegetables. Adding fruit and vegetables to baked items can help children meet their daily requirements for these foods.
- Fruit and vegetables also add extra flavour as well as fibre and other vitamins and minerals. You can try grated carrot or zucchini, berries, apple or banana.
- Limit portion sizes. Offer smaller serves (e.g. mini muffins) to help ensure that children don’t fill up too much on these foods.
- Serve with healthier sides and toppings. Fresh or canned fruit, yoghurt, custard and ricotta cheese are tasty sides that can be served with baked foods. These add flavour and variety to the menu and are healthier choices than other common items (such as honey, jam, cream, chocolate spread and icings).