We are seriously big fans of the avocado around these parts. Here's your avocado tip of the day: Did you know you can use avocado in your baking? It's a simple way to cut out some fat!
By substituting avocado for some but not all of your butter in baking you can cut the fat by almost 40%. Although we're not big on watching such things, we are big on substitutions that we always have in the house and these days we have the green globes around more than butter!
You can substitute avocado for butter in a 1:1 ratio, but since it doesn't melt the same way it won't coat your dry ingredients the same. You need to increase your wet ingredients a little to compensate. In my kitchen, I just substitute avocados for half of the butter instead.
To do this, scoop out avocado, mash it in a small bowl and press it into a measuring cup. Combine with your softened butter and you're all set.
One more tip: try decreasing your oven temperature by 25 degrees (though is only really needed if you're substituting 100% of your butter) and watch your bake goods brown up as usual. They might have a slight green tint, but it's hardly noticeable in things with brown sugar.
It's a simple trick that can save you a trip to the store and some saturated fat. Plus, it's also delicious and that makes for a winner in our book!
Related: Smart Tip: To Quickly Ripen an Avocado, Use a Banana
(Image: Sarah Rae Trover)
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Hi there,
Can you use it when frying too? Like if you did Mushrooms in butter you could do Mushrooms and Avo fried?
Pandas_On_Slides, I doubt you could substitute avo for butter for frying in general, because I think the avo-in-baking concept works mostly on the idea that they replace the moistness and binding properties of the butter, not the fat itself. But you DEFINITELY could not use it to fry mushrooms in, because mushrooms are like little sponges that soak up all the fat you fry them in (that's why you're always meant to do them in butter, not oil or any other fat, because when all the fat is retained in the food being fried it really changes the flavour).
Sorry, I meant to add at the end of the above comment, that avos wouldn't work for frying mushrooms because obviously they're a solid even when heated, unlike butter, so wouldn't get soaked up into the mushroom flesh to lubricate and flavour them.