Instructions: The best alternative is to use ANY type of fruit puree, instead of applesauce, that you are allowed to eat on your diet. Mango puree is great

(mango comes in cans), as well as banana, persimmon, pear, plum, peach, etc.

You can puree any of these canned or fresh fruits in a blender.

You can also use vegetable purees (babyfood) , instead of applesauce.

Sweet potato is the best, along with pureed carrots, pureed winter squash, canned pumpkin, as well as mashed potatoes.

After you puree a fruit or vegetable, make sure it does not have too much water in it-drain the obvious water as much as you can. You can strain the purees in a cheesecloth for a couple of hours to get the water out, if necessary.

I was thinking about my suggestion about canned fruits-I would not use them - any baby food fruit is better because they have tapioca (a starch)

in them, which helps add a much needed binder in them-apples have pectin which makes things jell-the same ingredient used in making jams. When you replace
the applesauce with another fruit puree, you still need some natural form of starch. Fresh banana is excellent as well as prune puree.

For canned yams (sweet potatoes) or mangoes, drain the juice before pureeing them. Potatoes have a natural starch in them, much like tapioca.

There are specific cakes made with mashed potatoes. Fresh or canned pumpkin, sweet potato or baked winter squash can go in any baked good written specially to handle a vegetable or fruit puree. Check recipes on you "Chat in the Kitchen with Me" on kitchenlink.com). Motts.com has plenty of low-fat recipes which bake with applesauce, too.

To have success, only substitute fruit or vegetable purees in recipes that have already been written with applesauce, pumpkin, etc. It is very difficult to take a full fat recipe and reduce it in fat by simply adding a fruit or vegetable puree. You will have hit or miss success, because once you replace the fat, the whole baking formula is unbalanced.

My book, The Healthy Oven Baking Book, has plenty of recipes made with different types of fruit and vegetable purees in them-mango, persimmon, banana, pumpkin, sweet potato, winter squash, etc. There are also other recipes with a reduced amount of butter in them. You can safely replace the applesauce with any type of fruit or vegetable puree; just remember you will
get a different flavor and a slightly different texture, but the recipe will still work.

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