Natural Alternatives for Holiday Cookies

Sometimes we want to give holiday cookies to people we know have food allergies or sensitivities. Other times, we want cookies that we know aren’t too sugar-filled. And other times, we think maybe we should be eating a little healthier.

Alternatives to Sugar

We all love sugar, but there are some studies coming out stating that we’re addicted to the stuff. And it causes a spike in our blood sugar which you want to avoid if you’re diabetic or pre-diabetic. There are a number of recipes out there for low sugar and no sugar treats.
You can also look into baking with alternatives including:

agave – from a cactus. It’s sweet but doesn’t raise blood sugar levels very much
honey – one of the classics
stevia – from the stevia plant. It’s extremely sweet so you have to remember to use less of it.

Here’s a recipe from Oprah’s magazine for Lemon Pistachio Agave cookies.
And one from the Brown Eyed Baker for honey peanut butter cookies. (We think we’d still sprinkle the large sugar crystals on top to make it look festive)
And a vanilla spritz cookie recipe on AllRecipes that uses stevia.

Alternatives to Food Dye

If you want to read the scary stuff about why you shouldn’t use fake food dyes, read it here.
And if you just want to play around in the kitchen, and just happen to want to color some icing for some cookies, here’s how you would make it. First you’d get your alternative:

Green: spinach juice
Orange: pumpkin or carrot juice
Pink: raspberries or beetroot
Blue: blueberries
Purple: red cabbage or grapes
Yellow: yellow carrots, turmeric powder, saffron flowers

Then you’d need to get the juice or pulp, and carefully blend that into the frosting. You will get a softer shade then with commercial food dyes.

Alternatives to Flour

Just because you’re gluten free doesn’t mean you don’t love a good cookie. We’re not sure we’d go as far as using black beans in brownies, but maybe it’s because we haven’t tried them yet.
Bob’s Red Mill produces quite a variety of gluten free flour. They suggest using 2½ teaspoons of baking powder per cup of a wheat-free/gluten-free flour. And when baking without wheat or gluten, add xanthan gum or guar gum (both binders that keep batter from separating) to improve the texture of the baked good.
You can look into:

rice flour
almond flour
barley flour
buckwheat flour
cornmeal
garbanzo bean flour
millet flour
oat flour
kamut flour
quinoa flour
spelt flour
teff flour

Here’s a recipe and video from Joy Of Baking to teach you how to make real French meringue cookies.

Alternatives to Oil

If you’re looking to reduce fat without destroying the mouth-feel, look into purees. You can use fruit (like applesauce) or vegetable (like pumpkin puree) to keep the cookie or cake moist instead of oil.
Also, look into using fat free yogurt instead as well. We once made a chocolate cake using fat free mayo, but we’re not sure that counts.
Read more information here on the Wilton Baking site for how to use the alternatives in your baked goods.
Are you ready to pull out your mixer and get baking yet? What alternative interested you the most?

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This Week’s Market Commentary

This week has only two pieces of monthly economic data scheduled for release in addition to a couple of Treasury auctions that have the potential to influence mortgage rates. Both of the economic releases are considered highly important though and the Treasury auctions are the more important set of auctions we regularly deal with, so despite the lack of a busy calendar we still should see noticeable movement in rates this week.
Monday has no relevant economic data scheduled, but does have several afternoon speaking engagements by Federal Reserve members. The topics of a couple of the speeches are related to the economy, so analysts and traders will be watching them for any surprises or tidbits that could alter forecasts of what future moves the Fed may make and when they will be made. Often these appearances are non-factors because they are related to banking rules or other boring topics. Since some of Monday’s look to be directly related to current and future economic conditions, we could see one or more of them affect afternoon trading and mortgage pricing.
There are Treasury auctions scheduled for several days this week, but the two we need to watch are the 10-year Note sale Wednesday and the 30-year Bond sale Thursday. Wednesday’s auction is the more important one and will likely have a bigger influence on mortgage rates. Results of the sales will be posted at 1:00 PM ET each day. If they are met with a strong demand from investors, particularly international buyers, we should see strength in the broader bond market and improvements to mortgage pricing during afternoon hours those days. On the other hand, a weak interest in the auctions could lead to upward revisions to mortgage rates.
November’s Retail Sales report is scheduled for release Thursday at 8:30 AM ET. This report will give us a key measurement of consumer spending by tracking sales at retail level establishments. This data is highly important to the markets because consumer spending makes up over two-thirds of the U.S. economy. Rapidly rising consumer spending raises the possibility of seeing solid economic growth. Since long-term securities such as mortgage bonds are usually more appealing to investors during weaker economic conditions, a large increase in retail sales will likely drive bond prices lower and mortgage rates higher Thursday. Current forecasts are calling for an increase of 0.6% in November’s sales.
The second and final relevant report of the week will be November’s Producer Price Index (PPI) early Friday morning. It measures inflationary pressures at the producer level of the economy. There are two portions of the index that are used- the overall reading and the core data reading. The core data is the more important of the two because it excludes more volatile food and energy prices, giving a more stable reading for analysts to consider. If Friday’s release reveals stronger than expected readings, indicating that inflationary pressures are rising, the bond market will probably react negatively and drive mortgage rates higher. If we see in-line or weaker than expected numbers, the bond market should respond well and mortgage rates could fall. Current forecasts are showing a 0.1% decline in the overall index and a 0.1% rise in the core data.
Overall, I suspect Thursday will be the most active day of the week with the consumer spending data and 30-year Bond auction, but Friday’s data can also cause movement in rates. The calmest day will likely be Tuesday. It will probably be a calmer week than last week in terms of mortgage rate movement although we still should see rate changes multiple days. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield closed the week at 2.88% after touching 2.92% immediately after November’s stronger than forecasted Employment report was posted. I believe this week will help determine if that yield will break above 2.90% again or retreat towards 2.62%. Since mortgage rates tend to follow bond yields, the latter would be preferred by mortgage shoppers. Because the 2.92% on Friday was momentarily, I am hesitant to rely on it as a basis in switching to Float recommendations. Therefore, I am maintaining the conservative stance towards locking or floating an interest rate for the time being.

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Holiday Decorating in 2013 Have you pulled your decorations out of the garage yet? As you look through your bins, now is the time to ask: Is it time to try something different this year? By doing so, you reconnect with what makes your holiday decorations special to you. If you do decide to try [...]

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Mortgage News Roundup Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, sank 12.8 percent in the week ended November 29, even with adjustments for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. That is the fifth straight week applications have dropped. In today’s post, we’ll look at [...]

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