Cooking Tips and Substitutions

Did you know that much of the unhealthy fat and processed flour in many recipes can be replaced with the good fats and fiber of flaxseed. Read On!

Add extra texture, moistness and a pleasant, nutty flavor to your baked recipes with flaxseed.

• Whole flaxseed: Add a handful of whole seeds to bread dough and pancake, muffin or cookie mixes. Or, sprinkle on top of any of these before baking to add crunch, taste and that hearty, home-made eye appeal to your favorite recipes. Whole flaxseed stores almost indefinitely at room temperature.
• Milled (ground) flaxseed: You can quickly create what is commonly called milled flaxseed by grinding a desired amount of flaxseed in your coffee bean grinder. Free-flowing and flour-like, ground flaxseed has all the goodness of whole flaxseed. Add it to baked goods, smoothies, cereal and soups. Store it in the refrigerator or freezer if you grind more than you initially need.
• Roasted flaxseed: A sesame seed can’t even come close to the delicious, nutty crunch of roasted flax on a salad, or sprinkled on ice cream or yogurt. Cover a baking sheet about ½-inch deep with whole flax and place in a 350° F oven for about 10-15 minutes, stirring a couple times. Let cool and store in a covered container.

Replace fat: Include the good fats in flax in your recipes by substituting 3 Tbsp. of ground flaxseed for 1 Tbsp. of margarine, butter or cooking oil. Flax can be substituted for all or part of the fat, depending on the recipe. Remember that baking with flax as a fat substitute will cause baked goods to brown more quickly.

Replace highly processed flour: Flaxseed is typically 40% fat, but you can replace up to 15% of the flour in recipes with milled (ground) flax without adjusting the amount or kind of fat. Ground flax actually enhances the flavor, appearance and food value of baked goods. Flaxseed contains NO GLUTEN for those with gluten intolerance. Increase yeast by 25% when replacing flour with ground flax.

Replace eggs: Substitute a ground flaxseed/water mixture for eggs in recipes such as pancakes, muffins and cookies. For each egg, let 1 Tbsp ground flax sit in 3 Tbsp water for a few minutes. Note that this will result in a somewhat chewier version of the recipe with less volume