I know these sound crazy, but it really works! And MUCH healthier for you than regular Cheetos. Americans consume five times as much food dye as they did 30 years ago, according to the Food and Drug Administration. But the trend in other countries may be turning. British arms of General Mills, Kellogg, Kraft, Mars, and McDonald's, for example, use few or no dyes. In Europe, their "FDA" is requiring any food item with the yellow dye found in Cheetos, Doritos, or Goldfish crackers to have a WARNING on them! "May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children." So how do we get this yellow dye? In the United States, it's two synthetic food dyes: Red 40 and Yellow 6. In England, it's pumpkin and carrot extract. At a U.S. McDonald's, the strawberry sundae gets its color from Red 40. In England, the red comes from (surprise!) real strawberries.
"HEALTHIFIED" CHEETOS
3 egg whites
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup freshly shredded cheddar cheese (frozen)
Parmesan cheese (if desired)
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Put the frozen cheese in a food processor/blender and chop, until it's in tiny little pieces.
In a mixing bowl, whip the whites with cream of tartar until VERY stiff peaks form. Sprinkle the chopped cheese, on top of the egg whites. Then, with a rubber spatula, fold the cheese into the egg whites, VERY CAREFULLY, being careful not to disturb the fluffy whites, but thoroughly spread the cheese, throughout.
Carefully place the mixture into a large Ziplock baggie, cut a ½ inch hole in the corner of baggie. Gently squeeze onto cookie sheet in CHEETO-like shapes. I would suggest using a sheet of parchment baking paper, to line your pan, but if you don't...grease the pan. Lightly sprinkle grated parmesan cheese, on top of each puff.
Bake at 300 degrees, for 20-30 minutes. The longer you can bake them (without them getting too brown), the crispier they will be. For even crispier puffs, turn off the oven, and leave them in the oven for at least 30-minutes. Store in a tightly sealed, air-tight container. Makes 6 servings.
NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (per serving)
Store Bought Cheetos = 160 calories, 15 carbs, 1g fiber
"Healthified" Cheetos = 45 calories, trace carbs, 0 fiber
"HEALTHIFIED" CHEETOS
3 egg whites
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup freshly shredded cheddar cheese (frozen)
Parmesan cheese (if desired)
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Put the frozen cheese in a food processor/blender and chop, until it's in tiny little pieces.
In a mixing bowl, whip the whites with cream of tartar until VERY stiff peaks form. Sprinkle the chopped cheese, on top of the egg whites. Then, with a rubber spatula, fold the cheese into the egg whites, VERY CAREFULLY, being careful not to disturb the fluffy whites, but thoroughly spread the cheese, throughout.
Carefully place the mixture into a large Ziplock baggie, cut a ½ inch hole in the corner of baggie. Gently squeeze onto cookie sheet in CHEETO-like shapes. I would suggest using a sheet of parchment baking paper, to line your pan, but if you don't...grease the pan. Lightly sprinkle grated parmesan cheese, on top of each puff.
Bake at 300 degrees, for 20-30 minutes. The longer you can bake them (without them getting too brown), the crispier they will be. For even crispier puffs, turn off the oven, and leave them in the oven for at least 30-minutes. Store in a tightly sealed, air-tight container. Makes 6 servings.
NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (per serving)
Store Bought Cheetos = 160 calories, 15 carbs, 1g fiber
"Healthified" Cheetos = 45 calories, trace carbs, 0 fiber
This looks so awesome! My 6-year-old loves Cheetos. I'm going to give this a try. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Dee! Let me know what you think!
DeleteWhen do you add the cream of tartar? When you whip the egg whites?
ReplyDeleteWhen do you add the cream of tartar? When you whip the egg whites?
ReplyDeleteYep, I just fixed it Tina! Thanks for pointing that out:)))
ReplyDeleteI made these today, and wow, they are SO good! My skeptical parents loved them too :) Can't wait to make them again!
ReplyDeleteThanks girl!;))) they are tricky but soooo good!
DeleteI can never get my peaks very stiff
ReplyDeleteIt helps having a stand-up mixer. Really makes it easy. Also, make sure the bowl is completely dry before you add the eggs. Any water can make them fall. Here is the mixer I use. http://astore.amazon.com/marisnutran05-20/detail/B0001ILY88
DeleteHow long would you say these stay good for?
ReplyDeleteI would think they would stay in a ziplock for a couple weeks before getting stale. You could always make a bigger batch and freeze some if you wanted. :)
DeleteI am new to your blog and am so impressed with your recipes. It would be helpful to know which one of your cookbooks contains the recipe you feature on a blog post. I am wanting to try them all but I see you have several cookbooks. Maybe I need to buy them all!
ReplyDeleteMy older recipes (more than 1.5 years old) would be in the cookbook "Nutritious and Delicious". The newer ones would be in one of the color cookbooks in "The Art of Eating Healthy" Series. Thanks! :)
DeleteThese are great! Thanks again for the innovative recipes-
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteHello Maria,
ReplyDeleteWhat if I don't have cream of tartar? Would using a substitute ruin the recipe?
You could try it without. It helps the whites stay stiff. :)
Delete