5 Secrets for Baking Healthier Cookies (Page 4)

2. Replace Unhealthy Fats

Consider replacing some of the butter with nontraditional cookie ingredients, such as nonfat plain yogurt, nonfat buttermilk or even fruit juice.

When you reduce overall fat in a cookie recipe, the resulting cookies can be dry; adding a “moist” ingredient helps keep the cookies satisfying. Try 1 to 4 tablespoons of a liquid ingredient in place of up to 4 tablespoons butter. You can even experiment with replacing some of the solid fat (i.e., butter, margarine or shortening) with some heart-healthy oil and replacing a little more of the solid fat with a nonfat liquid, such as yogurt, buttermilk or juice.

Examples of cookies that add yogurt, buttermilk or fruit juice to help keep them moist:
Double Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chewies
Holiday Cranberry-Orange Pistachio Bars
Raspberry-Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies

Next: 3. Add Fiber To Your Cookies »