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5 Tips for Baking Healthier Cookies

Most people love cookies, especially having them in the joyful morning or peaceful

break time.  But, there is the problem : Cookies have high calories and fat.  Here we’d recommend 5 tips for Baking Healthier Cooking.

1. Make them more heart healthy.

Swap out some of the butter, margarine or shortening for heart-healthy oils, such as canola oil or olive oil or pureed fruit or even vegetables.

• To replace fats with oil: For every tablespoon of butter you replace with heart-healthy oil, you eliminate at least 5 grams of saturated fat from your batch of cookies. 

• Please remember that when you reduce the butter in a recipe you may lose some of its tenderizing and moisture-retaining properties. Cookies that use some oil in place of butter may be a bit crisper and may dry out sooner. To preserve the best cookie texture, be sure to store extra cookies in an airtight container.

• Try using pureed fruit or even vegetables in place of some of the butter, margarine or shortening. Options include applesauce, pear butter, prune puree or even pureed pumpkin.  Using a fruit fat-replacer will give you a cakier, chewier or softer texture, so it works well in cookies that are naturally softer, such as oatmeal cookies or ginger molasses cookies.

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.

3. Add fiber to your cookies.

Try replacing some (or all) of the all-purpose flour with whole-wheat flour, whole-wheat pastry flour and/or oats.  Using whole-wheat flour in place of all-purpose flour gives your cookies about four times the amount of fiber in every batch.

Or you can try replacing 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the all-purpose flour with whole rolled oats or oats that have been ground into a “flour.” Ground flaxseeds or flaxmeal can help add fiber to baked goods.

4: Keep sodium in check

Some baked goods can be surprisingly high in sodium. Aim for no more than 1/2 teaspoon salt per batch of cookies. If you’re on a salt-restricted diet, try reducing the salt in a batch of cookies to 1/4 teaspoon.

5: Eliminate trans fat & other artificial ingredients

Steer clear of ingredients that contain partially hydrogenated oil (or trans fats), such as margarine and most vegetable shortenings. Consider limiting other artificial ingredients, such as artificial food dyes.

Small secrets for healthy ingredients:

• Adding an extra egg white gives crunch to a low-fat cookie. In recipes that call for several eggs, substitute two egg whites for one of the eggs if you are concerned about cholesterol.

• A little corn syrup will produce a browner cookie with a crisp surface and soft interior. Substitute the corn syrup for the same amount of sugar called for in the recipe.

• Use cocoa instead of melted or grated chocolate to help reduce fat. Three tablespoons cocoa plus 1 tablespoon water or other liquid equals 1 square or 1 ounce of melted baking chocolate. Mix the cocoa with the dry ingredients and the liquid with the wet or creamed ingredients.

• Overbaking will result in dry hard cookies. Most low-fat cookies should be removed from the oven while they're still soft and just lightly browned around the edges. Low-fat cookies taste best when eaten within a few hours of baking.

It’s good to start baking the cookies with the new, healthy recipe in the small amount as for experiment.  Until you have your own nutritious and delicious cookies recipe that you love.  Enjoy baking and have healthy life!

Source: Eating well, Allrecipes.com