Reducing Calories in Your Favorite Homemade Cookies

Don't give up eating homemade cookies just because you're on a diet. Why not bring down the calories in your favorite homemade cookie recipes with just a few simple suggestions. Whether it is chocolate chip, or oatmeal raisin, there is no need to give them up just yet.

Butter and oil

Most recipes will do just fine with a 1/3 cut in the requested butter content. If you recipe calls for a whole cup, you better believe that isn't necessary. You can substitute this high calorie recipe standard with applesauce or a yogurt-based spread like Brummel & Brown. Be sure you use no more than 1/3 part applesauce with the butter or the cookie will not cook the way it should. While you can't just put applesauce in for the full amount of butter, you can for oil. This will knock off a substantial amount of calories and fat from the finished cookie.

Eggs

Replace a whole egg with egg whites if you are worried about cholesterol in particular. Two to three egg whites is equivalent to one whole egg in most recipes. You can also use egg substitutes so you don't have to waste perfectly good yolks. If you use egg whites only you will find that the finished cookie is 'fluffier' than with the whole egg; just an added bonus.

Sugar

Whether it is brown or white sugar there is a way to cut down on this troublesome ingredient. Of course you can buy Splenda, which is a 0 calorie sugar substitute that doesn't have the same aftertaste as some of its competitors. This eliminates all sugar calories in a cookie recipe, which generally makes up a great deal of the recipe's calories. But if you don't want to spend that much on a single ingredient (as it can be a bit pricy) you can try reducing the sugar content. Instead of 'packing' the brown sugar in, just loosely measure out the amount. Because brown sugar is so sweet, you won't miss the extra sugar that was intended for the recipe, but not necessary. White sugar can be similarly reduced by reducing cup measurements to ¾ cup measurements.

Flour

Although it might sound horrible to ruin a cookie recipe with something good for you, it isn't a bad idea in moderation. Add just a part of the full flour amount as wheat flour instead of white. It will be more filling and should not take away from the overall flavor. Make sure the wheat flour is very fine in texture for it to blend into the taste as best as possible. This will give you more fiber per cookie.

Add-ins

Who can resist a homemade chocolate cookie? Instead of adding regular sized chocolate chips, try their miniature counterparts. Only use 1-1/12 cups of these instead of the entire bag. Be sure to stir them in well so that they are distributed into each cookie. This will save your calories without cutting the chocolate out completely. And what use is a chocolate chip cookie without the chocolate?

And for those of you that are nut lovers, you can try this trick. Instead of just adding in a bag of nuts, crush a small amount of them (1/4 cup) and stir them in good. This way you won't have to sacrifice them completely and they are actually good for you in moderation.

So, why go without homemade cookies? Just reduce the calories with some of these simple tricks, and with a little experimentation you'll have a family award-winning recipe that no one will know is low-fat.