Tips to Lighten Up Your Cooking

 After baking copious amounts of Spicy Molasses Cookies this weekend, I decided to enlighten (ha) you with all the healthy baking tips I did not use. Enjoy, and cheers to having good intentions of keep things thin.

• Use plain low-fat or non-fat yogurt (I especially love the thick, strained Greek non-fat yogurt) to cut back on a quarter or half the oil. Yogurt will reduce the fat, but not the moisture, and it adds protein. 
• 1-percent buttermilk makes excellent, tender cakes and can be used in place of whole milk or heavy cream – it can also be used to lessen the amount of oil or butter.
• Substitute fat-free or reduced-fat sour cream for full-fat sour cream. Either makes lovely coffee cakes and light fluffy muffins.
• Use fruit puree, such as applesauce or blended canned pears or peaches in natural juice, to cut the butter or oil – or to cut back on the amount of sugar – to make brownies and cookie bars soft.
• Substitute two egg whites for every whole egg to make baked goods lighter on fat without drastically changing the texture.

What are your suggestions or ideas? I'm always on the lookout for more!