5 Ways to Make Any Baking Recipe Healthier

Since starting the blog Skinnytaste back in 2008, Gina Homolka has overhauled more than 80 different baked good recipes…so she knows a thing or two about how to approach making cookies, cakes, and pastries with added nutrients and fewer calories. The blogger, who has her first cookbook coming out tomorrow, walked us through what she usually does when she wants to give an indulgent recipe a makeover: 

Use Fruit Purees to Replace Some of the Fat
In general, Homolka starts with replacing 50 percent of the butter or oil called for with applesauce, pure pumpkin, or a fruit puree. "Usually you need to have some fat in it," she says. Still, reducing that amount by half can make a serious difference calorie-wise. If the end product comes out feeling a little underdone in the middle, you may have to add some of the fat back in next time you try the recipe. If you get good results in the first go-round and want to reduce the fat content even more, try decreasing it by an extra tablespoon or two at a time.

…Or Get Creative with the Fats You Use
In one cookie recipe, Homolka used mashed avocado instead of butter. It not only helped cut down the cookies' calorie count, but it also increased the healthy monounsaturated fats that they contain. Get the double chocolate chunk walnut cookie recipe.

MORE: The 9 Fats You Need to Lose Weight

Swap Some of the Flour for White Whole Wheat
Again, a good rule of thumb is to substitute half of the flour—but keep half of the flour all-purpose. "Sometimes I can get away with replacing all the flour, but sometimes it winds up having a strange taste—very whole wheat-y," says Homolka.

Slash the Sugar
Homolka finds many recipes overly sweet, so she'll start off by reducing the sugar right off the bat by 25 percent. Oftentimes she'll also swap out the remaining granulated sugar for honey, maple syrup, or maple sugar.

MORE: 8 Easy Ways to Cut Back on Added Sugar

Use Skim Milk in Place of Whole or 2 Percent
By the same token, feel free to use almond milk if you have a dairy allergy. Homolka says making these kind of substitutions almost never create issues with the end product.

If you're getting the vibe that all of this involves a fair amount of work, that's because it does. "It's a lot of trial and error," says Homolka. "I never get it right on the first time—it might be too moist, or it might deflate. It can take me 3 or 4 attempts to get it right." Not willing to give up that much time (and potentially botched baked goods)? Try out these recipes Homolka's already perfected.

MORE: 5 Tasty Desserts with 150 Calories…Or Less

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