BEFORE
Traditional Oatmeal Raisin Cookie
Calories: 370
Fat: 13g
Saturated Fat: 9g
AFTER
Cook’s Country Reduced-Fat Oatmeal Raisin Cookie
Calories: 150
Fat: 3.5g
Saturated Fat: 2g
HOW WE GOT THERE
- Although oatmeal raisin cookies sound relatively more healthy than their counterparts, some versions weigh in at close to 400 calories and 13 grams of fat per cookie, and many “low-cal” versions (with engineered fat and artificial sugar) taste strange and unnatural.
- To get more flavor out of less butter, we browned it in a skillet to draw out the butter’s nutty quality. Additionally, sautéing the oats in the butter as it browned was a crucial step as they cooked, lost toughness, and gained a welcome butter-toasted flavor.
- We added a raisin paste (made by stewing chopped raisins and water) to the dough to ensure the cookies stayed moist and chewy—which performed better than traditional fat-reducing methods, like stirring in applesauce or fat-free sour cream. The cookies baked up supple and chewy, with a caramel-y backdrop of raisin flavor.
Want to try it for yourself? Check out our Reduced-Fat Oatmeal Raisin Cookies recipe for free through January 17, 2012.
About the Author: Cook's Country
6 Comments
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Do you ever recommend using applesauce to sub for some of the fat? Or is it always a fail?
These are awesome. Love the recipe. Thanks!
Wow! Thanks ATK. I’ll never use rolled oats without toasting them in butter first!
I just tried this recipe, they don’t taste like a reduced fat cookie but they are very very sweet. If I reduce the amount of sugar to 3/4 – 1 cup it shouldn’t be as sweet but will I need to increase any of the other ingredients?
Great recipe! Moist and delicious!
I soak my raisins overnight in brandy – can’t tell you how it alters the nutrition values – but the flavor is delish. Just put raisins in glass dish, pour in brandy til just covered.
Put plastic wrap to make air tight if you are going to “soak” longer than overnight. My airtight container wasn’t so air tight, thus the plastic wrap.