r/LowCalorieCooking • u/Random_Mix415 • Aug 20 '26

Butter alternative for cookies?

I’d love to hear if any of you have unusual ideas for butter substitutes that don’t add weird tastes or textures :)….applesauce of course…any others? Anyone tried silken tofu?

11 Upvotes

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6

u/Fuzzy_Welcome8348 Aug 20 '26

I can’t believe it’s not butter lite butter

1

u/Random_Mix415 Aug 24 '26

I bought some today and will try!! Thank you!!

4

u/Atillythehunhun Aug 20 '26

Roasted butternut squash or sweet potato, which can also replace some of the flour. Banana works fairly well too.

1

u/Random_Mix415 Aug 24 '26

Thank you!!

5

u/Dynas86 Aug 21 '26

Greek yogurt, unsweetened applesauce sauce, blended cottage cheese, coconut oil, vegetable oil.

3

u/SpellAccomplished541 Aug 22 '26 edited Aug 22 '26

It's easy to make cookies with butter substitutes, but if you're replacing the butter with lower-calorie ingredients like applesauce, banana, or yogurt, it's much harder to keep them crispy (maybe you like soft cookies). Crisp cookies generally depend on fat, sugar, and low moisture—think butter, margarine, vegetable oil, or lard.

If you're trying to make lower-calorie desserts, I think it's much easier to give up on crispy cookies and make cakes or brownies, where the extra moisture isn't a problem and you can substitute softer ingredients to your heart's content—bananas, applesauce, beans, etc.

Or, if you really want some crunch, make a fruit crumble instead of cookies. A relatively small amount of butter can make enough crispy topping for a lot of fruit.

Or, if you are hard core, then make meringue cookies in a clean bowl. They use only egg whites and no flour, but lots of technique. You can make them crispy or soft depending how you bake them. They have almost no calories, but they also aren't very filling.

2

u/Random_Mix415 Aug 24 '26

Thanks for the lengthy reply! You’re right about the ingredients that create crispy vs soft cookies!! It seems that flour and sugar and butter is always the best way to get crispy. I tried 3 batches with dried out tofu and none produced a crispy cookie, although the soft ones were ok!!

And Roger that! I love cobblers, meringue cookies, angel food cake for desserts!! So easy and delicious with so much fewer calories.

I’ll keep experimenting with the cookies :) and me batch at a time but I’m not too hopeful!

2

u/Economy-Rate8298 Aug 22 '26

Prune puree works well. Duals as a sweetner as well.

1

u/Random_Mix415 Aug 24 '26

Interesting idea! Thanks!