Procedure1 Preheat the oven to 350F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

1 Pulse the oats in a food processor until it resembles coarse flour. To this also add the whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and process until combined. Transfer this mix to a large mixing bowl.

2 Put the drained and rinsed beans in the food processor and pulse until smoothly pureed. You may add 2-3 tablespoons of water to make it easier. Add the butter/margarine and process until well blended.

3 Now add the brown sugar, applesauce and vanilla and pulse until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl.

4 Pour the bean mixture into the oat mixture and stir using a spatula. Add the peanut butter chips/chocolate chips, raisins/dried cranberries, nuts and flax seed meal and stir until blended.

5 Drop by large spoonfuls of dough onto the prepared cookie sheets. Flatten each one a little with your hand. Have a bowl of water nearby to dampen your palms, so that flattening the cookies will be easy.

6 Bake for 14-16 minutes, until pale around the edges but still soft in the middle. The cookies baked in a dark coated cookie sheet started browning after 14 minutes itself but the pale coated cookie sheet was done after 16 minutes.

7 Place the the cookie sheets on individual wire racks. Let it cool for 5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to the cooling rack after that.

Taste These cookies tasted very much like the Fiber One Cereal breakfast cookies I have baked earlier. These are very soft cookies, more like a muffin. The presence of whole grain flours like whole wheat pastry flour and oat flour did not affect the taste at all. You cannot detect the navy beans too. It’s not very sweet also. If “healthy” tastes so good, I’m ready to eat healthy always. My son takes it to school as a treat after having his lunch and he likes it so much.

My Notes1 You can use all purpose flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour, white beans instead of navy beans, butter or margarine, chocolate chips instead of peanut butter chips, raisins, pecans instead of walnuts.

2 For chocolate flavored cookies use 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder instead of the flour.

3 Updated: I stored these cookies in a cookie jar over the counter and it became very soft. This is okay if you are going to consume it within 2-3 days. The longer it stays on the counter the softer it gets. Recently I borrowed Moosewood Restaurant Low Fat Favorites from the library and found a tip for storing low-fat cookies. It says that the best way to store low-fat cookies is in layers separated by wax paper or plastic wrap in an airtight container in the freezer. Defrost at room temperature for about 20 minutes before serving. But I think storing in the refrigerator should be fine because it gives instant gratification

Procedure1 Preheat the oven to 350F. Coat and 8 inch square pan with cooking spray. For brownies I line the pan with aluminum foil and grease it with cooking spray, so cutting it is easy and also we can get perfect squares.

2 Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or over a very low flame. I melted the chocolate in the microwave oven, in a medium size bowl. Take care while doing so or else the chocolate will get burnt. So increase the time little by little. Stir it well, it should be smooth.

3 In the same bowl, combine the beet puree, sugar, cocoa powder, margarine, vanilla and unsweetened applesauce and whisk it well. This mixture should be smooth and creamy.

4 Stir in the oat flour, baking powder, chopped walnuts and salt with a wooden spoon.

5 Pour the batter into the prepared pan and baked 35-40 minutes. I checked it after 35 minutes and felt that it was not done. Brownies should spring back when touched, but it did not. So baked it for another 5 minutes.

6 Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Since I lined the pan with aluminum foil I lifted it after an hour and I cooled it on a wire rack. After another 2 hours I was able to cut them into neat squares without any trouble. If baking it directly in the pan, it will take some more (actually a lot more) time for the brownies to cool completely and getting neat pieces will also be difficult.

Taste The taste was simply superb. The oat flour or the beet puree did not affect the taste at all. It tasted like any other regular brownie. The only difference I felt was in the texture, but it was nothing huge. The brownies were chewy and also pudding(y) in the middle. I don’t mean that it was in a semi-solid state, it had set properly, but the texture was a bit different than the usual brownies, which I think is because of the beet puree. Also the brownies are more reddish than brown. This did not stop my son or the rest of us from finishing it off.

My Notes1 I have used 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce instead of 2 egg whites mentioned in the original recipe. If you have extra beet puree you can use 1/4 cup of that itself. I had only 1 cup of beet puree so I used applesauce.

2 Oat flour is readily available in stores. I didn’t have that in hand, so I powdered quick cooking oats in a blender. Be sure to powder it finely, sieve it a couple times.

3 You can use all purpose flour too instead of oat flour.

4 To prepare beet puree you can either buy canned beets and blend it smoothly in a blender or do like what I did. I peeled and cooked the beets in a pressure cooker. Cut into small pieces once cooled and then blend it. I had prepared this a month back. So I put it in cup, covered with plastic wrap and froze it. To use the puree, thaw it in the fridge overnight and by the following afternoon it should be alright.

Cookies

Recipe	Details
	Meeta’s Coconut & Milk Cookies Very simple recipe for cookies made with non fat milk powder and powdered coconut. Prepare the dough while the oven is preheating and you can have freshly baked eggless coconut cookies in no time. Recipe: Ingredients: 1 CUP- ALL PURPOSE FLOUR ½ CUP- NONFAT MILK POWDER 3 tsp – UNSALTED BUTTER 1/3 CUP – SUGAR 2-3 tsp – WHOLE MILK PINCH – BAKING SODA 1CUP- COCONUT POWDER 3-4- CARDAMOM Procedure: 1) Mix all purpose flour and milk powder in a mixing bowl. See that they mix well and there are no lumps. Then add butter, sugar and baking soda. 2) Now add milk I tsp at a time and knead the mixture into a soft dough. 3) Preheat oven to 375 degree. Grease a cookie sheet now and then powder it with all purpose flour. Form small balls of dough and flatten them pressing coconut powder on top. 4) The mixture will form 30-35 cookies. But it depends on the size you choose. 5) Place the cookie sheet on middle rack. They will take 12-13 min to bake. 6) Take them out and let them cool for some time before taking them off the cookie sheet.
	Priya’s (France) Low Fat Oats & Dates Cookies Bake these healthy cookies in a jiffy and see them vanishing within few minutes as well.
	Priya’s (France) Low Fat Strawberry Shortcake In search of a low cal and quick fix dessert? Then look no further. Try this strawberry shortcake.
	Renu’s Low Fat Date Cookies (Mamoul) Enough of the same old chocolate chip cookies. Be daring and try these exotic date filled cookies full of Middle Eastern flavor.
	Sadhana’s & Muskaan’s Low Fat Oat and Almond Meal Cookies Gluten free and a healthy version of the classic thumbprint cookies.
	Sadhana’s & Muskaan’s Low Fat Oats and Peanut Butter Cookies These cookies are not only egg free but gluten free too. A combination of oat flour and quick cooking oats has been used to bake these healthy cookies.
	Sowmya’s Low Fat Butter Cookies Baking butter cookies cannot get any easier.
	Sowmya’s Low Fat Oatmeal Raisin Cookies The traditional oatmeal raisin cookies gets a healthy makeover by using whole wheat flour and very less fat.
	Sweatha’s Soy Date Cookies A small batch cookie recipe with whole wheat flour, soy flour and iron rich dates.

Quick Breads

Recipe	Details
	Madhuram’s Low Fat Oat Flour Cranberry Muffins Oat flour, white whole wheat flour, dried cranberries and chopped walnuts. Perfect breakfast.
	Priya’s (France) Vegan Cornmeal Orange Scones Scones made with heart healthy oats, almonds and good portion of applesauce. Is it not the best way to start your day?
	Sadhana’s & Muskan’s Low Fat Banana Apricot Muffins Muffins baked with whole wheat/pastry flour, oat flour, cracked wheat, apricots and walnuts. What better way to start your day?
	Aarthi’s Banana Raspberry Quick Bread Check this recipe for moist and light egg free banana bread studded with fresh raspberries.
	DK’ Plum & Pecan Quick Bread We may not be lucky like this girl to have a plum tree (and what not) in her backyard, but that’s not going to stop us from baking this yummy and flavor packed quick bread, right?
	Jaya’s Banana Walnut Bread Bananas, coconut, chocolate chips and walnuts. Mmm… yes, another banana bread recipe it is.
	Madhuram’s Low Fat Blueberry Coffee Cake I can’t believe that these light and spongy cakes are egg free and low in fat too.
	Madhuram’s Fat Free Mango Strawberry Quick Bread This is a small batch recipe for a flavorful mango strawberry bread.
	Mukta’s Fat Free Vegan Banana Bread Mashed bananas serve two purposes in the recipe. One as an egg substitute and another as fat substitute and the result is a very moist fat free and vegan banana bread. Recipe: Mukta’s Comments: I followed the exact recipe as mentioned in above link. The only change I made was, I baked it in a 9 inch round cake pan and I decorated it with Banana Slices. We had a ‘Summer Dessert Bake Off’ at work. I was really scared by the look of it; Nonetheless it was a huge hit. I did not add any nuts to keep it fat free. But for next time my parents have already advised me to add nuts and substitute Honey/Maple Syrup for half of the sugar. I was left with extra batter. I added Light Vanilla Soy milk, water and made pancakes.
	Parita’s Fat Free Banana Bread Don’t throw away the over ripe bananas sitting on the kitchen counter. Save it to bake this moist and fat free banana bread.
	Pooja’s Low Fat Persimmon Nut Bread Whole wheat flour, sweet persimmons, ripe banana, chopped nuts, dates and honey to naturally sweeten the bread and tad olive oil. I can eat this all day.
	Priya’s (France) Low Fat Chocolate Banana Loaf The classic banana chocolate bread gets a healthy makeover.
	Vaishali’s Low Fat Vegan Zucchini Bread Whole Wheat flour, grated zucchini and toasted nuts come together and the result is this very moist and low in fat zucchini bread.

Spicy

Recipe	Details
	Aarthi’s Baked Masala Vadai Muffin tins are not for baking only muffins anymore. Use it to bake a low fat version of the deep fried South Indian traditional snack.
	Madrasi_in_MO’s Vegetable Upside Down Casserole Looking for a one pot meal to feed your entire family? Then check this hassle free, nutrients packed veggie casserole.
	Divya’s Low Fat Pretzels Who knew that baking pretzels at home can be so easy?
	Madhuram’s Baked Banana Flower and Lentil Patties Guilt free baked vadais.
	Madhuram’s Low Fat Savory Scones Bored of sweet scones? Then try these spicy ones for a change.
	Parita’s Fat Free Baked Methi Corn Cutlets Bored of the regular potato cutlets? Then why not include sweet corn and methi leaves, bake it instead of frying and give it a healthy makeover!
	Priya’s (France) Baked Lentil Patties (Masala Vadai) Want to eat vadais and still stay in shape? Then say no to the fryer and yes to the oven.
	Priya’s (France) Chickpeas & Bread Rolls Looking for a healthy and easy to make after school snack? Then these baked bread rolls is the answer.
	Priya’s (France) Potato and Soy Stuffed Baked Samosas Spring roll pastry sheets put to a brilliant use. Bake these low cal and low fat samosas and indulge without any guilt.
	Red Chillies’ Garlic Sesame Sticks Garlic Sesame sticks are my favorite and now I can make them at home too!
	Renu’s Low Fat Baked Muthias Want something crunchy and healthy to have with your afternoon tea? Then you are in the right place!
	Sadhana’s & Muskaan’s Black Bean Burger Stop spending money on frozen vegetarian burgers, because it is very easy to make it at home itself. Check it out, if you don’t believe me!
	Sadhana’s & Muskans’s Baked Pakodas Yes, you read it right! Baked pakodas it is! Another favorite of mine.
	Sandhya’ Low Fat Cream Crackers Can you believe that these cute little crackers can be made without any added fat?
	Shri’s Low Fat Vegan Eggplant Rolls I’m sure this simple fat free recipe will turn eggplant haters into eggplant lovers.
	Srilakshmi’s Baked & Low Cal Malai Kofta Malai Kofta (deep fried vegetable balls in cream sauce) is not sinful anymore because the koftas are baked and not deep fried and the fat ladden sauce is made with low cal fresh cream.
	Srilakshmi’s Baked Bean Balls and Spaghetti Protein packed and fat free baked black bean balls (that’s a lot of b’s) is on your way!

Yeast Breads

Recipe	Details
	Mukta’s Vegan Dinner Rolls Dinner rolls made with white whole wheat flour. Mukta also notes that she used soymilk and vinegar to replace the egg in the original recipe but feels flax meal replacement would be even better. She has also omitted the optional melted vegan margarine.
	Mukta’s Vegan Focaccia Get a taste of Italy at home, by baking this super easy Vegan Focaccia bread. Mukta’s Comments: The changes I made: 1. I used White Whole Wheat Flour. 2. I skipped the salt. (to limit sodium content) 3. My dough was bit dry and hence I added more water little by little. (approximately 2-4 tablespoon) 4. Before baking, I made many deep holes in the dough with fingers. 5. I baked it in a 9 inch round cake pan. 6. I did not add red chili flakes or any other seasoning. Thus we can not call it a Focaccia Bread but me and my roommates enjoyed it a lot with Indian Style Chick Pea Curry (Chole) and Black Eye Peas Curry. 7. I also like to eat it for my breakfast with homemade Hummus or Peanut Chutney. Hope you all enjoy this Bread!
	Pooja Sekar’s Low Fat Curry Leaf Buns Wish I had the patience to bake perfect buns like these! With curry leaf, parsley and sesame adding flavor, no doubt that it would taste great.
	Priya’s (France) Low Fat Moroccan Semolina Bread Morocco’s traditional semolina bread is on your way!
	Priya’s (France) Low Fat Sesame and Spinach Buns With generous quantity of whole wheat pastry flour, oats and spinach, these buns are in top of my favorites list.
	Priya’s (France) Moroccan Whole Wheat Bread Moroccan whole wheat bread flavored with anise and sesame seeds.
	Usha’s Low Fat Oat Pav Bread Pav Bhaji fans here comes the healthy version of the pav with oat flour and quick cooking oats.

Others

Recipe	Details
	Nithya’s Low Fat Banana Dessert Beat the heat with this low fat frozen banana bars.
	Nithya’s Low Fat Fruit Stacks Crispy phyllo sheets, colorful and fresh fruits, crunchy nuts and low in fat too. What more can I ask for?
	Priya’s (India) Low Fat Granola Why spend money on high fat, high sugar store bought granola when you have this simple and healthy recipe?
	Sadhana’s & Muskaan’s Low Fat Granola Skip the pricey and high in fat granolas while grocery shopping because you know that the recipe for heatlhy and low fat granola is just a mouse click away.

Procedure1 Preheat oven to 350F for 15 minutes. Grease a 8 inch square baking dish. In a small bowl combine the almonds, brown sugar and cinnamon; set aside. The butter can be melted on stove top or microwave oven or even in the oven while it’s preheating.

2 Combine together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a large bowl.

3 Measure the buttermilk in a liquid measuring cup (or any other bowl). To that add the melted butter, vinegar, extracts and applesauce. Whisk until well blended. If you add the butter while its still hot, the mixture will look curdled, but its okay.

4 Stir the wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just moistened. Fold in 2/3 cup blueberries. If using frozen blueberries, do not thaw before adding to batter, because the color will bleed.

5 Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Top with remaining blueberries. Sprinkle the almond mixture on top. Tap the pan lightly a couple times so that the topped blueberries and almonds sticks to the batter.

6 Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool the pan on a wire rack.

7 Remove the cake from the pan after 10 minutes and transfer the cake directly to the wire rack. The cake is quite light, so you will have to be very careful while tilting the pan. A couple of almonds will fall down.

Taste I have baked a lot in the past one year but this blueberry coffee cake will definitely make it to the Top 5 if I prepare such a list. I’m not exaggerating here but it was unbelievably good. So good that my husband asked for seconds and had it too! This has never happened before. I didn’t have almond extract, I think it would have tasted even better with it.

This cake doesn’t rise much, around 1/2-3/4th inch only. As for the texture, it was very lighty and fluffy, unusual for an egg less cake. I think the vinegar did the trick. The sweetness was perfect, the addition of almonds gave a nice crunch to the cake. The only thing to look for while baking this cake is that it’s very light and has to be handled very carefully while removing from the pan.

My Notes1 The original recipe had mentioned 2/3 cup buttermilk, which is what I did for the first batch and as I have mentioned earlier, the cake was so fluffy that I felt that it would fall apart while removing from the pan. I had to be very careful. So while preparing the next batch (yes we liked it so much that I baked it again the next day to share it with my new friends here) I reduced the quantity of buttermilk to 1/2 cup and this time it was quite manageable.

The cake is very light (just like a cake with eggs) when kept at room temperature. It hardens up a little when stored in the refrigerator. So I was thinking that the next time I bake it, I would cool it in the fridge itself, so that removing it from the pan will be easy.

2 If you leave the cake in the pan itself for much longer time, the bottom of the cake will become soggy from the heat and the condensation. It happened to my first batch and I had to blot it with paper towel.

3 I think this recipe without the blueberries would make a perfect eggless white cake.

Procedure1 Preheat oven to 400F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

2 Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the bell peppers, salt and Garam Masala powder; cook until tender. Set aside.

3 In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and chili powder. Add the cooked peppers.

4 Then add yogurt, milk green onions and cilantro; stir to from sticky dough.

5 Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet. Spray tops lightly with non stick cooking spray.

6 Place in oven and reduce heat to 375F immediately. Bake 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

Taste

As mentioned in the introduction I made a couple of changes to the original scone recipe to add more Indian flavors. So these scones tasted more like soft pakoras or methu pakodas to be precise because it was not crispy. My husband and I liked it but my son did not savor it. Also it tastes better when served warm.

My Notes1 The scones I prepared were quite bland. I think they would have tasted even better had I added more chili powder. So taste the batter before baking and adjust the seasonings accordingly.

Procedure1 Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 13×9 inch baking pan. Since I used a glass pan, I preheated the oven at 325F.

2 In a large bowl, combine together the flour, granulated sugar, 1/3 cup cocoa and baking powder.

3 Stir in milk and applesauce to the dry ingredients until just moistened.

4 Fold in the cherries and nuts. The cake batter is very thick at this stage.

5 Spoon into the greased pan.

6 Mix the brown sugar, hot water and 1/4 cup cocoa in the same large bowl, until smooth; pour over batter.

7 Bake for 35-40 minutes or until set (cake will have a pudding like texture). Serve warm or at room temperature.

Taste

As the name suggests, this is a pudding cake. There is pudding in the bottom and cake on top. Frankly the three of us did not like it. The chocolate cake alone was very good, especially for a fat free one it was quite tasty, but we did not like the combination of pudding and a cake. First you bite into a firm cake then follows this ooey gooey pudding. To be more specific, it’s kozha kozha (non Tamilians please excuse me. I had to use this word to be very clear at least for Tamilians.) So if you have already tasted a pudding cake and like it you can go ahead and try this low fat version.

But what did we do with such a big cake, when we didn’t like it? That’s when a light bulb flashed and I put the cake (of course with the pan) in the freezer. I thought that it would taste like an ice cream cake and I was right. Yay! Freeze it for a couple of hours and remove it from the freezer and leave it on the kitchen counter for 15-25 minutes before serving, so that the pudding layer would soften up a little bit making it easy to eat (but not ooey gooey at all). Then cut them into slices and enjoy. Refreeze the rest of the cake.

My Notes1 I reduced the quantity of sugar by 1/2 cup and we felt that the sweetness was just right enough. If you have been following my recipes you know by now that we don’t eat very sweet baked stuff. So if you like it sweeter go with the original recipe by adding another 1/4 of white sugar and 1/4 of dark brown sugar.

2 While using a glass baking pan it is suggested to reduce the oven temperature by 25F or to bake 5-10 minutes less than the specified time. I have used a glass baking pan and so baked the cake at 325F. If you are using any other pan set the oven at 350F.

3 While reading the recipe I was not sure if the quantity of baking powder (3 tablespoons) was correct. I proceeded anyhow and was relieved that the cake did not have the after taste of baking powder.

4 Measure the 3 cups of boiling water in a liquid measuring mug. While pouring it over the cake batter it may look like that it’s a lot, but don’t worry the cake will turn out fine.

Procedure1 Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease the bread pan.

2 Wash the strawberries, hull them and cut each strawberry into 4 pieces. Place it in a bowl and sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar and mix it and leave it for at least 5 minutes.

3 In a big bowl mix together the yogurt, mango puree, vinegar, sugar, cardamom powder and saffron strands. To this add the cut strawberries.

4 In another small bowl sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Actually I placed the sieve over the big bowl and added the dry ingredients directly into the wet mixture. Mix it until just moistened.

5 Fill the bread loaves 3/4th full and bake it for about 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Mine was done in 19 minutes.

6 Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes. Take out the bread from the pan after 5 minutes and let it cool on the wire rack. This is very important. I left the bread in the pan itself for more than 30 minutes and the bottom became soggy.

Taste

I can swear that it did not taste “healthy or fat free”. It tasted like any other regular quick bread, but I don’t know why my son did not like it. My husband liked that it was fat free but he did not like the saffron/cardamom combination that much. The bread was soft and spongy inside, which is because of the vinegar I think. It was not a very sweet bread, which is perfect for me. You may want to add another 1-2 tablespoons of sugar if you want it sweeter.

As for the texture, it was a bit soggy (see Procedure point no.6 and Notes point no.1). So I kept it on two sheets of paper towel and stored it covered in the fridge overnight and it was good in the morning. With minor alterations this recipe will yield perfect mango quick bread. Check my Notes for further details.

One more observation, if you are looking for a mango bread recipe with lot of mango flavor, I think it’s ideal to omit cardamom powder, saffron and use either vanilla extract or mango extract or a combination of both, or maybe use puree made from fresh mangoes. The recipe I have mentioned did not have the mango flavor. I think the cardamom overpowered the mango’s flavor. The brand of mango puree can also be a reason, I guess, because I used a brand which I have never used before. I think it’s better to use the Kesar Mango puree. And of course, using chopped mangoes instead of the strawberries I have used will also add to the mango “ness”.

My Notes1 I wanted to substitute the mango puree for the oil used in the original recipe, which is 1/4 cup, but I wanted to increase the mango flavor and added another 1/4 cup, so that’s one of the reason for sogginess. 1/2 cup is 8 tablespoons, that’s why I have reduced it to 6 tablespoons in the ingredients list.

2 Increase the quantity of sugar by 2-3 tablespoons if you go with 6 tablespoons of mango puree. Since the mango puree has sugar I had used only 1/4 cup sugar in place of the 1/2 cup mentioned in the original recipe. So if you reduce the quantity of mango puree, you may want to increase the quantity of sugar.

3 I think this measurement will yield about 8-9 regular size muffins and you will have to double the measurement to prepare a regular size quick bread. Sweatha has baked the muffins at 375F.

4 Mango lassi is a combination of mango, yogurt and sugar. So you know what to do if you have a cup of leftover mango lassi! Make this wonderful moist mango bread.