Butterless cookies a healthy start to new year

The inspiration for this "healthy" cookie came from San Diego Desperation Dinners reader Karen Singer. Karen wrote to us that she had adapted the Vanishing Oatmeal Cookie recipe on the inside of the lid of the old-fashioned oats box, using bananas instead of butter and adding whole-wheat flour and wheat bran, too. We wondered if we would miss the butter in our favorite version of Oatmeal Raisin Pecan Cookies. So into the test kitchen we went. The general idea was to make the healthiest cookie we could make and still call it a cookie.

We also used only egg whites instead of a whole egg. Because we had it in our cupboards, we used some flaxseed meal and whole-wheat flour.

We were happy with the results; however, the flavor is more along the lines of banana-nut bread with raisins, and the texture is closer to a chewy bar cookie than a crisp cookie. When we saw the nutritional analysis, we were more than pleased. At only 79 calories per cookie and less than 2 grams of fat, it's a perfect guiltless cookie for the new year.

Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross write "Desperation Dinners." Contact them at Desperation Dinners, c/o United Media, 200 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016, or tellus@kitchenscoop.com. More at kitchenscoop.com.