Low-fat baking

The comment from Jonathan Gold about Donna Deane's inspired low-fat baking (see Russ Parsons' tribute post to Donna  below) is sure to be greeted with a chorus of "I'll second that motion." So let me be the first to nominate one of the deceptively modest and amazingly delicious, reliable and smart recipes that ran in her longtime column on low-fat cooking. It's in her 1998 cookbook "The Low-Fat Kitchen" with other recipes drawn from that column.

This recipe for low-fat oatmeal cookies isn't a second-best oatmeal cookie. It's a delicious stand-alone cookie concept of its own.

CHEWY OATMEAL-CHERRY COOKIES

1/2 cup nonfat egg substitute (equivalent to 2 eggs)

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons nonfat milk

1 tablespoon butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups dried cherries

Combine egg substitute, brown sugar, white sugar, nonfat milk, butter and vanilla.

Grind 1 1/4 cups of rolled oats in food processor or blender to consistency of flour and combine with all-purpose flour, baking soda and salt. Stir into sugar-egg mixture. Stir in remaining 1/4 cup rolled oats and cherries. Drop onto greased baking sheets by tablespoon.

Bake at 375 degrees about 15 minutes or until center tests done. Remove from baking sheets while warm to wire rack to cool. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Each cookie contains about: 49 calories; 57 mg sodium; 1 mg cholesterol; trace fat; 11 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram protein; 0.05 gram fiber.