One Smart Cookie. Rev. ed.

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Do you hate the way your low-fat cookie crumbles? Do artificial
sweeteners leave a bad taste in your mouth? Julie Van Rosendaal, a
caterer–turned–cookbook writer, may have your answer. To the
calorie-counting crowd, Van Rosendaal is preaching pure heresy because
she insists that you just cannot make a good cookie without eggs,
butter, and sugar. But Van Rosendaal says you can reduce calories
significantly without sacrificing great taste. She is living testament
to her theory—at one time, she weighed 330 pounds. When traditional
low-calorie desserts failed to get results, Van Rosendaal began
combining her own cooking skills with technical advice from her father,
who is a nutrition professor at the University of Calgary. In two years,
Van Rosendaal shed 165 pounds and started a catering business that
supplies low-cal treats to more than 50 Calgary cafés and restaurants.

The book starts off with a short refresher course on what basic baking
ingredients actually do in a recipe. Van Rosendaal then explains how
delicious desserts can be created with fewer calories. Within these
chapters are more than 200 low-fat cookie recipes. These include Banana
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, Butter Pecan Diamonds, Double Chocolate
Apricot Cookies, Fruity Fig Newtons, Lemon-Ginger Ice Cream Sandwiches,
Peanut Butter and Jam Thumbprints, Italian Sugar Cookies, Rocky Road
Squares, Lime Pecan Meringue Squares, Creamy Pumpkin Pie Bars, Mexican
Chocolate Icebox Cookies, Orange Sugar Cookies with Chocolate, and
Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti. If you want to create treats that are
packed with flavor, not calories, this cookbook should be on your
shopping list.