411 sugar cookie recipes

Lighter chocolate amaretto cheesecake made with reduced-fat cream cheese, cottage cheese, and cocoa. Baked low and slow with mini chocolate chips folded in.

Frozen coffee ice cream cake layered on a chocolate wafer crust with amaretti whipped cream, toasted almonds, and a rich Amaretto dark chocolate sauce. Make-ahead elegance for any celebration.

The full showpiece version of Bruno's flourless Italian chocolate cake: three layers filled with rum-spiked chocolate whipped cream, wrapped in alternating dark and white chocolate strips, and garnished with chocolate leaves.

Lighter oatmeal raisin cookies with quick oats, brown sugar, and a quarter cup of butter. Egg substitute trims the cholesterol while keeping the chewy texture intact. Yields 36 lunchbox-sized cookies.

Chocolate mocha mud cake: a dense, fudgy Australian-style cake baked low and slow, then finished with a glossy chocolate-butter icing. Instant coffee deepens the chocolate without tasting like coffee.

Banana apple bread combines three ripe bananas with chunky chopped apples for a moist, fruit-loaded quick bread. Topped with chopped almonds for crunch, perfect for breakfast or brown-bag snacks.

These waffles were super light just like the name. I made my own self-rising flour with whole wheat flour, and the waffles still came out light and fluffy. We had them with a homemade raspberry sauce and maple candied almonds. An excellent choice of breakfast.

Oatmeal buttermilk pancakes with quick oats soaked in tangy buttermilk for a tender, fluffy stack with whole-grain bite. Higher in fiber than standard pancakes and ready in 30 minutes flat. Weekend breakfast that holds you until lunch.

Tasty treats, and the recipe can also be used to make quick bread.

Fat-free banana muffins use mashed bananas, dark corn syrup, and egg whites in place of butter or oil. A moist breakfast muffin with cinnamon and skim milk, no added fat.

Pumpkin oat bran muffins: high-fiber, low-fat fall muffins sweetened with brown sugar, spiced with pumpkin pie spice, and lightened with egg whites. A wholesome breakfast or snack ready in 30 minutes.

Healthier oatmeal raisin cookies made with prune paste instead of butter for lower fat, soft-baked treats in 30 minutes

Apple raisin breakfast muffins kept moist and tender with unsweetened applesauce and just a little oil, lightly sweetened and studded with plumped raisins and cinnamon. A make-ahead, freezer-friendly breakfast.

Double berry muffins layer blueberry batter around a hidden teaspoon of raspberry jam, lightened with wheat germ and orange juice. Low-fat breakfast bake.

I used whole milk and whole wheat flour, and the mini pumpkin loaves came out nicely fluffy, moist and very flavorful.

Turned out great, gotta love home made apple pancakes. Quick and easy too.