How to Bake with Yogurt & A Nutrition Comparison

Last week I made some delicious Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies with yogurt.

When creating the recipe page and calculating the nutrition info for them, I decided to run the numbers on my original recipe to see just how much of a difference the yogurt substitution made.  The numbers really impressed me so I thought you’d like to see them as well!

 

Nutrition Info	Yogurt Recipe	Original Recipe
Calories	225	283
Fat (g)	8	14
Saturated Fat (g)	4	8
Trans Fat (g)	0	0
Cholesterol (mg)	30	53
Sodium (mg)	178	211
Total Carbohydrate (g)	35	37
Dietary Fiber (g)	1	1
Sugars (g)	21	24
Protein (g)	4	4
Vitamin A (% daily amt)	18	25
Vitamin C (% daily amt)	1	1
Calcium (% daily amt)	5	3
Iron (% daily amt)	5	5

 

As you can see, there’s 58 fewer calories, 6 less grams of fat, 4 less grams of saturated fat, 23 less milligrams of cholesterol and 33 less mg of sodium, per cookie!

Let’s be honest though, who only eats 1 cookie? The numbers get twice as exciting if you have 2: 116 fewer calories, 12 less grams of fat, 8 less grams of saturated fat, 46 less milligrams of cholesterol and 66 less mg of sodium.

Here are some simple baking-with-yogurt substitution tips:

If replacing…

• Butter: use half of the amount called for and replace the remaining amount with half of the amount of yogurt. For example, if a recipe calls for 1/2 C of butter (or 1 stick), use 1/4 C of butter (1/2 stick) and 1/8 C yogurt.
• Oil or shortening: use half of the amount of oil called for and replace the remaining amount with 3/4 of the amount of yogurt.  For example, if a recipe calls for 2 C oil, use 1 C oil and 3/4 C yogurt.
• Sour cream: use half of the amount of sour cream called for and equal amounts of yogurt for the remaining amount.  For example, if a recipe calls for 1 C sour cream, use 1/2 C sour cream and 1/2 C yogurt.
• Milk or water: to make baked goods a little richer, replace 1/4 of the milk or water with yogurt.  For example, if a recipe calls for 1 C milk, use 3/4 C milk and 1/4 C yogurt.

Adjust recipes if the consistencies seem a little off… add yogurt by the tablespoon if it seems dry, or add flour back by the tablespoon if it seems a little wet.  I love experimenting with recipes!  Maybe this will inspire some of you to try baking with yogurt, too!  I promise you, you will barely be able to tell the difference, if at all. I actually feel more satisfied from the yogurt-version of whatever I bake.  This might be more psychological than anything, but hey, it works.  Baking with yogurt is a great alternative to having a ton of oil, butter, and lard in your baked goods!