Not only have I had success using carob chips and powder to soothe my husband’s chocolate allergy, but I’ve also enjoyed substituting yogurt chips for white chocolate chip recipes. Under US law, white chocolate must contain at least twenty percent cocoa butter. So if you’re allergic to chocolate, you can’t eat white chocolate either.
Even if you’re not allergic to chocolate, why substitute white chocolate for yogurt chips? After all, yogurt chips have more calories than white chocolate chips. Yogurt chips also have less than half as much saturated fat. For most people it is easier to burn sugar or carbohydrate calories than it is to burn calories from stored fat.
Not to mention that a cookie, which is the food that most commonly contains chips, is healthy, since almost all have some combination of butter, sugar and flour. But you can lessen the damage this little comfort food creates by reading up the ingredients in a recipe and making a few health-conscious substitutions.
Yogurt chips go great with nut-based cookie recipes. They are especially good with cashews, walnuts, and macadamia nuts. And yes, you are right. Walnuts are high in calories and high in fat. But they are good fats (monounsaturated) that lower cholesterol and add a lot of flavor, especially if they are toasted before adding them to a cookie recipe. They also add texture and are packed with vitamins and protein.
The great thing about adding yogurt or other sprinkles to a cookie recipe is that it adds that extra touch of sweetness that we seem to crave in our desserts. When baking your own cookies, you have the option of using fewer chips than are called for in a recipe. Fewer chips will not change the chemistry or the result of the cookie.
Perhaps one of my favorite yogurt chip cookie combinations is with maple extract. Is there any flavor as tempting as the smell of maple? Another favorite is mixing blueberries with yogurt chips. This is a great combination for a biscotti, which takes a little longer, but isn’t difficult.
So the next time you’re looking for white chocolate chips or looking for a substitute, consider trying yogurt chips and use less. Or add them to a recipe that calls for a glaze and forget about the glaze. You’ll get the same amount of sweetness, but with less effort and less fat.
