6 Low-Cal Ingredients Every Kitchen Needs

The Sneaky Baking Staple

You may have occasionally baked with applesauce before, but what you may not realize is that you can use any variety, smooth or chunky, in nearly any baked good, from pound cake to cranberry muffins to brownies. By replacing half of whatever fat the recipe calls for—such as butter, margarine, shortening or oil—with an equal amount of applesauce, you'll trim calories and fat. Single-serving sizes of applesauce are great for this; they keep in the pantry for six months to a year, and most come in portions of around one-third cup, which is just about half the amount of butter (or other fat) you'd find in a typical muffin recipe.