Educators, Dietitians, Nurses, Mental Health & Fitness Professionals
Menu Planning & Recipes

How many calories are in that recipe?

Most of the weight of a 'baked goods' (cookies, muffins, pastries, etc.) comes from flour, sweetener (sugars or syrups), and fat (butter or oil). Since these ingredients are all >100-calories per ounce, the same will apply to the final product. To reduce calories per serving usually requires replacing some fat (butter or oil) with lower calorie moisteners (banana puree, prune puree). On the other hand chocolate and nuts (running 134- to 167-calories per ounce) increase the final calories per ounce of the final product. 

Calories of Common Baking Ingredients

Ingredient                    Calories per ounce weight

Banana puree..........................  ... 25

Brown Rice Syrup.....................  .. 92

Butter (~2 Tbl.).................. ...... 203

Chocolate, dark.................... ...... 134

Chocolate, milk..................... ..... 145 

 Dried fruit (raisins, 

cranberries, dates, etc.)............ 85

Eggs, whole............................  .... 40

Flour, white................................ 103

Flour, whole wheat..................... 97

Molasses................................. .... 82

Nuts (average)......................... 167

Oat Bran................................. .... 70

Oats, whole............................... 110

Oil (~2 Tbl.)................................ 250

Prune puree................................. 73

Sugar, brown............................. 107

Sugar, white.............................. 110

Wheat Bran............................ ..... 61