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THe "healthy cookie" is the holy grail for many sweet lovers. A tasty treat with minimal fat and calories, and ingredients that are actually good for you -- who wouldn't want that?

May as well try to grab smoke.

BETTY SHIMABUKURO BETTY@STARBULLETIN.COM

Here are your options: Use butter, sugar and/or egg substitutes, but carefully so you don't end up with baked cardboard. You'll get a lighter cookie, but it'll still be empty calories -- just fewer of them.

Or, go with a cookie made with something basically healthy, such as oatmeal, with some of the fat and sugar replaced by fruit. This cookie would have redeeming nutritional value, but those fruit sugars still pack calories.

Rather than a truly healthy cookie, it's more realistic to aim for a less unhealthy cookie. Not that it's a useless pursuit. Good cookies are worth their weight in pure happiness, after all, so we may as well give it a shot.

It was Daisee Mau who brought all of this to mind, when she asked for some traditional cookie recipes doctored to be lighter, now that the holiday baking season is approaching.

"I would love to make healthier, lower calorie versions of shortbread, Chinese Almond Cookies, and especially Russian Tea Cookies," she wrote.

Notice she said "healthier," not "healthy." The mark of a realist.

Fortuitously, there's a new cookbook on the market, "Hawai'i Light and Healthy," by Diana Helfand, the "Heart-y Chef" columnist for MidWeek. The cookbook offers a few slimmed-down cookie suggestions. Helfand's no-bake Holiday Spirit Balls are something like Russian Tea Cookies, but made with vanilla wafers.

Book Signings Diana Helfand will sign her new cookbook, "Hawai'i Light and Healthy": Saturday: 2 to 3 p.m., Native Books and Beautiful Things, Ward Warehouse Sunday: noon to 1 p.m., Barnes & Noble Nov. 13: noon to 1:30 p.m., Borders Express, Kahala Mall Nov. 14: 4 to 5 p.m., Borders Express, Pearlridge Nov. 27: noon to 2 p.m., Borders Express, Mililani Nov. 28: 2 to 3 p.m., Borders Books & Music, Waikele Dec. 11: noon to 1 p.m. Borders Ward Centre

Helfand doesn't use sugar substitutes in her sweets, but she does use Smart Balance, a replacement for butter that contains no cholesterol and none of those evil trans fats that turned so many of us away from margarine.

She says just about any cookie recipe can be lightened up by trading Smart Balance spread for an equal amount of butter. This works for any recipe that calls for creaming the butter. "I've gotten very good results," she said. When a recipe calls for melted butter, she suggests substituting half the butter with Smart Balance.

Smart Balance has 9 grams of fat per tablespoon, compared to 11 grams for butter. Saturated fat is 2.5 grams for Smart Balance, compared to 7 grams for butter. (A light version is available, but it is not recommended for baking.) Find it in most supermarkets next to the margarine and in large tubs at Sam's Club.

For recipes that call for oil, Helfand suggests fruit purŽes such as applesauce or prune purŽe to replace half the fat. This works especially well in quick breads, she said.

For those who would like to cut sugar carbs more than fat, the latest addition to the low-cal toolbox is Splenda, a sugar substitute that can be measured one-to-one in baking.

It's a good alternative for those who can't have sugar, but there are caveats. Splenda doesn't caramelize the way sugar does, so your cookies won't turn golden brown. The manufacturer suggests topping cookies with cooking oil spray just before baking to get some browning. A bit of beaten egg brushed on top also helps.

Splenda should not be used to replace brown sugar, as it cannot match the flavor and texture. When Splenda is creamed, the result won't be as smooth as with sugar, and when an egg is added, it will separate. You can still proceed with your recipe.

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Helfand's Holiday Spirit Balls, are made with Smart Balance. Mau, our cookie seeker, also asked for a shortbread; a chocolate version from Splenda follows.

Holiday Spirit Balls

"Hawai'i Light and Healthy"
by Diana Helfand
(Bess Press, 2004, $12.95)

3 cups finely crushed vanilla wafers
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon Smart Balance Light margarine, melted (see notes)
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon light corn syrup
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup rum or bourbon (see notes)
Finely chopped nuts and more powdered sugar, for topping

Mix wafer crumbs, powdered sugar, nuts, margarine, corn syrup and cocoa powder in large bowl. Stir in rum or bourbon. Let stand 20 minutes.

Shape into 1-inch balls; roll half in nuts and half in powdered sugar. Store in airtight containers with waxed paper between layers. Let flavor develop overnight before eating. Makes about 50 balls.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per cookie: 90 calories, 3 g fat, no cholesterol, 40 mg sodium.

Notes: Smart Balance comes in both regular and light spreads. The light version is not recommended for baking, but is used here because the cookies are not baked. The liquor in this recipe may be replaced by orange or apple juice. Add 1 teaspoon rum extract if desired for flavor.

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Deep Chocolate Shortbread

www.splenda.com

1 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup Splenda
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons Dutch cocoa powder
1-3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a cookie sheet or jellyroll pan with parchment.

Beat butter, Splenda, sugar, vanilla and salt in a mixing bowl until light and creamy, 1 to 1-1/2 minutes. Add cocoa powder and flour. Mix until just blended.

Form dough into a ball and place on cookie sheet. Roll into a rectangle about 6- 1/2 inches wide by 11 inches long and 1/4 inch thick. Pierce surface with a fork all over to keep air pockets from forming during baking.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pan after 10 minutes. Cut into 24 rectangles while still warm.

Approximate nutritional information, per cookie: 110 calories, 70 g total fat, 8 g saturated fat, 20 mg cholesterol, 105 mg sodium, 10 g carbohydrate, no fiber, 1 g protein.

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Finally, I thought I'd try a cookie using both sugar and butter substitutes. This Chinese Almond Cookie is a basic recipe, with Splenda and Smart Balance swapped in one-to-one for the sugar and butter.

The results were good, but Splenda does leave a bit of that fake-sugar aftertaste behind. If you can't handle that, stick with regular sugar. The cookies don't spread much during baking, so the cookie is a bit smaller and more dense than normal.

Light Almond Cookies

3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/3 cups Smart Balance
1 cup Splenda
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
36 almond halves or red food coloring
Cooking oil spray

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Sift together flour, salt and baking soda.

Cream Smart Balance and Splenda. Add egg and extract, mix well. Gradually stir in sifted ingredients.

Roll cookies into walnut-sized balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly and press an almond half into center, if desired. Spray tops with cooking oil spray. Bake 15 to 20 minutes.

If not using almonds, make a red dot in center of each cookie, using the tip of a chopstick dipped in food coloring.

Nutritional information unavailable.

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Asterisk (*) after nutritional analyses in the Body & Soul section indicates calculations by Joannie Dobbs of Exploring New Concepts, a nutritional consulting firm.