DEAR JEANNE: We enjoy your healthy-eating column. The recipe I am sending is terrific, but due to health problems, my diet is restricted. I am hoping you will be able to revise these yummy Congo Squares for me and my husband. Thank you. – Ann Marie James, Florida

CONGO SQUARES

2 3/4 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sticks butter

1 pound dark-brown sugar

3 eggs

12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup nuts (optional)

Mix dry ingredients together. Melt butter over low heat in pan; add brown sugar. After it cools, add the eggs, one at a time, and mix by hand. Mix in dry ingredients; add chocolate chips and nuts. Grease an 11-by-17-inch cookie sheet and spread in pan. Bake at 350, approximately 20-25 minutes.

Makes 35 squares.

DEAR ANN MARIE: These are very good. Baking them in a pan rather than as traditional chocolate-chip cookies keeps them very moist. I took out 2/3 of the butter and replaced it with buttermilk. I took out a little sugar, but not much, because of the tangy buttermilk. Since the nuts are optional, you should know that the nuts in the original recipe add 2 grams of fat and 25 calories. The 1/3 cup in the revised recipe adds 8 calories and 1 gram fat. I hope you like my revision.

REDUCED-FAT CONGO SQUARES

1/3 cup butter, melted

2 cups dark-brown sugar

2 eggs

1 egg white

1 cup low-fat buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1/3 cup nuts (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Spray an 11-by-17-inch pan (jelly-roll pan) with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine the melted butter with the brown sugar. Add the eggs and egg white, one at a time, and beat in. Beat in the buttermilk and vanilla.

3. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the buttermilk mixture, beating just until smooth. Add the chocolate chips and the nuts, if using.

4. Spread evenly in the prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the pre-heated oven.

Makes 35 squares.

Each square contains approximately: Original recipe: 209 calories; 11 g. fat; 32 mg. cholesterol; 132 mg. sodium; 27 g. carbohydrates; 3 g. protein; 1 g. fiber. Revised recipe: 149 calories; 5 g. fat; 17 mg. cholesterol; 80 mg. sodium; 25 g. carbohydrates; 2 g. protein; 1 g. fiber.

Jeanne Jones is the author of 33 cookbooks, most recently "Cooking From the Cupboard" (Rodale Press). For more information, you can go to her Web site, jeannejones.com. Send your recipe for revision to: Cook It Light, P.O. Box 1212, La Jolla, CA 92038. Please include a stamped (61 cents), self-addressed envelope.