Cookie Secrets

Well, as I am new to contributing on yumbutton I feel I should say something about myself for those of you who don't know me. My name is David and I am not a particularly good cook. When in the kitchen I am best with an assortment of foods that shouldn't go together and a hot skillet, usually something work out; more importantly I am a lover of delicious food. Fortunately for me I have a better half, (Lauren) who is a better cook and more importantly a registered dietitian. Living with a dietitian comes with its ups and downs, sometimes things are contra-banned, sometimes lectures take place, and sometimes I even get tricked.

I was surprised and excited to see Lauren in the kitchen making what looked like cookie dough (the surprise and excitement is mainly because we have cut way back on fats and sweets to help us both achieve healthy lifestyle goals).

As any good husband knows, when the wife is making something delicious in the kitchen just for the heck of it you must creep quietly back to a hidden corner of the house/apartment and hope she didn't notice you. This is an attempt to not disturb the magic taking place. It is a bit like accidentally seeing Santa when you're up getting a glass of water on Christmas Eve. You get the sense that if you disturb the magic it will stop happening.

Shortly after the baking process had begun I decided to reappear and take some pictures. At this point cookies were already coming out of the oven one sheet at a time (because we only have one) and getting lined up nicely on the little racks waiting to be eaten.

Don't think I didn't notice the twisted smile on her face when I went for the finished cookies. I noticed it. I saw her delight as I savored the first warm chewy bite. Her smile was a malicious one. I knew I had just made a wrong move, I knew the delight I was experiencing was about to be challenged. You see, I'm a good 4th generation Norwegian-American and as such I know butter is the staple of a good hearty life. We use butter for our lutafisk, our lefsa, boiled potatoes, salad, you get the idea, to paraphrase the ministry of magic "Butter is Might". It turns out these cookies, like her smile, had a dark secret and it wasn't any variety of magic. It was a lack of part of the most important ingredient. The cookies were void of half of the usual recommended butter, and didn't I notice. I stood there feeling defeated, hurt, naked, empty; having to admit I loved the cookies despite their evil secret ingredient. Applesauce.

It turns out applesauce fills the same role in the cookie dough as butter and you can't taste it at all. I could make up some nutrition facts about these cookies but instead I am passing the pen, as it were, to Lauren to fill you in on the 'how to,' and 'why' of these delicious cookies.

Peanut Butter-Butterscotch Cookies: (with modifications)
1/2c butter (usually 1c butter)
1/2c applesauce** (usually no applesauce)
1c peanut butter
1c granulated sugar
1c packed brown sugar
1tsp baking powder
1tsp baking soda
2 eggs
2 1/2c all-purpose flour
1-12oz bag butterscotch chips

**Note: Substituting applesauce for butter will increase the sweetness. Applesauce may also shorten the cooking time.

Instructions:
1. In large mixing bowl, beat butter and peanut butter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for 30 seconds or until well beaten. Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, and baking powder. Beat in egg and vanilla until combines. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining dough. Mix in butterscotch chips by hand.
2. Preheat oven to 375*F. Bake for 7-9 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned.

Yield: 72 cookies
Nutrition Facts per cookie:
104 calories, 6 g fat, 2g saturated fat (originally 111 calories, 7 grams of fat, 4 grams saturated fat).

Without reaching for the calculator you can tell that 104 calories vs 111 calories a cookie is not a huge difference, and same with the other stats provided. But this all stands to be multiplied, who can eat just one cookie? The batch has a substantial reduction in all three areas. The saturated fat is what I like to pay close attention to as it plays a negative role in our body. It is a main contributor to heart disease and clogging of the arteries in addition to raising your bad cholesterol (LDL), lowering your good cholesterol (HDL) and raising your total cholesterol.

When you can't taste the difference the little act of cutting half of the butter is very much worth it. The applesauce also seems to keep the cookies softer longer if you're a fan of soft cookies.

Enjoy!

David and Lauren