If you are feeling guilty about eating all those buttery, gut-busting holiday cookies, you can always try a healthier version of this chocolate chip cookie, baked with applesauce instead of the full stick or two of butter. It won’t have all that greasy goodness though, so beware. Rather, they are more chewy and cake-like, and not overly sweet except for the hint of applesauce, and chocolate chips.

Psychologically, it works for me.

Chocolate chip cookies baked with applesauce (makes 24)

printable recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup applesauce, drained
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drain applesauce using a fine mesh sieve over a bowl.

2) In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, applesauce, brown sugar, butter, vanilla and egg together.

3) Add chips to batter, mix until well combined. Place spoonfuls of batter evenly apart on a greased cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes. Take out of oven and place cookies on a cookie rack to cool.

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Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drain applesauce using a fine mesh sieve over a bowl.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, applesauce, brown sugar, butter, vanilla and egg together.

Add chips to batter, mix until well combined.

Place spoonfuls of batter evenly apart on a greased cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes.

Take out of oven and place cookies on a cookie rack to cool.

The end result is a very non-greasy cookie, with a chewy though cake-like consistency. Since I don’t like overly sugary things, I would probably make this again instead of normal chocolate chip cookies. Not just for the health factor, but because I feel like they aren’t clogging my arteries if I eat three of these versus 3 ‘normal’ cookies.