1 - Applesauce Cookies

I'm going to preface this blog post by admitting that I cheated on this recipe twice maybe three times if you count the fact that I halved the recipe as cheating. So with a clear consience let's go!

I have to admit I've made these cookies before when I started this blog back in March but never got around to posting the results so because I'm having a fresh start I made them again yesterday afternoon.

Applesauce Cookies

1 cup shortening (I used butter)
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup cold coffee
2 cups well drained thick applesauce (I just boiled up some apples and whizzed them up to make this)
3 1/2 cups flour (Gold Medal Flour???)
1 tsp bicarb soda (baking soda)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp each cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves
1 cup raisins (I used sultanas I didn't have raisins hmmm is this cheat number four???)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts (I omitted the nuts)

Here's the ingredients gathered together:

So you mix together the butter, sugar and eggs:

That's where mistake number one happened. I halved this recipe because it makes 7-8 dozen cookies according to the book and there's no way we'd get through all those and plus I have heaps more recipes to get through. So I decided to half this one but it wasn't until I had mixed the first part up that I realised I'd still put in two eggs! Luckily it didn't seem to make a difference from what I remembered the first batch to be. I also forgot to halve the spices but I love spicy cookies so that definitely didn't bother me.

Ok so next you add the coffee and applesauce. Mix the dry ingredients together then stir into the wet mix. Here's where another mistake happened. You need to chill for at least two hours! I didn't actually start making these until around 3pm so it was after 5pm when they came out to go into the oven.

Here's the mixture before it went into the fridge:

You then heat your oven to 200C (400F) and drop rounded tablespoonfuls of the dough a couple of inches apart on a greased baking sheet. Bake 9-12 minutes or 'until almost no imprint remains when touched lightly'. The books also says if desired frost with Lemon Butter Icing when cool but I didn't do this as it was so late by the time mine were done and to be honest I don't think they need icing (frosting).

Here's mine before going into the oven. I did a tray of 12 small ones and then got impatient and did 6 HUGE ones. I'm not quite sure how I would have got 3 - 4 dozen out of this mixture unless I'd made them tiny.

I definitely need to work on my rounding technique!

Here's the finished product (minus a few samples):

 These were truly delicious. They are more like a cakey type cookie than a crisp cookie so it's more like eating a little sponge cake. A divine spicy soft little sponge cake. These will definitely be a keeper in my house.

Next up Orange Drop Cookies :)
Happy Baking!