Spicy Applesauce Cookies with the Daycare Kids

So, we decided yesterday to take a break from our theme of dinosaurs and just enjoy a day of painting, baking and playing.  We all need Mondays like that, don't we?  Just a break from the usual and switch to something more comforting and just spend the day enjoying each other's company?  So after some prolonged arts and crafts time, we headed into the kitchen.  I had decided a drop cookie was the best route to take, but I didn't want to oversugar the kids and ruin the good mood flowing...so, I picked an applesauce cookie recipe out of my Betty Crocker cookie book and started adjusting.  I made several batches of homemade appleasauce this year and thought that my spiced applesauce would be perfect for these cookies.  So if you're making them, you may need to adjust the spices because we left almost all spice except a few shakes of cinnamon out of the mix.

Spicy Applesauce Cookies

adapted from/inspired by Betty Crocker Cookie Book

3/4 c packed brown sugar

1/4 c butter, softened

1/4 c applesauce, mine was home canned and spiced with ginger, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg and slightly sweetened

1 egg

2 1/4 c all purpose flour

2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

Heat oven to 375.  Beat brown sugar, butter, applesauce and egg in large bowl with electric mixer.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Drop my teaspoonful onto parchment paper or greased cookie sheets.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until no longer soft and slightly browned.  Remove from heat and let cool.  Store in airtight container because they will get hard otherwise.

These were some pretty yummy cookies!  They could be iced as called for in the original recipe, but again, in the interests of sugar limiting, I left them as is. No complaints from the kiddos or my own family!  It would be a great fall treat too.  I might even suggest the addition of caramel or toffee bits.  That would be a great combo!