Low-Fat Oatmeal Cookies

Like many others, I'm working on losing some weight this year by eating healthy. Gosh, I feel so unoriginal! So here's my jump-on-the-bandwagon offering, in the form of low-fat cookies. These oatmeal cookies have a good flavor, but the texture is pretty much what you'd expect from a cookie with no butter, margarine, or eggs - a little on the rubbery side. The bonus is that since there aren't eggs in the recipe, you can snack on the dough as much as you want. Also, at about 60 calories per cookie, they're practically guilt-free. But I'm trying to decide whether it's better to fill up on several rubbery cookies to satisfy my sweet tooth, or slowly eat just one really good high-calorie cookie and enjoy every sinful bite... I'll get back to you on that...


Low-Fat Oatmeal Cookies
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup applesauce (I didn't have any, and substituted mashed banana and canned pears)
1 cup flour (I used half white and half whole wheat)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup raisins (we're out of raisins, so I omitted them)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional, I didn't add them)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F ( 175 degrees C ). Grease a cookie sheet.

In a medium bowl, stir together the brown sugar, white sugar, and applesauce. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon; stir into the applesauce mixture. Add the rolled oats, raisins and chopped nuts (if desired); stir until combined.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet (the dough won't spread while baking, so flatten slightly with a spoon). Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool slightly before removing from the baking sheet.