Pt 1 Choco Oatmeal Cookies Using Applesauce Not Butter or Oil

The web has loads of recipes for making oatmeal cookies. My batch was meant to be about as low-calorie as I could make, but chocolate chips would be mandatory! (About a month ago, I made a split batch of oatmeal cookies—one portion being chipped and the other portion unchipped. Chipped were tastier.)

This article is more of a guide for the cooky recipe, intended for those who have cooky preparation experience. You should know about recipe utensils and equipment, ingredients, recipes steps, and reading between lines. For more elementary cooky preparation info, visit "Simplest Scratch Oatmeal Cookies",

Two Main Recipe Guides

"Oatmeal Cookies (with Oil instead of Butter)" lists the most reasonable number of ingredients. The methodology looked sensible to follow. I subbed applesauce for oil, bumped up the baking soda, and omitted the cinnamon. Note: My brown sugar was bricky, so I revived it by microwaving it in a bowl beside a bowlful of water for a couple of 2-minute sessions.

"How to Substitute Applesauce for Butter in Oatmeal Cookies" provides advice for the applesauce substitution. The site includes sections titled "The Method" (mixing sequence), "Find the Best Ratio" (1:1), "Cooking Time and Results" (descriptive differences), and "Other Considerations" (oatmeal cookies being suitable for applesaucing).

Ingredients (preheating oven 350 a good idea at this time)

1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 cups oats (I used quick-cooking type.)
8 ounces (1 1/2 C) chocolate chips
Spray oil, needed because the dough has no butter or oil

Combining Ingredients (tilt-head mixer advised)

1. Whisk together in a smallish bowl: flour, baking soda, and salt
2. Mix together in a larger bowl or tilt-head mixer bowl: eggs, vanilla, brown sugar
3. Stir flour mixture into the wet ingredients.
4. Stir in the oatmeal.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Dispensing Dough

Before dispensing, I used spray oil on each pan, except for one pan with 6 dollops that I forgot to spray. Oops! No surprise that those didn't easily lift off the pan after baking.

At first, I stuffed dough into a cooky press that I modified a disc for. However, the sticky dough was uncooperative, sticky to the cavity more easily than dropping onto the pan. Lost cause. I dumped the dough back into the mixing bowl. I settled on using a 1 1/2 T cooky scoop and, clumsily, rubber spatula, and fingers.

I then tried pressing dollops flatter—time consuming and stickiness ickiness. For a future batch, I'll try wetting fingers between dollop droppings (grin). Might also try my adjustable measuring spoon.

 

Baking and Results

I baked each panful 10 minutes. The yield was 72 (and tasty). The cookies didn't rise or expand by much. At least they were about 2" diameter. I wasn't sure if I should have put in more baking soda. They were a little crunchy outside and a little soft inside. In a few hours till end of cookies (5 days, refrigerated after cooling), they were still somewhat soft and chewy, similar to cereal bars.

Calories and Sodium

Initially, I used stats in packages, then suspected lots of potentially tolerance errors. Many of the stats referred to single-serving sizes, such as a portion of a spoonful or cup. I Googled for calorie stats for cupful of flour, brown sugar, and chocolate chips. Sure enough, my second set of numbers better reflected realistic amounts of ingredients used.

The recipe focuses on applesauce instead of butter/oil and includes chocolate chips. The sodium is the same for three options.

Comparison for using butter/oil instead of applesauce, add 1600 C, subtract 120 C.
3920 + 1600 - 120 = 5400
5400 / 72 cookies = 75 C each

Comparison for skipping chocolate chips, using applesauce instead of butter/oil, subtract 1209.

(Eight ounces of chips amounted to 12 cookies. Hypothetical yield = 60 cookies.)
3920 - 1209 = 2711
2711 / 60 cookies = 45 C each

Comparison for skipping chocolate chips, using butter/oil instead of applesauce, subtract 1209 and 120, add 1600.
3920 - 1209 - 120 + 1600 = 4191
4191/ 60 cookies = 70 C each

"Simplest Scratch Oatmeal Cookies", used similar ingredients as the last recipe, but differing amounts. The yield was 56 cookies, calculated to about 63 calories each. Those cookies actually came out prettier. Maybe my next oatmeal cooky session will be the use-oil recipe, with chocolate chips.

Hmmm, I don't recall dough stickiness being as difficult as the applesauce hack. Yeah, more calories/cooky, but maybe more easy to dispense. I'll try the cooky scooper and adjustable measuring spoon, hoping the dollops are reasonable handling.

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"Simplest Scratch Oatmeal Cookies"

"Pt 1 Choco Oatmeal Cookies Using Applesauce Not Butter or Oil"
recipe-centric info

"Pt 2 Choco Oatmeal Cookies Using Applesauce Not Butter or Oil"
closer looks, additional resources