Healthier Shortbread Cookies

Normally, i don't make shortbread cookies because they call for so much butter.  But i was able to modify this recipe with margarine and applesauce, and the cookies turned out fine! 

Yay for healthier alternatives!  It's not healthy, but it's healthier than what it could have been ;)

And i also made it a little more festive by filling the centers with apricot preserves.  Mmm, yummy!

Ingredients:
-1 stick margarine
-1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
-1/2 cup sugar
-1 tsp vanilla
-2 cup flour
-1/4 tsp salt
*fruit preserves optional

1.  Mix flour and salt, then set aside.

2.  Soften a stick of margarine.  Add applesauce and mix.

3.  Add sugar to the margarine/applesauce mixture.  Cream till well incorporated. 

4.  Add vanilla extract.

5.  Add flour mixture little by little.  An electric mixer (i used a hand-held one) is useful here. This is what it looks like after 1 cup of flour.

And then after everything's been incorporated!

6.  Wrap the dough in some plastic wrap and store in the fridge for at least an hour.

7.  Flour your counter.  This dough sticks a lot more than sugar cookies.  Flour the top too.

 Now roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. 

Here's where you can get creative.  You can just cut shapes into them with cookie cutters.  Or...

If you wanna do what i did, have 2 cookie cutters where one is smaller than the other.  Punch out 2 cookies with the larger shape.

Then in one of those, punch a hole in the middle with the smaller shape. 

Then place the one with the hole on top of the one without. 

Then you have a little crater you can fill with jam.

I learned this from watching my mother-in-law-to-be make her Christmas cookies one year :)  Thanks, Jen! 

You can fill the center with whatever jam you want.  

Don't worry about pushing the jam perfectly into all the cracks...it'll just do that by itself as it softens and boils. 

I used that Simply Fruit stuff that Smuckers makes.  It has less sugar and tastes more like fruit than globs of sugar. 

8.  Bake on greased cookie sheets at 350F for about 8-9 minutes or until edges are gold.

Yum!  I'll be bringing these to an event for our grad student group.  So we'll see how they taste at that point :)

Yum!  A light shortbread cookie that is super easy to make, and a bit healthier than the store-bought kind. 

Have a wonderful day!  Enjoy the snow, for those of you who have it!

For a printable version of this recipe, please click here.