Recipe: Ginger Carrot Cookies

I worked off a recipe I found on the Food Network's website and made some substitutions.  1) I got rid of the butter.  I hate baking with butter!  2) Instead of using 1 cup light brown sugar and 1/4 cup molasses, I used 1 cup dark brown sugar.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup applesauce

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 egg

2 cups flour, divided into two parts

2 tsps baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 carrot, shredded

Mix applesauce, sugar, egg, and one cup flour in a medium bowl until creamy.  Add baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and last cup of flour.  Stir in carrot. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and put mixture in refrigerator for 15 minutes.  When the time is up, spoon the batter into little balls on a greased cookie sheet.  (I used a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.) Bake for 10 minutes.

These cookies are light, but air on the dry side, making them great for dipping!  A yummy treat to have with your morning coffee! I might try using only 1 tsp of baking soda.  In this recipe, the baking soda counteracts the acidity of the dark brown sugar, but the down side is that it leavens the cookie.  I was going for a crispier cookie than I got.  Note: you'd have to use the baking soda even if I didn't substitute the molasses for the dark brown sugar.