nomadic, Grok wander across plain

SUGAR Substitutes: maple syrup, honey, molasses. All three have subtly different flavors so experiment and see which you like. REDUCE THE OTHER WET INGREDIENTS so the cookies aren't too moist or dense.

BUTTER Substitute: put some canola oil or corn oil in a tupperware container, freeze it and use it instead of butter. Work quickly with it though lest it melt before you've got your cookies in the oven. Do NOT try that trick with olive oil. Oil has as much fat as butter but the lipids are different kind - unsaturated not saturated - so they're actually good for you instead of bad.

MILK substitute: use soy milk or vanilla soy milk. Or chocolate soy milk if they're chocolate cookies. Takes the cholesterol out of the mix - actually the soy stuff actually lowers cholesterol.

EGG substitute: You can grind up flax seeds in a coffee grinder or blender and use them but they're finiky. It works better to put a roughly egg sized portion of silken tofu through the blender (press or strain the clearish soy liquid out of it first - a paper towel works well for this). It's a good idea to put a tablespoon or so of canola oil in the blender with it - makes it smoother and stickier. Or you can use powdered egg substitute from the health food store but that often goes in as powder and tastes like powder too.

FLOUR substitute: if it calls for unbleached or all purpose flour, substitute whole wheat pastry flour for half of it. If you use whole what, SLIGHTLY DECREASE the amount of flour you put in or SLIGHTLY INCREASE the wet ingredients because it is what bakers call a 'thirsty' flour. Also slightly increase the baking powder or soda or whatever leavening agent you're using because it takes a little more umph to aerate whole wheat.

SODIUM substitute: cut the salt by half and increase whatever other spices are in it. Or better yet, cut the salt by two thirds.

Those go for all sorts of cooking and baking, not just cookies. There is some trial and error to cooking with these substitutes but I've been a vegan cook for a few years and do just fine. Or possibly I've forgotten what real cookies taste like.

or Luna bars. Those things are pretty much cookies.

I know you like to cook though, and it takes that step out of it.

did we not do a good enough job at Christmas?! :-)

is you don't want the real ones I'll take them .
are you the one who is trying to get rid of Cookie Monster !!!!!

When I'm back in town, Eden will have a cookie taste test.

See if you can tell the test cookie (vegan, healthy) from the placebo cookie (granulated sugar, butter, eggs).

I should also add: I'm the one who puts a liberal shot or two of the bar supplies into the batter for good measure.

anyone still remember "New Coke" ???
or when they made other colors of" Swedish fish"
or do you think Toyota still wishes they tried to make a better gas pedal!!!

I've never even heard of New Coke. I was born in 1985 you see. By "New Coke" do you mean the sort they introduced in the 1920s, without the cocaine in it?

I'll as happily eat nice Teleostian Swedish fish of any species or genera - as I assume differences in coloration imply. Now if they started making fish of some other family, order, class or different phylum altogether that would be a problem. For example, like Swedish Pteraspidomorphans or Swedish Petromyzontidians. Ew.

I have no experience with Toyotas. You see being intelligent, I drive a Subaru - and I make healthy cookies.

the techno stuff all you need to know is look for the yellow bag in the local Wal Mart (cures colds /flu , stomach cramps and fills in for sports jelly beans) all for less than $2.50 a bag
and new coke was from the 80's and was to be really great but you could not pour it down the drain fast enough to get rid of it .

I'll take care of the real cookies once I get through my racing season.

A friend of mine makes sensational healthy cookies with no butter or oil, replacing them with a mixture of 2/3 prune puree and 1/3 applesauce. Yum!