lazyThese are the sugar cookies I make for Mardi Gras, Christmas, and often Halloween. They are excellent for frosting since they are not very sweet on their own. With so little sugar in the recipe compared with chocolate chip or other cookies, I thought these might be a good candidate for Splenda substitution. I don't expect much calorie savings because only the sugar is gone. Like the oatmeal raisin cookies I tried before, these are also more fluffy than chewy, very delicate, more like delicate shortbread. You can definitely taste the difference, but they were deemed definitely tasty so ultimately a success. :)
Thick Sugar Cookies
2/3 cup margarine or butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
4 tsp. milk, optional
Chill 1 hour. Divide dough in half. Roll out half of dough 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Use greased or non-stick cookie sheet. Bake at 375 ºF for 12 minutes. If using Splenda so that the cookies are more fragile, cool on cookie sheet before transferring to cooling rack.
Also, I've been avoiding bread pudding lately since bread is the highest calories. However, the Orowheat Lite bread I've been using is only 80 calories for 2 slices & quite tasty, so I thought I could try that, with Splenda vs. sugar & see what happened. I don't have yet how many Weight Watchers points this actually is, but considering the bread is saving 360 calories from the total batch, and the Splenda saves 360 sugar calories, that must be good for something... ;) Since the rain & wind today didn't convince me to want to venture outside, a nice baking smell with warm bread pudding sounded really good to me this afternoon. I can taste that it's not really sugar, but overall I think this is a success, especially considering the 1000 total calories saved!
Bread Pudding
3 cups torn bread chunks (6 slices Orowheat Lite @ 40 calories per slice saves ~360 calories)
2 cups milk, scalded, then add 1/4 cup butter or margarine (I omitted the butter/marg but used my butter-flavor non-stick spray to coat the casserole dish)
1/2 cup sugar (1/2 cup Splenda saves 360 cal)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup raisins, if desired
Heat oven to 350 ºF. Place bread in 1 1/2 quart baking dish. The mixture should be at least 1 inch from top of container, since it swells a bit as it cooks. Blend in remaining ingredients with a fork to avoid breaking up the bread too much. Place the baking dish in a pan of hot water 1 inch deep. Make sure there is always water in the pan, you may need to add some boiling water as it bakes. Bake 40-45 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from edge comes out clean.
