Martha, Minus the Sugar

Ahhh, more baking today. I made Martha Stewart’s Chewy Gingerbread Chocolate Chip cookies, which are in my opinion the finest Christmas cookie ever invented.

The recipe can be easily modded for low-sugar or no-sugar palates. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of brown sugar. You can sub with straight Splenda, or 1/4 cup Splenda and 1/4 cup brown sugar. The latter version gives you a little extra crunch and texture, and when you consider that the 1/4 cup of brown is spread out over about 30 cookies, the amount of sugar you’re eating isn’t huge.

(The recipe also calls for a little molasses, which I go ahead and use, since it’s somewhat easier on the body than white sugar.)

. . . And then, I chop up two 4-oz. bars of sugar-free chocolate and use them in place of the semi-sweet morsels.

Sadly, I don’t roll the balls of cookie dough in sugar like the recipe directs. So my cookies don’t have that pretty sparkle. Another thing to know is, the modded dough won’t flatten out in the oven like the original recipe does. So you may want to flatten your cookies a little with the bottom of a glass before baking. I don’t bother with that.

As you can see, my version wouldn’t win a beauty contest next to Martha’s, but that glorious, spice-and-chocolate flavor explosion is the same. Besides, these won’t be around long enough for anyone to notice their looks.

While I was baking, this arrived on my doorstep – a lovely surprise gift! I am so excited to explore this book!