First-hand baking tip

Something comes over me this time of year... as the snow starts falling... and we get closer to Christmas..........

I start baking. I don't normally do a lot of baking, but something deep within compels me.... and I start craving cookies and other sweet treats. Today I made fudge while my boys were napping. Then I decided to make chocolate chip cookies.

So, the recipe calls for 1 cup of softened butter [that's two sticks]. The operative word here is softened. I had put a fresh stick of butter on the butter dish this morning, so that one was already softened.... but since I hadn't planned ahead, I'd have to grab another stick of hard butter from the frig.... and how do you effectively soften butter without melting it???

Then my brilliant mind remembered, "Hey! Can't you substitute applesauce for butter?" So I Googled it—and sure enough, you can indeed substitute applesauce for up to 3/4 of the butter the recipe calls for! So I tried it...... and.... well......... suffice to say that chocolate chip cookies come out much firmer [that is, you can actually hold the cookie with your fingers without it wilting and falling into pieces all over the floor] when you just follow the recipe as it's written....

Happy day! :)