Over the weekend (while making Hermans), my kitchen slave (thanks Mum) chopped up lots of lovely apple into little bitty bits for the cakes. I had some leftover, so made it into applesauce with a view to making these lovelies that I had earmarked for making.

P.S. my method of choice is chopped up apple, in a bowl, cling film, then microwave for a few minutes until it gets nice and squishy.

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Applesauce Softies Recipe – taken from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups natural unsweetened applesauce (I made mine as described above)
1/3 cup canola oil (I used sunflower oil)
3/4 cup Sucanat or other granulated natural sweetener (I used regular sugar)
1tsp vanilla extract
A large pinch of finely grated lemon rind (you can never have too much lemon….. I used a whole lemon worth!)
1 cup wholewheat pastry flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (plain)
1tbsp cornstarch
1tsp ground cinnamon
1/4tsp ground nutmeg
1/4tsp ground cloves
1/2tsp baking soda
1/4tsp salt

Method

Reduce the applesauce by cooking in a saucepan over medium heat for about 25 minutes, stirring often. After about 20 minutes, check to see how much it has reduced. It should be 2/3 cup, if not return to.the pot until it is 2/3 cup or slightly less. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool completely before continuing. NB. to speed up the process I put the pan to float in a bowl of cold water to cool it down.

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line two baking trays with paper.

In a large mixing bowl, stir in the oil, sugar, vanilla, and lemon rind. Mix in the cooled applesauce, then sift in the flours, spices, baking soda, cornstarch and salt. Mix to form a soft dough.

Looks healthy right? I used wholemeal plain flour:

I also added the variation of 1/2 cup raisins.

Scoop a rounded tablespoon of dough into the baking sheets, and sprinkle with a little cinnamon sugar (sugar mixed with ground cinnamon).

(not the most beautiful of things I know, I think my dough was a little soft)

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until puffed and just starting to brown at the edges. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

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Note: they smell completely delicious while baking, like Christmas, which reminds me, I ordered this a few weeks ago and it just arrived:

A little out of season I know, but I love it. I think it might be partly why I love Suits too.