I used to be far more conservative about using fat and sugar in baked goods than I am now. If a recipe had more than 1/4 cup of either of those ingredients, I wouldn't make it. As you can imagine, my baked goods were utilitarian, at best. Actually, I liked them, but other people regarded them as "healthy." (Overheard at an event to which I contributed cookies, "those look healthy. I think I'll try these instead.") I still think I'm better off with simpler desserts, but I give in now and then for special (and not so special) occasions. I enjoy baking things that look and taste good to friends and family, though I still try to keep things as healthy as I can.
Anyway, my husband made these cookies (He's getting so domestic. I didn't even ask for cookies!) from Post Punk Kitchen and they were electrifyingly good. Like little sparks of electricity with every bite. Real killers. He SAYS he only used 1/2 cup of oil and only 1 cup of sugar but who really knows. He may have said that to calm me since he knows I hate adding lots of oil and sugar to food. Or he may have sensed my presence watching over him as he measured out the oil and sugar, and truly cut back. I can't say for certain. I'll have to make them again myself to find out. They were the darkest chocolate cookie I've ever seen and REALLY good. You can make the original recipe or try a more conservative version a la husband. (He used white whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour. I would have used whole wheat pastry flour but the white whole wheat worked great. And he used sucanot for the sugar.)
http://theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=111
These clematis are growing in my garden.
