These cookies turn out warm and moist and delicious. I always use less sugar than traditional recipes, and they turn out plenty sweet. Here are a couple of tips:

Don’t over-bake them. Go ahead and pull them out after 9-11 minutes. You want to only see a hint of browning on top when you pull them out. I couldn’t even see that, since the color of my turbinado sugar was brown already.

Healthier Sugars: I like using unrefined raw sugars, since they still contain the vitamins and minerals of the molasses but don’t have the added chemicals and caking agents of refined sugars. The only issue is that…once the cookies cool, I feel they are less soft than more refined sugars. Warm? No issue with warm- soft and moist and delicious!

Healthier Fats: If you’ve ever made cookies from scratch, you know that the old style recipes that call for shortening turned out better than the all butter kind. The cookies are just plumper and less flat and crispy.

Refined Fats, such as Crisco are not good for you.

Yet, Crisco was designed to replace lard in candle-making. Now it is a concoction of hydrogenated, genetically modified oils that your body doesn’t know how to process, since they are no longer recognizable as food. So, what does your body do? Store it as fat, naturally. Plus it increases the LDL (bad) cholesterol. and decreases the HDL (good) cholesterol.

Real, unprocessed fats have health benefits:

• Improving absorption of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K
• Antiviral and antibacterial benefits resulting in a stronger immune system
• Energy and satiety
• Regulating cholesterol
• Improving dry eyes and skin
• Balancing hormones
• Increasing brain health

So, I’m not using Crisco or margarine in my recipe. I choose unrefined fats in my cooking. I mostly cook with olive oil and coconut oil and butter. In this recipe, I am using lard. Yes, I know that coconut oil and olive oil are better for you than lard. If you are like me, you might be very hesitant to use lard.  Did you know?

Facts About Lard: Is Lard Healthy?

I was surprised to learn these facts about lard:

• Contains 1/4 the saturated fat of butter
• Contains 2 times the monounsaturated fat of butter
• Is low in Omega-6 fatty acids (you know- the bad ones that promote inflammation)
• Can have higher levels of Omega-3 fatty acids (the ones you want)
• Has a higher smoking point than other fats, so foods fried in it absorb less grease

I like the way the pastries are flakier and cookies are plumper with lard, but you could use any oil- coconut, olive, etc. You can use all butter. You just won’t need to smash the cookies, as they will flatten out all on their own without lard.