Okay, so you know those absolutely amazing cookies that you find at the grocery store in the bakery section? Yes, you know the ones... The ones that are soft and light and fluffy and perfectly sweet and delicate with their melt-in-your-mouth amazingness?

Those cookies have been known to be a problem for me in the past. I mean... how can you pass them up? Especially during the holidays?

A few years back I started looking for that recipe. I tried several different variations and only ever managed to find one that was perfect. ...One recipe that produced a cookie was exactly like the ones at the store.

The only problem that still remained was... they were anything but good for you.

I've basically taken that original tried-and-true recipe and trimmed it down as best I could without losing the amazingness of that cookie.

The first thing I did was swapped out some of the regular flour for some whole wheat white flour. If you're going to be bad, you may as well get some good in there too! At least you can say you had some whole wheat, right?

I also substituted in some sweetener for about 1/3 of the sugar originally called for. Why? Well, if you can get away with less sugar, then why not? For the cookie dough, I used a light butter rather than full fat. Again, if you can get away with it... do it!

I made a few other minor changes as well, and still ended up with a perfectly light and decedent cookie that has over 50 calories less per serving than it's store bought counter part. Plus, I know exactly what in these cookies since well... I'm one that put it all there!

I'm telling you, they taste almost exactly like the original.

Step-by-Step Photos:

Nutritional Claims: Low Sodium • Low Potassium • Kidney Friendly • Vegetarian • Pescatarian • Peanut Free • Soy Free •Fish Free • Shellfish Free • Pork Free • Red Meat Free • Crustacean Free • Celery Free • Mustard Free • Sesame Free • Lupine Free • Mollusk Free • Alcohol Free • Kosher