I guess I am now a fashion consultant. Not only did my mother in law want me to do her makeup, I was also tasked with picking out her outfit for dancing. I don’t need to change my profession yet. Tony is not equipped to handle these tasks. While he’s not a man who is afraid to tackle typical women’s stuff, he never had to do makeup himself. The only reason I know anything at all is because of YouTube. I researched makeup techniques so that I knew what I was doing.

This week I am starting off with recipe for Cowgirl Cookie Bars from Southern Living. These will be a little harder to make low sugar because of all of the chocolate chips. It’s not impossible. I do have to find some sugar free chocolate that doesn’t use sugar alcohols. I am sensitive to those. Regardless, I think these will turn out great.

Here are the original stats:

Here’s what I changed:

• I replaced the all purpose flour with coconut and almond flour to reduce the carbs.
• I replaced the brown sugar with its sweetener equivalent to reduce the sugar.
• I replaced the butter with unsweetened applesauce to reduce the calories and saturated fat.
• I replaced the sweetened coconut flakes with unsweetened to reduce the sugar.
• I doubled up on the dark chocolate chips and omitted the milk chocolate to reduce the sugar.
• I increased the servings from 12 to 24 to reduce the calories

Here are the final stats:

Here is the final recipe:

Low Sugar Cowgirl Cookie Bars

Makes 24 Bars

• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
• 1 1/2 cups almond flour
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 2/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 tsp. table salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 1/4 cups packed light brown sweetener
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup sugar free dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 13- x 9-in. pan with cooking spray and line parchment paper, letting the long edges hang over the sides of the pan slightly.
2. Place pecans on a small baking sheet and toast in the oven 5 minutes. Add coconut, then toast 5-7 minutes longer until coconut and pecans are lightly toasted. Let cool while preparing cookie dough.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, oats salt, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda.
4. In a large bowl, beat applesauce and sweetener together with an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until blended. Add vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until combined.
5. In a medium bowl, toss together chocolate chips with pecans and coconut. Measure out 1/3 cup of the chocolate chip mixture and set aside.
6. Stir remaining mixture into cookie dough.
7. Spread dough into an even layer in prepared pan.
8. Sprinkle with reserved chocolate chip mixture.
9. Bake 28-31 minutes or until cookie bars are golden brown, center is set, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs attached. Let cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack. Use parchment paper as handles to lift the bars out of the pan, and then cut into squares to serve.