I'd reduce the sugar by 1/4 cup, which would take it from 1 cup to 3/4 of a cup. The recipe has a 1:1.5 ratio of sugar to flour. I think you can safely go to 1:2. If you want to experiment more gradually, just cut out 2 tablesooons and see if that's enough. I guess it depends on how much less sweet you want the cookies to be.

From Baking 911 Each type of fat used in cookie recipes separately affects the cookie's texture and taste. Generally, the use of butter means a flatter, crispier cookies because it allows the dough to spread as it cooks on the hot cookie sheet. Cookies made with shortening will not spread, however all shortening will give you a cookie without a lot of taste. This approach gives you the best of both worlds: shortening is not as sensitive to shifts in temperature and the butter gives a lot of flavor. Shortening: Least spread / Least flavor, however can use butter flavored. Because of its higher melting point (98 to 100 degrees F) than butter, cookies keep their shape as it bakes, yielding a puffier more cake-like treat. Stick Butter: Medium spread / Best flavor. Because of the lower the melting point of butter (92 to 98 degrees F) than shortening, cookies spread and become flatter and crispier as the result. To help reduce cookie spread when using butter, freeze the formed dough on the cookie sheets. When you place the frozen cookie dough immediately in the oven, the fat will stay colder longer and when baked, the cookie will retain its shape better. For flavor, there is no substitute for butter. Cookies made with butter have outstanding taste and a finely grained, often crisp texture. Butter also helps cookies to keep well and maintain their flavor. I recommend using unsalted butter in baking. Stick Margarine: Most spread / Some flavor Vegetable oils: cookies are softer than those made with butter or margarine.

PWM, I'm assuming you'd like the amounts converted to something other than metric? There are many conversion tools on line, one gave me these conversions. Islay, please feel free to correct me if I am wrong: 450g (2 cups) dark brown sugar 175g (3/4 cup) ml evaporated milk 30g ( 2 tbls) butter 1 tsp vanilla extract 55g (1/4 cup) chopped walnuts. Butter a 20 or 30 cm (8 or 9 inch square) tin. In a saucepan, stir together the sugar and milk. Boil until temp. reaches 112 to 116°C. (232-240F, soft ball stage) Or, until a small amount dropped into cold water forms a soft ball that flattens when removed from the water and placed on a flat surface. Remove from the heat, stir in the butter, vanilla and nuts. Continue to beat until the mixture loses its gloss. pour into prepared tin, score with knife and set aside for about 5 minutes. Cut into squares. I hope this helps. Annie

Ruthanna, now you mentioned it, I keep slice and bake cookies in the freezer pretty much all the time, although some were not meant to actually be slice and bake. The 5 ingredient gluten free peanut butter cookie lends itself well to freezing in a roll, as does my basic sugar cookie recipe. Some, like Grandma's Molasses cookies, don't roll well, but freeze well in balls, so I just take out a dozen and bake them. My favorite, though, is this maraschino/white chocolate shortbread cookie, also not meant originally as a slice and bake, but it works really well as one. I don't use the food coloring and just drizzle the white chocolate over the top of the baked cookies, then sprinkle with a pinch of red sugar. They're nice for Valentine's Day and you can also use the green maraschino cherries in them for red and green Christmas cookies. The recipe comes from Better Homes and Gardens. I never make the balls and flatten them, I always roll into a roll, chill and cut about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick for baking. 1/4 inch makes them crisper, I like them thicker, they seem to have more of the shortbread texture that way. White-Chocolate Cherry Shortbread 1/2 cup maraschino cherries, drained and finely chopped 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1/2 cup sugar 1 cup cold butter 1/2 tsp almond extract 2 tsp shortening sprinkles, sanding sugar, etc. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spread cherries on paper towels to drain well. In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in drained cherries and 4 ounces (2/3 cup) of the chopped chocolate. Stir in almond extract and, if desired, food coloring. Knead until smooth and form into a ball (dough will be crumbly at first, but will come together as you work the dough with your hands). Shape dough into 3/4-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased ungreased cookie sheet Using the bottom of a drinking glass dipped in sugar, flatten balls to 1-1/2-inch rounds. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until centers are set. Cool for 1 minute on cookie sheet. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool. In a small saucepan, combine remaining 8 ounces white chocolate and the shortening. Cook and stir over low heat until melted.Dip half of each cookie into chocolate, allowing excess to drip off. If desired, roll dipped edge in nonpareils and/or edible glitter. Place cookies on parchment or waxed paper until chocolate is set. Layer cookies between waxed paper in an airtight container; cover. Store at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Now I may have to go drag a roll out of the freezer and bake some..... Annie