I think you're right about sugar being essential. It should work substituting starch for the flour. You could use a less sweet chocolate for the coating. Honey is kind of anti-crisp.

How did the testing go? They look good. I bookmarked as i have all the ingredients. I use dates mostly for a sugar substitute and use less than regular sugar. Date sugar exists as well as date syrup. (not tried either)

I do stock coconut palm sugar. Less sweet and has a good caramel flavor/scent.

I also powder/flour some of my oats in a spice grinder.

I've had a baking project on the back burner. A GF DF ice cream sandwich but the weather has been so nice i'm waiting for a rainy weekend.

I have been sidetracked for over a week - helping set up the cooperative gallery I am part of for the year - dog sitting while the owners went to Italy - starting the spreading 3 yards of composted manure and more generally spring chores.

And then an elderly friend had a rather disastrous fall - broke his hip and pelvis. Ouch! I went with his wife to visit him at a rehab today and her car had problems. The car ended up in the shop. Kind of a mess for several very sweet eccentric folks. Minimal insurance, an artist living in a very funky house in a very rural area with two beloved uncivilized dogs. I am worried.

I hope to get back to the cookie project soon. Now I need to tweak to find another cookie variation in the opposite direction - not too sweet, soft and no dairy for my friend with the broken bones.

For the friend with broken bones, could you make shortbread with a plant based butter substitute?

Re what Bbstx said, I can highly recommend Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Sticks (vegan baking sticks). There's a difference in texture with any margarine, but these bake like butter 1:1. You just don't get as crumby or melt in your mouth (literally, higher melting point) but still very good cookies, any normal recipe.

Most cookies are sweet though. Old fashioned apple spice cookies don't taste so sweet, but when you include the sugar in the apple/applesauce in your reckoning, it's probably a similar amount to any cookie, so I can't help there...

agmss15, is the ”not too sweet” because you are making them for someone who is diabetic or because they do not care for sweet things?

@mtnrdredux_gw recommended some cocktail biscuits/crackers/cookies sometime ago. I remember virtually nothing about the recipe except that when I read it, I thought it sounded sweet considering it was being served with wine or cocktails. One of the ingredients was a mashed hard-boiled egg yolk. Mtn, does anything ring a bell?

@bbstx Not diabetic. I have a friend who has a very particular diet. She has MS and diverticulitus. She has worked hard with Drs to come up with a diet that works for her. And it seems to… She is a very generous lady and I liked the idea of making a treat for her. So she eats very low/no gluten, sugar, cow milk (no cheese and yogurt but she uses butter), red meat and I don’t remember what else. The original cookie recipe is almost gluten free. It made me think that I could come up with an iteration that she could enjoy. But I don’t think that honey or syrup behaves like sugar in a cookie. They add water as well as sweetnes.

My friend with the broken bones doesn’t eat dairy and has few teeth. So a butter-free cakier cookie. That will take more thought. He is not an adventuous eater.

Agmss15, as I have looked for the cookie that I’m hoping Mtn will pop in and come up with, I’ve run across several recipes for sables made with hard boiled egg yolks. While crisp, they are described as ”melt in your mouth.” IF it would work with the vegan baking sticks @plllog recommended above, I think the texture would work for your elderly friend with the broken bones.

ETA: I just ran across the recipe Mtn had previously mentioned. It is Pierre Hermé’s Olive Sables. I can’t find a reliable recipe online. Perhaps someone here can point us to a reliable recipe.

To clarify: I’m talking about the Pierre Hermé’s sables for your friend with MS and a plain sable but made with vegan baking sticks for your friend with the broken bones.

@bbstx Thank you! I will check these out.

Unfortunately, sablé needs butter to get the texture right. Shortbread is fine with marj. Crisp, even flaky, but not sablé crumbly or melt in your mouth. Partly it's the melting point. Butter melts at body temp and marj. significantly higher. Partly, if I understand correctly, it's the size of the fat globules. And partly the amount of water steaming out, but I think baking stick are pretty close with the water. Anyway, you can achieve a nice cookie, same recipe, with vegan butter, just not melt in your mouth.