Preheat oven to 350F. Into a medium bowl, sift together flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.

In a large bowl with electric mixer, beat Prune Butter and sugar until well-blended. Beat in egg and molasses until well-blended. Stir in flour mixture until completely mixed.

Place a little sugar in a medium bowl. Scoop out heaping teaspoonfuls of mixture. Using your palms, roll into 3/4-inch balls and drop into the sugar. Roll to cover the surface completely; then place balls 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake until cookies are slightly rounded and tops appear lightly browned and crackles. Remove baking sheets to wire racks to cool slightly. The, using a metal pancake turner or palette knife, remove cookies to wire racks to cool completely. Repeat with remaining cookie dough and sugar. Store in airtight containers.

* Prune butter is from "Secrets of Fat Free Baking" by Sandra Woodruff. To make one cup, combine 8 oz prunes and 6 tb water or fruit juice in food processor. (I used apple juice for the batch for this recipe.)

Cookie Book" by Elizabeth Wolf Cohen

They also have more dietary fiber, potassiumn and calcium than the originals, and less cholesterol. They were delicious, but rolling them into balls was a nightmare. They stuck to everything. They may need more flour. They also didn't flaten out as much as the originals. They kept their ball shape, for the most part.

The Chef's Comments: "Yesterday i took a cookie recipe that I wanted to try, and I made exactly according to the recipe (it was great!) and then I made another batch, using the Prune Butter technique. For cookies, the book suggests replacing all of the fat with Prune Butter, and removing as much sugar as 1/2 to 2/3 the amount of Prune Butter used, to keep sweetness consistent witht he original recipe. The low-fat recipe was a difficult texture to work with, and they didn't spread out nicely when cooking. They remained little clumps. But they did taste very good. I have a hard time telling the difference between the two, believe it or not. Who would have thought substituting prunes for crisco was a wise choice??" - Lisa

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