After reading your comment and being extra extra intrigued by the possibility of applesauce in my cookies (I've used it as a substitute for oil in muffins and other baked goods before, but never for shortening, since shortening isn't used in a lot of modern recipes.), I found these two useful-looking webpages:
(I thought I'd list the URLs here, since you might find them useful, too.)
The Mayo Clinic page suggests applesauce for half the recipe's required shortening, but they warn quite explicitly not to replace the rest of the shortening with oil, but it looks like butter might be okay. So maybe half butter and half applesauce. Hmm. I'll have to try this recipe again soon! Thanks for getting me thinking about it more actively.
no subject
Common Ingredient Substitutions
Healthy Recipes: A guide to ingredient substitutions
(I thought I'd list the URLs here, since you might find them useful, too.)
The Mayo Clinic page suggests applesauce for half the recipe's required shortening, but they warn quite explicitly not to replace the rest of the shortening with oil, but it looks like butter might be okay. So maybe half butter and half applesauce. Hmm. I'll have to try this recipe again soon! Thanks for getting me thinking about it more actively.