Criss Cross Applesauce

With my last batch of cookies just finished it was time to create some more.  Thinking that I was sufficiently prepared with ingredients I set off on my adventure.  Little did I know that it would not be so easy...

I was making peanut butter cookies.  I suppose it was a healthier recipe or something because it called for applesauce instead of sugar.  I had bought a jar of applesauce probably over a month ago and had used it in this recipe before.  However it had been sitting in my fridge all that time after opening it and as I was about to find out applesauce goes bad fairly quickly.

Upon opening the jar I was surprised to be greeted by several pinkish splotches all over the applesauce.  It's a bit difficult to see them in the picture so I've include a digitally enhanced version.

I then smelled the jar and it was a strange, maybe fermented, bitter appley smell that wasn't very pleasant.  Panicking (not really), I went online to check out the fridge time of applesauce.  It was well before the listed expiration date so I had come to the conclusion that that was actually it's unopened shelf time.

My suspicions were confirmed after doing a bit of searching.  Apparently applesauce is supposed to last only a week or two in the fridge after being opened and mine had been there for well over a month...  Hoping I could make use of it by just scooping the pink splotches off and using the rest I quickly came upon a site that read my mind.  Basically saying don't do it you can get sick!  I also found out that apparently applesauce is usually written as one word, not two!

I'm not a very experienced baker so I'm not very good at improvising a recipe.  However I came to the conclusion that the applesauce was taking the place of sugar so I added a bunch of brown sugar in its place and hoped for the best.  Finally it came time to add the peanut butter and I discovered there was only about 3/4 of a cup left.  Oh well, close enough.

The rest of the recipe and mixing went off without incident.  I put the cookies in the oven and hoped for the best.  After taking them out and doing a cursory inspection it appeared that the cookies were similar in appearance to the ones I had made before.  An experimental taste confirmed by initial hypothesis and I deemed the cookies a success.

 Above are the cookies and my awesome cookie jar.