Cyndi's Spiced Apple Cookies get their name from Cyndi, the reader who sent me the recipe. The cookies are soft and have just the right amount of spice and apple flavor. And guess what? They also have icing! This is good because they are cakey and thick, cakey, cookies need icing.
Spiced Pear Variation
I recently made a batch of these with canned pears instead of apples. I would have rather used apples, but we didn't have any. I found a can of Bartlett pear halves in the pantry and used pear juice in place of apple juice and chopped canned pear in place of the chopped apples. And since pear goes so well with vanilla, I added a teaspoon of that too. The spiced pear version is very good too, though a little milder in flavor.
Spiced Apple Cookies Icing
Whether you use apples or pears, these cookies are best with the icing. The recipe below is good, but you could also use a cream cheese icing or a brown sugar type icing. The icing used on the Spiced Pear Bundt Cake, which is supposed to be a caramel type, would be good on these too.
Recipe
Cyndi’s Spiced Apple Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened (114 grams)
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar (130 grams)
- ⅓ cup packed brown sugar (60 grams)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup apple juice or apple cider
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour (310 to 320 grams)
- 1 cup finely chopped apple peeled if desired
- 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans toasted
Apple Icing
- 3 cups sifted powdered sugar
- ¼ cup softened butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 4-5 tablespoons apple juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Beat until combined. Beat in the egg and apple juice until combined.
- Add the flour gradually, stirring until fully blended. Stir in chopped apple and nuts.
- Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets. For bigger cookies, use generously rounded tablespoons. For extra large cookies, use a large cookie scoop.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Larger cookies will take more like 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool on sheet for 5 minutes.
- When the cookies are cool, make the icing. In a medium mixing bowl, beat softened butter, powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 4 to 5 tablespoons of apple juice. Drizzle or spread over the cookies.
Jane says
Thanks Anna!
I made them today & we all loved them. I didn't bother with the icing, they were great without it.
I think I'll make another batch tomorrow for the pitch-in supper at church.
Thanks!
Laurie L says
Thanks Anna! Can't wait to try them. Laurie
carole says
With apples we can pretend they are healthy.
Nut.Ella says
yum! these look delish and a nice seasonal change from pumpkin cookies. can't wait to try them!
Anna says
I hope you all try it. Cyndi will be happy! I'm not sure she knows I've made these yet.
Laurie, the nuts are actually optional, but I didn't put that because I love nuts and think they should be mandatory (just kidding...sort of). No, really. Cyndi had "optional", so just leave them out and don't do anything else.
Laurie L says
Hi Anna. Do you think I could double the amount of apples and omit the nuts? I have nut allergic people in my life! Would you bump up the flour a little? Thanks so much, Laurie
Debbi says
So this will probably be the first Thanksgiving at home that your daughter remembers. She'll have fun helping I'll bet. I've been drooling over all the nummy recipes on the food network. Yum!
These cookies look great, I am still trying to do the apple bars from awhile ago.
Anj says
I have to make something as a 'thank you' for a good deed. I'm going to make these for sure!
Cat says
Darlin, you won a mint for a poultry recipe. You have NADA to worry about. I have been doing Tday since I got married three years ago, Only thing I can say is, on Tday, less is not more, MORE is more. Can't wait to try these apple cookies, they look GREAT!
Jane says
These look great! I'll have to make these, my mom just gave me a box of apples!
Claire says
Oh, this looks so good! Looks like something fun to try when my army of a family invades our house!