A couple of weeks ago, I was flipping through my trusty cookie book (the one mentioned in my previous blog). The title “Spiced Applesauce Drop Cookies” caught my attention. Since I didn’t have any applesauce at the time, I flagged the page and knew that was a recipe I would be coming back to! Being back in a somewhat normal routine this week meant that I had my Wednesday night class of girls to teach and a snack would need to be provided. I had purchased a large container of applesauce the day before and I was ready to tackle another cookie experiment.
These cookies turned out amazing! The cinnamon and cloves that are added to the cookies make them taste like a cup of apple cider. The recipe called for raisins and walnuts, but with the crowd I was serving these cookies to I thought it might be a little too grown up of a taste palette for them. I was worried the lack of raisins and walnuts would cause the cookies to bake up funny, but they turned out just fine! They are extremely fluffy, soft and moist! I love baking with apples and cinnamon during the fall. It makes my house smell wonderful and these are the flavor combinations I crave this time of year. Each cookie tasted like autumn.
I didn’t really think through how much applesauce my cookies would be needing and I found myself left with a rather large container of applesauce that was still almost full. According the the label, it’s best to use the applesauce within a week of being opened. I love applesauce, but I knew that I couldn’t eat all the applesauce in a week’s span of time. I would simply need to look for another opportunity to bake with applesauce.
I leave tomorrow for a three day retreat with the staff of Bethel Church. I decided that this trip away would be the perfect time to bake another new treat and not have to eat the results entirely on my own. Yesterday, I pulled out all my cookbooks and started to search the index for applesauce. I found a couple of really yummy sound recipes and I settled on “Iced Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies” from my Martha Stewart cookie book.
Just as before, I made some changes to the recipe. This cookie called for golden raisins. I’m not a huge fan of raisins (no matter what the color) so I decided to use chunks for fresh apple instead. I also added a little bit of cinnamon to the batter for an extra fall flavor. The cookies by themselves were very moist and soft. The apple chunks make you feel like you’re eating a pie or a crisp. I did decide to take them up a notch by adding an icing glaze. The glaze the book pairs with the cookie called for pure maple syrup. Now I’m a Mrs. Butterworth’s fan and I’m pretty sure that is no where near pure maple syrup! I took the glaze another direction. Just this week I reading on a friend’s blog (http://sweetmaggiemays.wordpress.com) how she added cinnamon to regular Betty Crocker frosting. I had a container of vanilla frosting in my pantry so I decided to add cinnamon to it and turn it into a glaze.
I always have the hardest time when I try to drizzle glaze over cookies. I have no skill with it. Most of the time it makes the cookie look it’s been in war with frosting and lost the battle. I decided to use my pampered chef frosting bottles to help me achieve a cleaner appearance. I mixed the cinnamon and the frosting together first. I did this to taste and after the flavor was right, I put the bowl in the microwave for 20 seconds and melted the frosting. While it was still warm and liquid, I poured the frosting into the bottle and set to work glazing my cookies!
The final product turned out very well. I used my husband as a guinea pig and he was very pleased with the cookies. Now he has to wait until staff retreat to get more of them! Poor guy! I’m excited to share these cookies with my co-workers and I hope they enjoy the flavors of fall as much I do. Baking for others is a great joy! It’s been fun to work with applesauce as a theme ingredient. I have a couple of cake recipes that are calling my name when I get back from retreat! I look forward to trying and learning new things in the kitchen!
Amy Scott's Thoughts 