Appledoodles

Hey y’all. Remember how I said in a post from a couple of weeks back that a ‘peck’ of apples is actually quite a lot of apples?

Well even after making the pumpkin apple butter, I still had a LOT of apples leftover.

So the adventures in apple baking continued in my kitchen, and they’ll continue here on the blog for at least a couple more weeks.

I’ve been baking with apples for years but one thing I don’t use them too much for are in cookies. I’m not sure why, as apples in cookie dough work great in moderation. Yes, they’re hold a lot of water which can be the enemy of cookie dough, but because they’re wet, they can also impart moisture which makes the cookie dough very difficult to overtake/dry out.

Snickerdoodles are one of my favorite types of cookie, both for their tangy cinnamon flavor, and for their chewy, moist, and slightly crisp texture. They make for a great dessert all by themselves, but when you add an ingredient or two to them–like apples and walnuts–they get even better. And that happens to be exactly what’s been done here.

Typically, I make my cookies with butter, not shortening, but that’s not to say that shortening doesn’t have more favorable qualities that make it better suited for a cookie dough with apples–it really does. In the first place, unlike butter, shortening has no water content; it’s 100% fat, which gives it an extremely high melting point.

Now what does all of that actually mean for the finished/baked cookie?

In the first place,the lower melting point in butter means that the butter in the dough begins to melt a lot faster while baking, which causes the dough to begin to spread before the structure can be fully set. This results in those flat, less textured cookies/pancakes that none of us want to see as we peek through the oven door.

Because shortening has no water, it has a lower melting point, which means the dough maintains its structure for much longer during the baking process before it begins to spread, which is why cookies made with shortening will almost always be ‘higher’ and more textured than those made with butter.

I say all of that to emphasize, that it really does matter that these cookies are made with shortening and not butter. So please, no substitutions.

Now, besides that the ingredients and method for putting these together are very straightforward and standard. I know that most cookie recipes do same day baking, but if you’re like me and you really care about height and non-spreading, I’ve found that it is almost ALWAYS better to give your cookies dough an overnight rest in the refrigerator. The cold has to penetrate the dough so that it takes longer for the cookies to spread on the pan and that can only happen when it’s been chilling for as long as possible.

These were every bit as delicious as they look. They held their shape, puffed up, and crackled across the top beautifully. They’re sturdy on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside; exactly the way a cookie should be. Together the apple and walnuts give the cookie an amazing contrast of flavors and textures that does remind you of a snickerdoodle, while still maintaining its individuality. It’s a perfect fall cookie that also stores and keeps very well.

Enjoy, and take care of yourselves out there.

***********************************************

Recipe Adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients

• 4/3 cup butter flavored shortening
• 2 cup white sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 4 1/2 teaspoons apple pie spice (or ground cinnamon if you don’t have apple pie spice)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups finely chopped and peeled tart apple (I like Pink Ladies or Honeycrisps)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
  

Directions

Combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes.

Beat in eggs and vanilla.

Gradually beat flour mixture into creamed mixture. Stir in apple and, if desired, the walnuts.

Scoop about 3 tablespoons full of dough into your hand and shape it into a ball. (The dough is rather sticky, so flour your hands for this step if you need to)

Place the cookie dough ball into a plastic container you’ve lined with foil or parchment paper. Repeat with all of the cookie dough balls. Cover the plastic container and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Place cookie dough balls onto baking sheets you’ve lined with parchment paper. Bake until golden brown, 13-15 minutes. (I would recommend doing this in multiple batches, don’t crowd the sheets, or the oven)

Remove cookies to wire racks to cool.

[/recipes]

Sharing at Fiesta Friday #562.