apple filled cinnamon cookies

apple filled cinnamon cookies

• 22 May 2023

You can thank instagram for these cookies. I had 3 Granny Smith apples in my fruit bowl and wasn't sure how I was going to use them until I saw a photo of some apple filled cinnamon sandwich cookies on Beatrix Bake's instagram page. I then tracked down the recipe, set to work and here they are.

The recipe calls for a 7cm cutter, which I have, but whilst hunting for it I found this cute apple shaped cutter and how could I resist her? I divided the dough into two equal pieces and made seven 7cm cookies from one half and and 8 apple shaped cookies from the second half. As the apple shaped cookies are a little smaller, I had a little filling and icing left over.

If you'd like to make the cookies, here's the recipe for you, adapted from here. The recipe makes at least twelve 7 cm filled cookies or many more cute apple shaped ones. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Apple filled cinnamon cookies - 

Cookie Dough 

100g room temperature unsalted butter

70g soft icing sugar

1 egg

180g plain flour

10g cornflour (cornstarch)

40g almond meal

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp ground cinnamon (freshly ground is best)

pinch nutmeg

pinch fine sea salt 

Apple Gems Filling

1 granny smith apple (200g)

20g unsalted butter

40g real maple syrup

Cream Cheese Icing

150g soft icing sugar

40g unsalted butter, at room temperature

50g full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla paste 

teeny pinch sea salt flakes 

Cookie dough

Beat the butter and sugar in a roomy bowl with a stiff plastic spatula to make a smooth paste. Add the egg and mix together to make a lumpy paste – it doesn’t need to be fully incorporated. Stir the dry ingredients together and tip in. Take care not to overwork the dough but make sure there aren’t any visible butter streaks that will cause buttery fissures (not pretty but still delicious) when baked. You can also prepare the dough in a food processor. Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Give it a light knead then wrap and chill in the fridge for a minimum 1 hour before rolling out. 

Apple Filling

While the dough rests, prep the apple gems. Peel and coring the apple. Cut into neat 4 mm cubes and set aside. Heat the butter and maple syrup in a pan until foamy and caramelly brown. Fry the apple gems, tossing/stirring often until the cubes are translucent, tanned golden, about 5 minutes. Scrape onto a heatproof tray lined with absorbent paper to let the gems drain and cool. 

Cookies

Heat the oven to 150°C, conventional. Lightly spray two flat baking trays with cooking oil spray and line with baking paper or you can use silicone mats. 

On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough to an even 4 mm thickness. Keep moving the dough and flouring underneath as you roll. If the dough cracks, it doesn’t matter - just collect up and re-knead lightly. If the cookies or dough stick to the work surface, shimmy an offset spatula underneath to loosen them. Use a 7 cm round cutter to stamp out the cookies. Immediately lift the cookie onto the lined baking tray. Collect up the scraps and roll again. Repeat the process with the remaining portion of dough until you have 24 cookies. 

Dock the cookies with the tines of a fork to prevent rising then bake on the centre rack for 30 - 40 minutes until set (when you can easily lift one up) and lightly tanned brown. Remove from the oven and place the trays on a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes before filling. 

Cream cheese icing

Place all the icing ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle. Beat for 10 minutes on low speed until the icing is fluffy and ultra-creamy. It should hold its shape and not be melty or slack. If it slumps, chill and re-beat.

Assembly 

Lay half the cooled cookies, bottom side up, on a clean tea towel and pipe (or spoon) a blob of icing on each one. Press a heaped teaspoon of apple gems deep into the icing. To ensure the icing doesn’t form a crust, quickly sandwich with the top cookie and lightly press (with a little swirly wiggle) to bring the filling just flush with the cookie edge. Swipe a finger around the edge to neaten any stray icing. Chill for 10 minutes to set the cookie before serving. 

Sometimes when baking, the finished product is less than the sum of it's parts but not in this case. The finished product was just divine - a delicate biscuit sandwiched with maple flavoured apple gems encased in a creamy filling. What's not to love? I shared the cookies with the neighbours who also thought they were delicious and enjoyed my cookie with a cup of tea.

Many thanks to Natalie Paull for another stellar recipe.

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian