Apple Butter Swirl Cookies

At our local fall festival, there are so many vendors and it can be really overwhelming! We tend to pick up the same sorts of things: candy of different sorts, jams and jellies, candles, holiday decorations, and that sort of thing. I also like to look at the jewelry vendors, as I often wear necklaces to work. Some necklaces are just too large, but it is always fun to look.

We did pick up some apple butter at the festival, and it felt like it had been ages since I made anything with apple butter, so I sought out a couple of different recipes to try. When I searched my blog, I had made a couple of things with apple butter, but mainly bar cookies and also an apple butter thumbprint cookie. These have a swirl that you partially freeze and then add to the dough. That worked ok, although I am not sure that it is super obvious when you look at the cookies.

I had read through the recipe and there were no issues, but at the end the original blogger said that the recipe would make about 11 cookies. That seemed odd to me, but her cookies were quite large (2.5 ounces). I make cookies my “regular” size and that ended up weighing about 1 ounce. The size of your cookies will impact baking time, but I baked mine about 13 minutes. The swirl is interesting; in one or two cookies, the swirl was too close to the edge and melted a bit, but otherwise they were good. These cookies are soft, because of the apple butter, but also crisp. It seems like an impossible combination, but it works in these cookies!

Apple Butter Swirl Cookies
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 tablespoon apple butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup apple butter
1 egg
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon apple butter
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream

In a small bowl, combine the melted butter, apple butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Stir until well combined. Cover the bowl and place in the freezer for 15 minutes.

In a large mixer bowl, add the butter, brown sugar, and apple butter. Mix on medium until the mixture comes together, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat again on medium until incorporated. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until the flour almost disappears into the dough.

Remove the cinnamon/apple butter mixture from the freezer. Drop pieces of the mixture on top of the dough. Turn the mixer on and off, swirling the cinnamon/apple butter mixture into the dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, placing around 8 cookies per baking sheet.

Bake for 13-15 minutes, until set and the cookies don’t look wet. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies are cool, make the glaze: in a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, apple butter, and 2 tablespoons heavy cream. If the mixture is too thick, add additional heavy cream and again whisk until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies.

Recipe from Baran Bakery