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

Maple Glazed Apple Blondies

It’s fall and I love baking with apples. We have a good quantity of maple syrup at home, too, so I try to find recipes that include both. I have had these bars pinned for a while, and finally I can make them! I don’t always have apples on hand, but I was able to get a couple of apples that I knew I could use for this exact recipe.

The original recipe calls for a 7” x 11” pan, and I don’t think I have a pan that size. I’m in the middle of moving some cupboards around in the kitchen, so I’ll be honest that I didn’t look very much. When I don’t have the specific pan, I find a different pan that has roughly the same area, so a 9” square pan was close. Despite using a slightly larger pan, I was surprised that these cookies were as thick as they were.

These blondies are very cake-like, but that’s ok. Somehow the soft, cakey texture makes these taste that much better! When you are shaping the blondies, it is quite challenging to spread the dough. I used my hands (somewhat damp hands), and even that was a challenge as the dough is so sticky. Perhaps the dough needed to be refrigerated a short time to make it less sticky, but I didn’t have time to do that. I think that these are just about the best cookies for fall that I have made in a long time!

Maple Glazed Apple Blondies
2 large apples, peeled and finely chopped
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

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

2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
About 1 cup powdered sugar

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

Make the apple filling: in a medium saucepan, combine the apples, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and cinnamon. Cook on medium-low for 4-5 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool for 10 minutes.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Mix on medium until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla and salt. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon.

Divide the dough into halves; press half of the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan, using your hands to ensure even coverage. Top with the apple filling. Top the bars with the remaining dough, piecing the dough together to create a full top layer.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the bars are golden and test clean with a cake tester. Allow the bars to cool before making the glaze.

Make the glaze: in a small microwaveable bowl, combine the butter, maple syrup, vanilla, and cinnamon, microwaving and stirring until the butter is melted. Remove from the microwave and whisk in about ¾ cup powdered sugar. Allow the glaze to set and thicken for about 10 minutes. If the glaze is still too thin, whisk in additional powdered sugar. Top the bars with the maple glaze, spreading the glaze evenly. Allow the glaze to completely set before removing from the pan and cutting into bars.

Recipe from A Latte Food

Cinnamon Apple Bakewell Bars

When my husband and I visit places, we tend to purchase interesting preserves. I always think that “I can use this in a recipe” and usually I have little trouble finding the right thing to make. Occasionally I do forget that I purchased something, and discover it when I clean and sort the kitchen. I knew I had cinnamon apple preserves, but I also found pear cinnamon preserves that I had bought for fall baking. I asked my husband which I should use for these Bakewell Bars, and he suggested the cinnamon apple preserves.

This recipe started as Lemon Bakewell Slice, which the use of “slice” immediately tells me this is a British or Australian recipe. I wanted to use apple cinnamon preserves, so I substituted that for lemon curd and used almond and vanilla extract instead of lemon zest. The original recipe doesn’t give a pan size, which was tricky. It looked like a rectangular pan, and I have used my 20 x 29-centimeter pan for different slice recipes I’ve made. It works great.

My pastry was a little small for my pan, but I was able to cover the base of the pan and two of the sides. I figured it would be fine in the end, and it was. You do need to be careful when you spread the almond filling over the preserves, as you want to seal in the preserves. I dotted the preserves with almond filling and then nudged it into place. Everything stuck and moved too much otherwise. You don’t want these bars to be too browned, but mine could have baked a little longer, as the pastry was a little soggy. These bars have a lovely flavor, not too sweet, and so good for fall.

Cinnamon Apple Bakewell Bars
1 pastry sheet
200 grams cinnamon apple preserves
100 grams butter, room temperature
125 grams sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
150 grams ground almonds
80 grams flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1-2 teaspoons milk

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Have a rectangular pan ready. I used a 20 x 29-centimeter tart pan.

Line the pan with pastry, piecing it as needed to cover the bottom of the pan. Cover the sides of the pan if possible, but I didn’t have enough dough to cover every side. Spread the preserves over the pastry in the pan.

In a large mixer bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, vanilla, and almond extract and stir to incorporate. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the ground almonds, flour, baking powder, and salt. Spread the mixture on top of the preserves.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden. Cool before adding the icing.

In a medium bowl whisk the powdered sugar and milk until drizzling consistency. Drizzle the icing over the cooled bars. Allow the glaze to set before cutting into bars.

Recipe from What the Redhead Said

Apple Caramel Oatmeal Cookies

I think there is little more evocative of fall than apples, oats, and caramel. Put them all together in one cookie and I knew it would be fantastic. I will admit that the recipe I have included below is the version of the cookie. The first batch I followed the original recipe more closely, which included caramel bits. I have caramel bits, but they were very old and hard as a rock, even after baking. I also topped the cookies with caramel sauce, which just disappeared into the cookies. Time to try again.

I had all of the ingredients to make a second batch, but this time I left out the caramel bits. I changed the glaze to a powdered sugar icing with some caramel sauce whisked in. Both of those changes helped, and the cookies turned out wonderfully. The original recipe called for diced apples, but I used the diced cinnamon apples from Nuts.com. The apples are dried and perfect for baking. Of course, you can also use diced fresh apples.

These cookies are so good, and the change of the glaze means that they aren’t nearly as sticky as the first batch. The diced cinnamon apples are fantastic, and they melt into the cookie. I would like to find a cake recipe where I can use them again. This is honestly one of the best cookies for fall- the combination of apples and caramel in an oatmeal cookie is perfect.

Apple Caramel Oatmeal Cookies
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups oats
3/4 cup Diced cinnamon apples

1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons caramel sauce
 
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium until combined. Add the egg and brown sugar and mix on medium to incorporate. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Turn the mixer on low and stir until the flour almost disappears into the dough. Add the oats and diced cinnamon apple and stir to distribute throughout the dough.

Using a medium (1-1/2 tablespoons) cookie scoop to shape the dough into balls and place on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten the cookies slightly with the palm of your hand. Refrigerate the dough balls for 10 minutes, to help reduce spreading.

Bake the cookies for 9-11 minutes, until golden along the edges. The tops of the cookies may look slightly wet but will set as the cookies cool. Cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies are cool, make the glaze. In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon milk. Add the caramel sauce and whisk again. Add additional milk if needed to get the glaze to drizzling consistency. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies. Allow the glaze to set before serving.

Recipe from Will Cook for Smiles

Cinnamon Sugar Apple Blondies

It seems like most of the recipes that I have made lately contain apples in some form. Some use apple cider, others use these diced cinnamon apples. The original recipe for these bars called for diced fresh apples. The ones I used are dried and are sprinkled with cinnamon sugar but have worked beautifully in all of the recipes I have tried. They are very handy to have on hand, and since they are dried, they have a longer shelf life. This is an ingredient that I absolutely want to have available!

These blondies were called snickerdoodle apple blondies, but I don’t think that everything with cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top needs to be called a snickerdoodle. I love snickerdoodles, but there are elements that are classic to a snickerdoodle that aren’t found in this recipe. Not to take away from these bars at all, as they are fantastic, but they aren’t really snickerdoodles.

These bars require no unusual ingredients. Since I had the diced cinnamon apples, I didn’t even need to have apples, although they aren’t too hard to have on hand. This dough is quick to mix together, and the hardest part of this recipe is getting the dough spread evenly in the pan! I used a little less cinnamon in the cinnamon sugar as the diced apples also contain cinnamon. The top of these cookies puffs a lot, which can also happen with piecrust, but they are fine once they cool. These are so chewy with great flavor, and they are an easy recipe that you can put together at any time.

Cinnamon Sugar Apple Blondies
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup of diced cinnamon apples
2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium until smooth. Stir in the egg and vanilla. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Fold in the diced cinnamon apples. Spread the dough into the prepared pan, smoothing the mixture as much as possible.
Sprinkle the dough with the cinnamon sugar.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a thin knife inserted into the bars comes out clean. Allow the bars to cool.

Once the bars have cooled, remove from the pan and peel away the foil. Cut into 16 bars.

Recipe from Rumbly in my Tumbly

Vegan Apple Cider Cookies

With fall coming, it means that school starts again and it’s back to work! I try to be thoughtful about dietary restrictions, but there are many things to think about! Different folks have gluten, dairy, and chocolate limitations. I valiantly tried to find a recipe that would fit everyone (without too many changes) but I couldn’t. Gluten free flour can be strange, so I find that cookies that don’t contain flour at all are best gluten free ones. I made a http://cookiesonfriday.blogspot.com/2012/11/lemon-amaretti.html classic gluten free cookie, but also found this vegan recipe for apple cider cookies.

I have made a similar cookie, but I was curious how this vegan version would turn out. It also uses a good quantity of apple cider, which I adore! It isn’t common to use ½ cup of cider in a recipe, but it was not an issue in the end. As this recipe is vegan, there is no egg, which naturally adds liquid to a recipe. The dough was nice and soft, and I decided to refrigerate the dough for a couple of hours.

I wasn’t sure how long to bake these cookies, as the original recipe said to bake the cookies for 15+ minutes. Unless you make giant cookies, that’s usually too long to bake a cookie. I baked these for 10 minutes, then 2 minutes more, then an additional 2 minutes. In the end 14 minutes worked best, but that still seems like a long time! These thin cookies have a great cider flavor, which increases even more overnight. While these are vegan, they are a classic fall cookie to make again and again!

Vegan Apple Cider Cookies
1/2 cup room vegetable shortening/vegan butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup apple cider
2-1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1-1/2 cup powdered sugar
3+ tablespoons apple cider

In a large mixer bowl, beat the shortening, sugar, and brown sugar on medium until smooth. Add the vanilla and apple cider and mix on medium to combine. The mixture will look wet and somewhat lumpy, but it will come together. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

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

Shape the dough into balls and place on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 15 minutes, until set. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 20 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Make the drizzle: in a small bowl whisk the powdered sugar and apple cider together until smooth. Drizzle over the cooled cookies.

Recipe from Two Raspberries

Browned Butter Apple Blondies

On the weekends when my husband and I are running errands, we occasionally go down this road that parallels the highway. Once in a while, there is a vendor there selling honey crisp apples. They sell large bags and they are so reasonably priced. Luckily, when we traveled that way most recently the apple seller was there and we picked up some apples, which will inevitably be turned in to apple crisp, apple pie, and cookies.

I love baking with apples but they can be difficult due to their high moisture content. There are different ways to handle this, but for these cookies it wasn’t too bad. While they were baking the topping got really bubbly, but that’s not too bad. This recipe also calls for apple butter. Sometimes I have that on hand, but I don’t right now. You could substitute any number of things, such as different preserves. I ended up using some mincemeat, since that is like a spiced applesauce. It worked just fine.

The base of these blondies is quite thin, and you wonder how it will even cover the base of the pan! I was able to make it work without too much difficulty, and then covered that layer with a good quantity of cinnamon sugar apples. Be careful with the brown sugar and cinnamon quantities, as you divide them and use them in different applications. These bars, with their maple glaze, are a perfect combination of the flavors of fall.

This lovely plate is a Native Northwest Transforming Eagle plate, which I purchased from my favorite Native-owned coffee shop: Beaver Tales Coffee

Browned Butter Apple Blondies
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup apple butter
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups  flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups chopped apples

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons maple syrup
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a small saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat. Allow the butter to brown, swirling the pan occasionally, until the butter is light brown and smells toasted. Remove from the heat and stir in the apple butter and 1 cup brown sugar. Allow to cool slightly.

Transfer the cooled mixture to a large mixer bowl. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, stirring until the dough comes together. Spread the dough into the prepared pan.

In a separate bowl, mix the chopped apple with ½ cup brown sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Spread the apples on top of the dough.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until set and the dough is golden brown. Cool before glazing.

Make the glaze: place the butter in a small saucepan. Cooking on medium low until browned and smells nutty. Remove from the heat and whisk in the maple syrup, powdered sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Drizzle over the cooled cookies. Allow the glaze to set before cutting into bars.

Recipe from Half-Baked Harvest

Frosted Cranberry Apple Butter Bars

In my local area, some of the farmer’s markets and craft shows have opened, with appropriate safety precautions! This is great since those are great places to look for unusual ingredients, and that’s what makes baking fun. Most markets and shows have a greater online presence, which is great as it allows me to look and see what sort of things I might discover.

I recently picked up some cranberry apple butter at one of the shows. I have used apple butter for a couple of recipes, and I figured that this would be a nice twist for the holidays. Since it was cranberry apple butter, I wanted to find a recipe that also included cranberries, thus this recipe! I halved the recipe and made it in an 8” square pan, which was the only change that I made.

This bar cookie spans both fall and holiday flavors, with cinnamon, apple, and oats, but then that is paired with cranberries. This makes a thin bar, with a thin layer of frosting, but I like that this time of year when there is so much of everything around! The cranberry apple butter gives the frosting a light pink hue, which is nice. The bars have a hearty oat flavor, paired with the tart cranberries and the sweet frosting. Your first thought might be Valentine’s Day because of the pink frosting, but they are great for the holidays.

Frosted Cranberry Apple Butter Bars
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup cranberry apple butter
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups oats
3/4 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons cranberry apple butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon heavy cream
Cinnamon sugar

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick spray.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, shortening, sugar, and brown sugar on medium until creamy. Add the vanilla and the cranberry apple butter and mix on medium again to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, cinnamon, salt, and oats. Stir in the cranberries with a spatula.

Spread the mixture into the prepared pan.

Bake for about 22-24 minutes, until set. Allow the bars to cool before frosting.

Make the frosting: in a mixer bowl beat the butter until smooth. Add the cranberry apple butter and salt and stir on low to combine. With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar. Once the powdered sugar is incorporated, add the heavy cream, and mix on medium-high until light.

Frost the cooled bars and then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Recipe from Inside Bru Crew Life

Apple Cinnamon Syrup Cookies

I’m calling it: it’s fall in my book so I will likely be making all of those great fall recipes that I have been collecting. One flavor of fall is maple, which I love but you do have to be careful that it isn’t too sweet. This recipe originally called for maple syrup- the real stuff not what you put on pancakes. I love Mrs. Butterworth’s but that isn’t the right ingredient to use here.

I had maple syrup, but I also had apple cinnamon syrup that my friend gave me. I looked at the ingredients, and they looked usable: apple juice, cinnamon, and (ok) sugar. I decided that I would substitute the apple syrup for the maple syrup and hoped that the cookies wouldn’t get too melted along the edges. That did happen to a couple of cookies, but not too bad.

I didn’t quite have the quantity of syrup I needed, so I ended up making 40% of the original recipe. That wasn’t too hard, and I ended up making 25 cookies. They come together quickly, but with the apple cinnamon syrup they don’t keep the impression of the fork times all that well. I imagine that is because of the added sugar in the syrup, but it may have been the same had I used maple syrup. The cookies are really interesting- if you know they have apple cinnamon syrup, you taste that. If you don’t know, then you are left thinking “What is in these?” Either way, they are very tasty.

Apple Cinnamon Syrup Cookies
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup apple cinnamon (or maple) syrup
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
Granulated sugar

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

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium until light. Add the syrup, egg, and vanilla and mix on medium to incorporate. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. Do not over mix.

Shape the dough into 1-1/4” balls and roll in sugar. Place on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten slightly with the tines of a fork.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the cookies look set and dry. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Craig Gund via All Recipes

Apple Cider Biscotti

I do love the flavors of fall, and apple cider is one of those great flavors. One year when my husband and I traveled to Michigan, we visited a cider farm. It was during the summer, so it was a little off season, but they still offered ice-cold cider, and it is just about the best thing ever. We buy apple cider at the store, if we can find cider that is local, but it isn’t quite the same as the wonderful cider we had at the cider farm.

I looked at a couple of biscotti recipes, and I thought that I would make these since they called for apple cider. They also contain cinnamon, which is a favorite of mine. I think that the other biscotti recipes I came across will eventually get made, but that’s for another day. I do have to say that I realize that some folks don’t care for biscotti all that much, but I do enjoy making them. I will say that biscotti are the most difficulty cookies to photograph!

These biscotti are easy to make, and they are quite forgiving. When I first mixed the butter and sugar, by the time I added the cider the mixture separated. I was worried but hoped that it would come together. I figured apple cider is an uncommon ingredient and perhaps it reacts strangely, so I proceeded and thankfully the dough came together once the flour mixture was added. Otherwise I didn’t have any issue, although I always need more glaze than the recipe makes! The apple cider flavor of these biscotti is subtle, but they make a nice crunchy cookie.

Apple Cider Biscotti
½ cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
5 tablespoons apple cider
3-1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt

1 cup powdered sugar
About 2 tablespoons apple cider
¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and eggs on medium until blended. Add the apple cider and stir to incorporate. Don’t worry if the mixture separates somewhat. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture, mixing just until the dough comes together.

Divide the dough into two halves. Shape each half into a log about 12 inches long. Place on the prepared baking sheet and flatten to about ½” thick, make two logs that are approximately 12” long and 3-1/2” wide. Allow room between the logs of dough for the dough to spread.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt. Working in small batches, mix the flour mixture into butter mixture until all of the flour mixture has been added to the butter mixture and is well blended.

Bake for 25 minutes, until the logs are golden. Allow to cool for 10 minutes.

Using a sharp knife, slice the logs into ½” slices. Place the cookies cut side down on the baking sheet. Bake for an additional 10 minutes, until the biscotti are firm. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and allow them to cool before glazing.

To make the glaze, in a small bowl combine the powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons apple cider, and cinnamon. Whisk until smooth. If the glaze is too thick, add additional apple cider. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled biscotti.

Recipe from Souffle Bombay

Apple Cheesecake Bars

 

It’s fall and I’m ready for fall baking! We have had a couple of warm days, but our house doesn’t seem to get very warm, which is a relief. I think we have turned the corner and it’s back to cool and rainy days. I guess I should change my closet back to clothes for cooler weather. With the new norm of working from home, I wear a lot of jeans and hoodies now! Maybe I should enhance my hoodie collection!

This recipe highlights apples, which are always wonderful in baking. This bar cookie has a cheesecake filling, and the tartness of the cream cheese offsets the sweetness of the apples. The original recipe added a caramel drizzle after baking, but I didn’t feel that this was necessary. If you served this more as a dessert than a bar cookies, then you could simply drizzle caramel on each serving.

The recipe called for three medium apples, and I used two large apples because apples in the store are so big.  The trick is to chop the apples finely, no more than a ½” dice or smaller. They are easier to distribute evenly when then are chopped small. I also used a food processor to cut in the butter to mixtures- it’s so much neater. There’s no need to wash your food processor between the crust and the streusel. Make sure these are nice and cold when you cut them, it’s much easier. These are so very tasty, with the perfect combination of sweet and tangy.

Apple Cheesecake Bars
2 cups flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup cold butter, cubed

16 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 large apples, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup oats
1/3 cup cold butter, cubed

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

Make the crust: in a food processor, combine the flour, brown sugar, and ¾ cup cold butter. Process, using short pulses, until the mixture is crumbly. Spread evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden.

While the crust is baking, make the cheesecake filling: in a large mixer bowl beat the cream cheese, ½ cup sugar, and vanilla on medium until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. Set aside.

In a small bowl combine the chopped apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, and remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar.

Once the crust comes out of the oven, spread the cream cheese mixture over the crust and top with the chopped apple mixture.

Make the streusel topping: in a food processor, combine the flour, brown sugar, oats, and 1/3 cup butter and pulse until the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the bars.

Bake 25-30 minutes, until the filling is set. Cool on a wire rack for one hours and then refrigerate for at least two hours before cutting into bars.

Recipe from Katherine White, Taste of Home