Apple Cider Sugar Cookies

Apple Cider Sugar Cookies

Apple Cider Sugar Cookies

I came across a recipe for Spiced Apple Cut-Out Cookies from the blog, Semi Sweet Designs (link below) and really wanted to give it a try. I recently bought Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Mix and purchased Apple Butter to complete the ingredients for this recipe. The only ingredient I added was a little salt. I feel salt is essential to offset the sweet taste of sugar cookies in general, and bring out the flavor. I made the cookies using an apple and various leaf cutters (see here). The results were great! The cookies are soft and chewy, and have a warm Apple Cider flavor. These cookies are the perfect balance of sweet and tangy all in one cookie. It goes splendidly with a cup of coffee or your favorite tea. I really recommend you try it. See recipe and directions below.

Apple Cider Sugar Cookies

Yield: 2 Dozen Cookies (Depending on cutter size)

Ingredients
3 cups King Arthur All Purpose Flour

½ tsp Baking Powder

3 packets Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Mix

1 teaspoon Coarse Salt

½ cup Light Brown Sugar

½ cup Granulated sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter, softened and cut into 8 pieces

1 Large Egg

1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

2 tablespoons Apple Butter

2 essential ingredients Alpine Spiced Apple Cider and Apple Butter

Directions
Whisk together flour and salt; set aside.

Cream butter and sugars in a hand held mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment on low; 1-2 minutes. Do not overmix.

Scrape sides of bowl with spatula and mix for 10 seconds.

Add egg, vanilla extract, baking powder, apple cider packets, and apple butter and mix until incorporated; about 1 minute.

Scrape sides of bowl and mix for 5 seconds.

With mixer on low speed, slowly add flour mixture and incorporate.

The dough is ready when it begins to clump around paddle attachment.

Cut in half and roll dough into 2 balls, cover with plastic wrap and chill in fridge for 1-3 hours or overnight. I chilled my dough for 2 hours.

Heat oven to 375°F.

Use two sheets of parchment paper with dough in between and roll with rolling pin until desired thickness is reached.

Cut out shapes.

Apple Cider Sugar Cookies just taken out of the oven

Place onto cookies sheets lined with parchment paper, and put in freezer for 20 minutes. The cookies hold their shape when you do this.

Bake 7-12 minutes or until the edges have slightly browned. My cookies baked in 11 minutes. Oven temps vary so check the cookies at the 7 minute mark.

Make sure cookie sheets cool in between baking. I place them in the freezer for a few minutes and then place cut-out dough on cold cookie sheets lined with parchment paper, and put in freezer for 20 minutes. This is important. Do not use hot cookie sheets or the cookies will spread and lose their shape.

Wait 2-3 minutes before transferring cookies with cookie spatula to cooling racks to complete cooling; about 1 hour.

Decorate once the cookies are cool to the touch.

I used Red, Green and Brown sanding sugars on half of the apple cookies for variation.

Royal Icing
Ingredients
4 Egg Whites

4 teaspoons Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed

6 cups Powdered/Confectioners' Sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon Clear Vanilla Extract

1-3 teaspoons Water

Apple cutter and an Apple cookie

Directions
In a large bowl, sift powdered sugar, set aside.

In a bowl, add egg whites.

In a bowl, whisk together the egg whites and lemon juice.

Transfer to stand or hand held mixer with paddle attachment and mix on high for 1-2 minutes.
Add vanilla extract and mix for 5-10 seconds.

With mixer speed on low, slowly add sifted sugar and beat on low until smooth.

If needed, you may add 1 teaspoon of water at a time until you reach the right consistency. I used a flood icing consistency for this recipe.

Watch the Joy of Baking (link at the end) video for both Flooding Consistency and Piping Consistency Royal Icing. If you prefer a recipe using Meringue Powder, it is also available at this link.

Separate the icing in plastic containers with lids.

I use AmeriColor Soft Gel Paste Food Color Super Red, Green, and Chocolate Brown. Use 1-2 drops at a time until you reach the color desired.

Keep the containers covered until you are ready to color.

Transfer the icing immediately into squeeze bottles.

If the royal icing hardens due to exposure to air, use a spray bottle and spitz a little bit of water, and shake well holding the tip with your finger.

Test the icing consistency on a paper towel before decorating the cookie. Be careful doing this since you do not want to make the icing to end up watery and break up.

Outline and then fill each one by sections. I did the apple body first and then waited 1/2 hour and did the leaf and then the stem.

Use a cookie stick or paintbrush to reach the edges, and use tip of cookie stick or a toothpick to pop any air bubbles in the icing.

Let cookies dry overnight. This is essential so the icing does not stick together when you stack them or place in cookie tins or gift bags.

If you are baking and it is humid, allow more time for the cookies to dry.

For the Spiced Apple Cut-Out Cookies visit Semi Sweet Designs:
https://semisweetdesigns.com/2017/07/11/spiced-apple-cut-cookies/

For the Royal Icing Recipe and Video Tutorial, visit Joy of Baking:
http://www.joyofbaking.com/RoyalIcing.html

-Enjoy!

Sophia/Two Frys