Friday 25 October 2013

Cinnamon and Apple cookies # Creative Cookie Exchange

I really wanted to join this last month-a collection of cookies baked by bloggers- what a great idea- and so after seeing Greenthumb's beautiful cookies, here, decided that I would have a go too. The theme for this month is apples. Now apples in the UK are abundant at this time of year- it's a very autumnal ingredient- here on Borneo, it's quite a different story! We have all our apples imported from China. New Zealand, Australia and the US- It's a real hit and miss situation. However I managed to find some nice Fuji apples, that didn't cost the earth - as they often do- and decided to make these
 Cinnamon and Apple cookies.

First preheat oven to 350F
 

Ingredients

¾ cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar / + 2tbsp sugar for topping
1 ½ cup shredded apples (one very large apple or 2 smallish apples)
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 ½ cups flour, white unbleached
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon + 2 tsp for topping
½ tsp. salt
1 cup chopped nuts (note: I measure the nuts after I chop them

 Cream the butter and sugar (If you're wondering why it's a strange colour- I used a mixture of brown and white sugar, although the recipe does say white!)
Add the egg and the shredded apple. Stir in the vanilla essence.

 In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt, cinnamon and baking powder.
 Add the wet batter, half at a time and stir
Finally fold in the nuts
 
On a large baking sheet drop a tablespoon size of batter, no more than 12 cookies to a sheet.  Sometimes it is easier to stick the batter in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.  This allows for less sticky measuring and scooping of the dough.
It is essential to bake these cookies for a full 14 minutes.  The tops will be golden.  Mushy-in-the-middle apple cookies are no good!  As long as the tops are a light gold, the cookies are fully done.
While the first batch of cookies are baking, combine the remaining sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.  When the first cookies come out of the oven, sprinkle the tops with the sugar-cinnamon mix.  The warmth of the freshly basked cookies allows the sugar-cinnamon mix to stick!  You may also sprinkle this on before cooking- See which way you prefer!
 
If you prefer a softer thicker cookie then place the mixture in the fridge for a while before cooking- I had to do this as I was cooking in school- they come out very different than if you just cook them straight from the bowl- Try them and see which way you prefer- either way, the flavours are lovely:)
 

If you want to see what all the cookie craze is all about have a look at -creativecookieexchange/# and follow the steps below
 
1. Write a blog post with recipe and original photo (please include some language here specific to that month's theme). We would like the recipe to be one you’re making for the first time, and photos must be original.

2. Post the Cookie Exchange badge somewhere on your blog so others can join in the fun:

Creative Cookie Exchange

You can participate in our Link Party by baking us a cookie with apples–and keep in mind you may use ANY ingredients made from apples. Raw apples, dried apples, apple jelly, apple brandy, etc 

Read more: http://athomewithrebecka.com/butterscotch-apple-pie-cookies-creativecookieexchange/#ixzz2iJ8ic06v
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Share Alike
Follow us: @athomewrebecka on Twitter

3. Make a good faith effort to visit and comment on the other cookies in the Linky party. We all love cookies so that should be easy!
4. LIKE the Creative Cookie Exchange Facebook Pagehttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Creative-Cookie-Exchange-hosted-by-The-Spiced-Life-and-At-Home-with-Rebecka/148873331987243

5. FOLLOW the Creative Cookie Exchange Pinterest Board: http://www.pinterest.com/thespicedlife/creative-cookie-exchange/

6. LINK your blog post below using the Linky tool

 
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Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list...

Hope you have fun:)
Amanda x

14 comments:

  1. These cookies sound delicious! Interesting about the scarcity of apples there; I didn't think about that. I remember when I moved to the southwest after living in the northeast most of my life; it's really apple country there and we picked them every year in orchards and practically lived on them for months in the fall and early winter. Here, there aren't orchards and the apples are brought in and often sit in cold storage before they come to the stores, so they aren't nearly as good as they are in the east. But they are plentiful and you can always buy them in any store, so that's good. :)

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  2. Yes, the cooler climates definitely make for better apples- like you said by the time they sit in cold storage and transported, they loose their best qualities- ours are often 'woody' or very bland. But once in a while we get lucky.It's not just apples too- many of our fruit and veg are imports- which is strange in one way as you would think the tropics are a great place to grow things:)

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  3. I'm glad you joined in, your cookies look and sound really good. It's not apple season over here either. Did you post your on there Facebook page?

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    1. No I didn't- I wasn't sure how! Any help gratefully received!?

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    2. Just go to there Facebook page upload a photo of you cookie and a link back to your blog.

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  4. Yummy! I love all things cinnamon. If only my screen had a 'scratch & sniff' feature :)

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  5. Mmm, they look so good and it's one of my favourite flavour combinations too.x

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  6. mmmmmmmMMMMM YUM, are those low fat and completely calorie free? :)
    They look so delicious!
    I guess I have taken my apple eating for granted! We used to go apple picking every fall in Michigan.
    I would love to visit Borneo and I can't even imagine how amazing it is there!
    Have a wonderful Sunday!
    Tammy

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    Replies
    1. of course they are! :)
      And yes Borneo is a lovely place to be!

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  7. LOVE these! Love the idea of shredded apple in a cookie. And I am so excited you went to such effort to get apples to bake with us! If you would like to become one of the hosting members and are on Facebook, send me an email and let me know. thespicedlifeATgmailDOTcom

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  8. An extra special mention is needed for your cookies as you went to so much trouble to get the apples. Well done. We take it for granted that we can buy most fruit year round here in Australia. We are very lucky! The cookies look grat. At first I thought they were sprinkled with pepper but thought myself silly when I read on! Thanks for joining in!

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