One of my coworkers has resisted by baking since the day I started working at our school. He claims to prefer croissants to cookies. Pfft! For Christmas, I threw some of my family's famous Blackbottom Cupcakes, along with some cookies and truffles, and I finally got him to crack. He sent me a picture of an empty plate, with only a few sprinkles of crumbs and a whole bunch of cupcake liners. Success! So now that this is his final week at our school, I knew I had to find out exactly what he wanted for his farewell treat. His favorite dessert? Cold Apple Pie. Now I don't make large desserts - I make small, bite-sized, hand 'em out to everyone you know desserts. After running a few ideas by him, I picked two recipes: Apple Pie Cupcakes from Inspired Taste and Apple Pie Cookies from smitten kitchen.
The cupcakes were pretty straightforward, but the cookies were a labor of love. Back-breaking, sweat-inducing, arm-strengthening love. But more on that over on my personal blog.
First, the cupcakes.
Source
Apple Pie Cupcakes
tripled & ever-so-slightly adapted from Inspired Taste
Ingredients
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 6 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced in to 1/4-inch cubes
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3/8 teaspoon salt
- 4 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice (or the juice of 1 1/2 lemons)
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup + 6 tablespoons packed brown sugar
- 3 cans (12.4 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated cinnamon rolls
- whipped cream
- cooking spray
Directions
Heat oven to 400°F. Lightly spray 24 regular-size muffin cups with cooking spray.
In a skillet, melt 3 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Add half of the apples; cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Sprinkle with 3 tablespoons brown sugar, half the cinnamon and salt. Cook 5 minutes longer or until tender. Stir in lemon juice. Repeat with the second half of the apples. Note: if you have a larger skillet, you can probably do all of the apples at once. I only have a 10-inch one, so I had to do mine in 2 batches.
Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix remaining butter, flour, 3/4 cup of brown sugar with fork or hands until crumbly. Set aside.
Separate dough into 24 rolls. Flatten each into 4-inch round; place in muffin cup. Divide apple filling evenly onto rolls in muffin cups. Divide flour mixture evenly over apples.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until bubbly and tops are lightly browned. Cool slightly before removing from muffin cups. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Serve cupcakes topped with whipped cream.
The cupcakes came out super sweet and SO delicious! Two of my roommates came home while they were cooling and commented that the whole floor hallway smelled like cinnamon. You're welcome, good people of the second floor.
Apple Pie Cookies
faithfully followed from Smitten Kitchen
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting surfaces
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, very cold
- 1/2 cup water, very cold (I put it in the freezer for a few minutes until I was ready for it)
- 3 medium apples, whatever you like to bake with
- Squeeze of lemon juice (optional)
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Few gratings fresh nutmeg
- A pinch of any other spices you like in your apple pie (I added some ginger)
To finish
- 1 large egg
- Coarse or granulated sugar for garnish
Additional stuff
- 2 baking sheets covered in parchment paper
- A dough blender. I suggest investing in one that's comfortable in your hands (OXO Good Grips FTW). You can also use two forks, but it's much, much harder.
- A rolling pin. Or, alternatively, an empty wine bottle. Drink remaining wine if needed. Take one for the team.
- A pastry brush. Or, alternatively, your fingers.
- A fork and sharp knife for crimping and making slits
- Two round cookie or biscuit cutters of different sizes. SK recommends 2 1/2-inch and 1 1/2-inch rounds. Mine were a little closer in size, and I wished they weren't.
Directions
First, the pie dough:
Whisk together flour, sugar and salt in the bottom of a large, wide bowl. Cut your butter into smaller pieces - tablespoons or so ought to do. Using a dough blender, work the butter into the flour until the biggest pieces of butter are the size of small peas. Gently stir in the ice water with a rubber spatula, mixing it until "a craggy mass forms". I wasn't really sure what that meant until I saw it. Use your hands to knead it just two or three times to form a ball. Divide dough in half. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and flatten a bit, like a disc. Chill in fridge for at least an hour or up to two days. I chilled mine for about an hour and a half.
Next, get your life together and line up six small dishes:
1. Water
2. Leave it empty right now
3. Mix sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and other spices
4. A little flour to dust the surface
5. Whisk an egg with one teaspoon of water until smooth
6. A little sugar for decorating the tops of the pies
Then, roll out:
On a well-floured counter, roll out your pie dough pretty thin, a little shy of 1/8-inch thick. I'm bad at this, so mine wasn't as thin, which is probbbbably why my recipe made fewer cookies than it was supposed to. GO THINNER. Just tell yourself that. Lift and rotate your dough as you roll it, to ensure that it rolls out evenly and so you can be sure it’s not sticking in any place. Use the larger of your two cookie cutters to cut as many rounds as you can from the dough. Transfer them to parchment-lined baking sheets and keep them in the fridge until you need them. Once you’ve finished the first packet, repeat the process with the second packet of dough
Prepare your apples:
Peel your apples. Cut thin (1/8-inch thick, again, mine were probably thicker) slices from one side of whole apple, stopping when you hit the core. Repeat on opposite side. I wish I could tell you how many slices I got, but I honestly forgot to count. Use the smaller of your two cookie cutters (mine was about 1 2/3 inches) to cut the apples into cute little discs that will fit inside your pie cookies. Place them in your second bowl, covering them with a few drops of lemon juice if you find that they’re browning quickly (mine were okay without lemon juice).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Apple cookies, ASSEMBLE!
Grab your first disc of chilled dough and lightly dampen it on one side with the water to help it seal. Take your first disc of apple and toss it in the cinnamon spice sugar. Place it on the damp side of the bottom disk. Place a second disc of dough on top; I found it easiest to seal it by picking the whole thing up (this is when you’ll be glad that your dough is cold and semi-firm; if it’s soft and getting sticky, chill it until it’s easy to pick up) and press the tops and bottoms around the apple with your fingers. Back on the floured counter, cut decorative slits in your “pies”. Dip your fork in the flour and use it to create a decorative crimp on the sealed edges. Brush your cookie with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Replace on baking sheet and chill while you prepare the others.
It sounds insane, but if you follow SK's recipe faithfully, you WILL get cookies. And they WILL be delicious.
Bake your apple pie cookies for 25 minutes, or until puffed and bronzed and very pie-like. Mine were done in about 22-23 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool before eating them… or, if you're like me and SK, eat them immediately and try not to burn your mouth too badly.
The cookies are not too sweet, and the crust-to-apple ratio is pretty big. I mean, it's mostly crust. It's almost entirely crust. I think the two desserts balance each other out nicely. But what did my coworkers think? Stay tuned for an update!
What's your favorite way to update a classic recipe?
