Apple Pie Cookies

Smitten Kitchen

Last night, I got to have some great fellowship with the ladies from my Bible study.  We spent some great time in prayer, but we also spent some great time eating out-of-this-world desserts and sipping some white wine.  It was, in a word, stupendous.

I volunteered to bring one of the desserts, and my first inclination was to bake the Pumpkin Whoopie Pies I've been itching to make. However, I had a ginormous bag of apples in my fridge that I was afraid would go bad before I could eat all of them.  So, I searched for apple recipes and discovered the Apple Pie Cookies on Smitten Kitchen and fell in love.

Just look at how cute they are! Plus, my favorite part of an apple pie is the crust and, I believe, that this "cookie" has the perfect crust to filling ratio.

My cookies aren't as photogenic, and the lighting is horrible, but I had to get proof! I was proud of my little creations.

I had never made pie dough from scratch, and I was a little nervous. I had fun, though! The pie dough making process was easier than I expected.

Though I may have done a couple of things different from Smitten Kitchen's recipe, I still think the cookies turned out rather nicely.

First of all, instead of rolling out the dough with a rolling pin, I pinched off Peanut-M&M sized balls and flattened them out with the palm of my hand. The dough doesn't have to be extremely cold, for this method, and I found it to be easier than the rolling pin. I've never had the upper body strength to roll out  dough as thin as I want it to be.

Also, I have another confession, I didn't cut the apple pieces into circles.  I just cut thin slices off of each side of the apple and threw them between the two dough circles.  Nobody seemed to mind, so I'd recommend this method as well.  It saved me a lot of time and frustration.

I may or may not have doubled the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg mix.  What can I say? I like my sweets.  I also sprinkled the tops of the cookies with more of the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg combo instead of just granulated sugar.

Though this recipe is a little time consuming, I would highly recommend it.  The oohs and aahs your friends will give over these cute cookies will be enough recompense for all your hard work. Plus, once you pull them out of the oven you'll feel extremely accomplished.  Go ahead, give yourself a well deserved pat on the back.

During the baking process I thought I would burn the recipe once I was finished, but I've changed my mind.  I am absolutely making these little beauties again in hopes to surprise even more people with their adorable, fall charm.

Love, Alli