The Cookie Carnival: Apple Butter Cookies

You can tell fall is in the air... and in my kitchen. Tis the season for canning, jamming and baking with pumpkin and apple!  Seems to be fitting that one of the cookie selections for this month's Cookie Carnival would be apple butter cookies.  As luck would have it, I even had a jar of home made apple butter left over from last fall!

I promised to always be honest with you - if a dessert failed or bombed then so be it.  I would have to say that this recipe was not one I am going to repeat.  These weren't a cookie so much as they were a cake.  While very moist, it just wasn't pallet pleasing to me.  If I'm going to eat a cookie I want some "oomph" to it, so to speak.  Frankly, I thought it was a waste of some darn good home made apple butter. 

Apple Butter Cookies
Courtesy of Anna Olson

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon fancy molasses
3/4 cup sour cream
½ + ½ cup apple butter
2 large egg yolks
1 large egg
2 cups pastry flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. and line a baking tray with parchment.
Beat butter, sugar and brown sugar together until smooth. Stir in molasses, sour cream and ½ cup apple butter. Stir in yolks and eggs.
In a separate bowl, sift dry ingredients and gently stir into butter mixture. Spoon or pipe 2/3 of batter by tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking tray, leaving 1 ½-inches between them. Spoon a teaspoonful of remaining apple butter into centre of each cookie and top each with remaining batter. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until cookies lift easily from tray.

add the applesauce

and top with more dough