Description
Soft, chewy apple cider cookies loaded with warm fall spices, fresh apple chunks, and topped with a delicious apple cider glaze. Perfect for autumn baking!
Ingredients
For the Cookies:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon (get the good stuff)
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (leave it out for an hour)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed tight
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- ¼ cup apple cider (not the hard kind)
- 1 apple, peeled and diced small
For the Glaze:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons apple cider
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
Oven to 375°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Don’t crowd yourself – clear some counter space because this gets messy.
Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a bowl. Set it aside. This is boring but necessary.
Beat butter with both sugars until it looks fluffy. This takes longer than you think – like 3 minutes with a good mixer. Don’t rush it or your cookies won’t be right.
Crack in the egg and mix just until combined. Pour in the apple cider. The mixture might look weird and curdled but that’s normal. Scrape the bowl down because stuff always hides at the bottom.
Dump in the flour mixture and mix on low until it just comes together. Stop mixing the second it looks combined. Overmixed dough makes tough cookies and nobody wants that.
Switch to a spatula and gently fold in those diced apples by hand. This keeps you from overworking the dough. Make sure they’re spread around evenly.
Use your cookie scoop to make balls about 1½ inches across. Space them about 2 inches apart because they spread some. If you don’t have a scoop, use a spoon but try to keep them the same size.
10-12 minutes max. They should look set but still pale in the centers. If they look golden brown, you’ve gone too far. Mine are usually perfect at 11 minutes but every oven’s different.
Let them sit on the hot pan for 5 minutes to set up, then move to a cooling rack. This step is important – move them too soon and they fall apart.
Whisk the powdered sugar, apple cider, and cinnamon until smooth. Wait until cookies are completely cool or the glaze slides right off. I learned this lesson the hard way.
Notes
Room temperature butter is everything. I set mine out when I start my coffee and it’s perfect by the time I want to bake. Cold butter won’t cream right and melted butter makes flat cookies.
Pick your apple carefully. I’ve tried every kind and Honeycrisp stays firm without being crunchy. Gala works too. Avoid anything mushy like Red Delicious.
The biggest mistake I see people make is not letting ingredients come to room temp. Your egg should feel neutral when you touch it, not cold from the fridge.
If your dough seems too wet, don’t panic. Different apples have different moisture levels. Add a tablespoon of flour if you need to.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10-12 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American