This recipe is a leading contender this year, due in part to how good they taste, but also to how good they make your house smell while you bake them. It’s a multi-step recipe, but well-worth he extra effort for a memorable cookie that’s like eating a freshly baked apple.
(OOPS! This picture is not really of these cookies. The batch I made got snapped up SO FAST I didn’t even get a picture. Seriously. But they looked pretty much like this.)
Baked Apple Oatmeal Cookies
By Rochelle Wattz
1 c. butter plus 2 tbs.
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 cup baker’s sugar (this is the finely granulated kind — you can get the same effect by pulsing regular sugar in a Cuisinart)
2 eggs
2 tsp. Vanilla
2 c toasted oats
2 c of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
Dash of salt
Sauteed Apples
1.5 cups of apples, peeled and cored
½ cup of apple cider
¼ tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp clove
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
zest of 1 orange
1 cup Caramelized Pecans (use this recipe, it works great!)
In ADVANCE
Toast oats in a large skillet until golden brown-cool. Transfer to a cookie sheet to cool.
Next, peel and core about two small apples to make 1.5 cups of apples. Cut into small cubes. Transfer to skillet and sauté in apple cider, cinnamon, clove, orange zest, and nutmeg. Your house will smell like Christmas. Cool.
Sauté pecans in butter and brown sugar until caramelized. Cool
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, brown sugar, bakers sugar. Add eggs. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Fold flour and oats into butter mixture and mix well. Last, gentle fold in apples and pecans. Drop by spoonful onto a greased cookie sheet.
Bake in Pre-Heated Oven for 12 to 15 minutes.
Cool or heat warm with Vanilla Bean ice cream