Caramel-Stuffed Apple Cider Spice Cookies

A slight chill in the air, leaves changing color, pumpkin patch visits and trips to pick apples - these are all signs that Fall has arrived.  These are all signs that I never see.  Palm fronds do not change color and the only chill I feel in the morning is when one of my girls decides to turn on the hot water tap when I am in the shower.  Such is life, and although I miss these things each Fall, living in a tropical paradise is pretty darn nice too.

It was exciting to find out that this month's theme for the Creative Cookie Exchange was apples, the versatile fruit that works equally well in both sweet and savory dishes.  There are just so many great cookies that feature apple that it was hard to narrow it down to one.  I finally decided on a recipe that included a little caramel, a little cider, and a little spice.

The recipe for caramel-stuffed cookies has been around for quite some time, but after a little research I settled on one and then started making some changes. The recipe called for regular Alpine Apple Cider Instant drink mix, but I decided to use the Caramel Apple version. Since the drink mix is very sweet I cut the sugar down to ½ a cup. A little extra spice never hurts in a cookie so I added a little apple pie spice -which is a wonderful blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, cloves and cardamom.  I thought that apples pieces in the cookie would be nice too. Granny Smith are my usual apple of choice when baking because they hold up well and are a little tart, and I decided to grate them so the pieces were not too big.  With these changes I found that I also had to add a little more flour so that the cookie mix was not too wet to work with when placing the caramels in the middle.

The addition of eggs to this recipe definitely produces "cakey"cookies, that are puffy rather than thin and crispy, and this was further enhanced when I decided to make bigger cookies than the recipe originally called for.  I also decided that they needed an iced top, but this does add to the sweetness so feel free to drizzle the icing rather than dipping the cookies into it if you want to tone this down.

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You can also just use us as a great resource for cookie recipes--be sure to check out our Facebook page, our Pinterest Board, and our monthly posts. You will be able to find them the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month! Also, if you are looking for inspiration for this month's theme, check out what all of the hosting bloggers have made so far:

• Almond Apple Cider Snickerdoodles from If I Ever Owned A Bakery...
• Apple Butterscotch Cookies from Noshing With The Nolands
• Apple Walnut Cream Cheese Cookies from Magnolia Days
• Brandy Apple Bars from KarenTrina Childress
• Browned Butter Applesauce Bars from Food Lust People Love
• Caramel-Stuffed Apple Cider Spice Cookies from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Fuji Apple Cookies from The Ninja Baker
• Ginger Sandwich Cookies with Apple Butter Cream Filling from A Baker's House
• Iced Apple Drop Cookies from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Salted Caramel Apple Popcorn Cookies from It's Yummi!
• Streusel Topped Apple Oatmeal Bars from The Spiced Life
• Butterscotch Apple Pie Cookies from At Home with Rebecka
• Cider Snaps from Cookie Dough & Oven Mitt

Caramel-Stuffed Apple Cider Spice Cookies

(Printer Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients ~
Cookies

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons apple pie spice
• 1 (7.4 ounce) box Alpine Spiced Caramel Apple Cider Instant Original Drink Mix (10 packets)
• 2 eggs 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 3½ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 Granny Smith apples, coarsely grated
• 1 (14 ounce) bag Kraft Caramels

Icing

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 3 tablespoons Caramel Macchiato creamer or 2 tablespoons milk
• ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon caramel extract (optional)
• apple pie spice for dusting (optional)

Preparation ~
Cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350℉. 
2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
3. In a stand mixer, cream together butter, sugar, salt, pumpkin pie spice and all 10 packets of apple cider mix until smooth and fluffy. 
4. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract, then mix in the baking soda and baking powder.
5. Add the flour and mix until just combined.
6. Add apples and gently mix in.
7. Refrigerate mixture for at least 1 hour.
8. With a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop the dough scrapping off the excess as you go up the bowl.
9. Flatten the dough slightly in your hand and place a caramel in the center. Work the dough around the caramel sealing well. Place the cookies two inches apart on the sheets.
10. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. After baking, carefully slide the parchment with the cookies onto the counter. 
11. Let cool until they are no longer soft but still slightly warm. Twist gently to remove, and cool upside down on the parchment or on a cooling rack. If they are not upside down while they cool they caramel may leak out of the bottom.

Icing

1. Combine confectioners' sugar, creamer (or milk), extract, and vanilla adding milk as needed, to achieve icing consistency.
2. Place a piece of parchment on your counter top, then place a wire rack on top of the paper. 
3. Dunk the top of each cookie into the icing and place the cookie onto the wire rack allowing the glaze to drizzle down the sides of the cookie. 
4. Allow glaze to harden, and then dust the top of the cookie with apple pie spice.

Makes 30 large cookies.

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Recipe adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything