Pie-Spiced Apple Cookies

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...These moist and chewy cookies are hard to resist if you enjoy apple pie. They are packed with fruit and nuts and flavored with the same spices as America's favorite pie. They are wonderfully fragrant and even smell like apple pie as they bake. The recipe first appeared on the blog The Naptime Chef and it has also been featured on food52. I'm not sure the cookies will be a favorite of the cookie-jar set, but if you enjoy an adult biscuit with your coffee or tea, these are definitely worth trying. The cookies are delicious and simple to make, but I suspect you'll need to bake them for a few minutes longer than is suggested in the recipe. My cookies needed a full 15 minutes to set and brown. You might also want to cutback on the amount of cloves used in the recipe. I used the full amount for my first batch of cookies and thought it was a bit overpowering. I cut the measure in half for the next batch and was much happier with the results. I  also added mace and ginger to the dry ingredients to bolster the reduced quantity of cloves.  I suspect that a commercial pie spice mixture would also work well here. This is a homely cookie that makes no pretense to be something it is not, but I can promise you that its flavor will trump its gnarly appearance. I hope you'll give the recipe a try. Here's how the cookies are made.

Pie-Spiced Apple Cookies...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Katie Sanford as featured on The Naptime Chef and food52

Ingredients:
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup shortening
1-1/3 cups dark brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup whole milk
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup unpeeled apple, finely chopped

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie or sheet cake pans with parchment paper.
2) Place raisins in a small saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
3) Combine shortening and brown sugar in bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat until fully combined. Beat in egg and milk. sugar until full combined. Add egg and milk and mix ingredients well.
4) Whisk flour, soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt together in another bowl. With mixer on low speed, slowly add dry ingredients, scraping bowl necessary, until everything is fully combined.
5) Stir chopped apple, raisins and walnuts into batter with a wooden spoon.
6) Drop cookies by rounded teaspoonfuls about 2-inches apart onto cookie sheets. Press tops of cookies down slightly with two fingers to flatten slightly.
7) Bake for 12-14 minutes or until cookies hold their shape and edges are slightly browned. Yield: 3 dozen cookies.

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