Glazed Apple Cookies

I'm in Lawrence instead of Olathe tonight, so I had to look up a recipe online instead of using my book. So I went to http://www.allrecipes.com/ and typed in "cinnamon", and this is what popped up!

Now, I made one batch (to feed my roommate and his friends who are over) and I intend to make another later tonight, but my first batch came out...weird.

They flattened a TON, and also fell apart when i tried to use a spatula to get them off of the parchment paper (which I use in place of a greased cookie sheet.)

The walnuts in the recipe are optional, but I don't like walnuts, and I don't like raisins (in my cookies!) either so I left both out and replaced them with cinnamon chips. Tasty!

Some of the reviews suggested grating the apple instead of dicing. I grated one and diced the rest (I used 1.5 apples, roughly). I also used a paper towel to absorb the juice from the apple (HIGHLY suggested) but the dough was still really, really runny.

I think I'm going to leave the milk out of the next batch, and when I put the dough on the paper try to make it really high instead of spread on the paper, to keep it from spreading AS much.

As for the glaze:
I'm not sure who did the measuring for this, but everything seems off. I think by the time I got the consistency I wanted I'd used almost 1/4 cup of Half and Half (and they suggest 2.5 tablespoons) so just keep the H&H on hand.

They sure are cute, though!!

Glazed Apple Cookie Recipe:

• 1/2 cup shortening (I'm going to use butter for the 2nd batch)
• 1 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
• 1 cup raisins (or cinnamon chips-- or neither!)
• 1 cup peeled, finely diced apple (I used 2 Granny Smith)
• 1/4 cup milk

• 1 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup half-and-half (use as needed to get proper consistency)

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 400°F
• Beat shortening (or butter) and brown sugar together. The recipe says "until light and fluffy" but with this much sugar it didn't get fluffy at all. Beat in the egg; here's where it got light and fluffy.
• In another bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.
• Blend half of the mixture into the butter/brown sugar. Add apples, walnuts/raisins/cinnamon chips, then stir in the rest of the mixture.
• Use a tablespoon to put on a greased cookie sheet (or parchment paper) and put them WELL apart. Recipe says 1 1/2 inch..I suggest more.
• Cook for 10-12 minutes, put on cooling rack.

Glaze Preparation

• Blend powdered sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and H&H
• Get to a thin consistency for spreading, but not too runny.
• Either spread over the entire (still warm) cookie, or:
• Put in a Zip-Loc bag, snip off a corner, and drizzle designs!

This recipe has my tweaks that I think will make better cookies in the future. For the original, go here!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Glazed-Apple-Cookies/Detail.aspx