Halloween is over and November is in full swing! The days are colder and the nights are longer. During this time of year, I can be found baking my little heart out in my tiny apartment kitchen. There is something therapeutic about coming home after a long day of school, out from the biting autumn winds of Illinois, and just baking my feelings. After I am all said and done, I take a deep sigh, brew myself a steaming cup of tea, sit down at my desk and proceed to go on a photo editing binge, the sounds of smooth jazz acoustics playing softly in the background.
As I’ve gotten older, tea has become one of those drinks that has quickly grown on me. Coffee has always had my heart (or at least since freshman year of college when I started drinking it), but there is something so powerful about the calming, floral flavors that tea provides. It’s this which has recently gotten my hooked, the warm brew trickling down my throat with each savored sip. Tea reminds of late night study sessions a friend’s apartment, our laughter proceeded late into the evening. Happy memories and funny moments, all over a cup of tea.
I discovered caramel apple flavored teas over a year ago when my parents brought home a shopping bag full of holiday inspired teas. One sip of the caramel apple dream tea and I was instantly obsessed.
With Halloween over, I am now 110% Thanksgiving! And with the holiday season upon us, it is apple baking season (one of my favorite times of the year for baking). For this post, I am getting my apple game on and sharing my recipe for these decadent apple pie cookies. I’ve been making these Dutch Apple Pie Cookies for years now. I discovered this recipe when I started cooking and I have been obsessed ever since. Next to Momma Crawford’s chocolate chip cookie recipe, it’s one of my favorite cookie recipes ever.
This cookie is all the best parts of an apple pie but reconstructed and assembled onto a bite-sized, buttery, crust-like cookie. The cookie base is a hybrid between a shortbread cookie and a traditional pie crust which is so addicting. I can literally eat just this dough by itself it is that good. So warm. So butter. So divine. Then the apple filling layer is bubbly and perfectly cascaded over the cookie base with the warm, sugary crumble all spiced and tender over top. A drizzle of the caramel apple icing glaze over top and you have yourself an easy, peasy, dynamite cookie! It’s one of those recipes I can make in synch but still get all the beloved flavors of a traditional apple pie, which takes WAAY longer. (If you want to learn how to make an apple pie from scratch, check out this post here!) A cookie in one hand and a cup of tea in the other and friends and family around to share them with, and you have my definition of a wonderful time.
