If you’ve been wondering whether you really need the apple cider sitting in the special cooler at the front of the market since the start of the fall, the answer is yes. Yes, you do. It’s not just apple juice, and its uses go so far beyond drinking. (Although don’t skip it in holiday mixed drinks and cocktails, too!)
One of my favorite cooking hacks is reducing apple cider to use in muffins, breads, pancakes, cheesecakes, cookies, sauces, and dressings. Everything from my apple cider butterscotch pancakes with cider syrup to this magical apple crumble cheesecake with cider caramel, these apple walnut crumble muffins, roasted Brussels with maple cider Dijon glaze, and cider glaze for ham. The latest addition to the list are these cookies.
What can I say about these cookies…
- Luxuriously soft with just the right amount of chew
- Richly flavored with nutty browned butter, a kick of apple cider, maple, and warm apple pie spices
- Studded with smooth rich white chocolate
- And topped with a perfectly sweet and flavorful maple cream glaze
Just a few simple steps like browning the butter and reducing the cider go such a long way in turning a yummy, crowd-pleasing cookie into a jaw-dropping, show-stopping, “omg best cookie ever” cookie.
Start with the wet ingredients:
- browned butter (cooled until thickened into a wet pasty consistency, but not solidified)
- dark brown sugar
- maple syrup
- egg yolk
- apple butter (for an extra touch of apple flavor while helping with moisture and soft texture)
- reduced apple cider (boiled to 1/4 initial volume and cooled)
- vanilla bean paste (for more intense vanilla flavor compared to vanilla extract)
Then mix in the dry ingredients:
- all-purpose flour
- salt
- baking soda and powder
- apple pie spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice
Finally, fold in white chocolate. (For the creamiest texture, chop up a bar of white chocolate rather than using white chocolate chips)
Scoop and roll into 16-18 cookies and bake for 10 minutes at 350º.
If there’s one rule of cookie baking that you must take away, it’s DO NOT OVER BAKE YOUR COOKIES. Ever, as a general life principle. They should look underdone when you take them out of the oven. They will keep cooking as they rest and firm up more than you realize.
I wish I could insert a smell right here so you can appreciate the aroma of these cookies right out of the oven… it’s heavenly.
Let them cool for a few minutes on the pan so they’re not falling apart when you move them, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Finally, the glaze. I was lucky enough to receive some maple cream (aka maple butter) as a gift… It’s one of those things I’ve never been able to convince myself I need to buy on my own. But now I’m hooked. It’s just maple syrup whipped up until it reaches a creamy consistency, and it is truly heavenly. It works beautifully as a glaze, and it even stabilizes into a sweet crackly topping just like a powdered sugar glaze at room temperature, so it doesn’t make a mess.
For an alternative, just whisk together powdered sugar with a few spoonfuls of the reduced apple cider to make a delicious cider glaze instead.
Browned Butter Apple Cider Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, browned and cooled to a paste consistency
- 2/3 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 Tbsp maple syrup
- 2.5 Tbsp apple butter
- 1 Tbsp reduced apple cider (boiled to 1/4 volume and cooled)
- 1/2 large egg yolk, room temperature
- 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste (can sub extract)
- 1/4 fine sea salt
- 3/8 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp each ground nutmeg, ginger, allspice
- 3/8 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 140g all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup chopped white chocolate (or white chocolate chips)
- 2-3 Tbsp maple cream (or 1/2 cup powdered sugar + 1 Tbsp reduced apple cider)
Instructions
Make the reduced apple cider:
- To make a large batch, add 4 cups apple cider to a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer until reduced to 1/4 the initial volume (1 cup). Remove from heat, cool, and store in a sealed container in the refrigerator until ready to use. (See post above for other recipes with reduced apple cider.)
Brown the butter:
- Add unsalted butter to a saucepan over medium heat. Melt, bring to a light simmer, reduce heat, and let it bubble for a few minutes, until browned bits form at the bottom. (It will smell toasty and nutty when done). Transfer to a heat-proof container to cool. Refrigerate until it is semi-firm (a loose paste consistency, not fully solidified).
Make the cookies:
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cooled brown butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed about a minute.
- Add the maple syrup, apple butter, reduced apple cider, egg yolk, and vanilla. Mix until thoroughly combined.
- In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients: salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, baking soda and powder, and flour.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix slowly until evenly incorporated.
- Add the white chocolate and use a wooden spoon to combine.
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Scoop dough out into 16-18 balls and place on the lined cookie sheets. Leave about 2 inches between each cookie to spread.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes at 350ºF.
- Remove from the oven (they should look soft, puffy, and underdone) and cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes. Use a spatula to transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
- Drizzle maple cream over the cooled cookies. (Or, whisk together powdered sugar and reduced apple cider to form a glaze and drizzle over the cookies.)