Description
Chewy spiced apple cookies glazed green and filled with salty-sweet Medjool date caramel, it’s a sandwich cookie spin on the caramel apple!
Ingredients
Scale
Apple Spice Cookies
- 1/4 cup (50g) coconut oil
- 1/4 cup (65g) almond or peanut butter
- 1/4 cup (60g) unsweetened applesauce
- 3/4 cup (70g) coconut sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp (227g) gluten-free flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tap baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 cup (~50g) finely diced Granny Smith apple
Green Glaze*
- 1/2 cup (115g) coconut butter
- 1/4 cup (80g) agave
- 1–2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1/2 tsp matcha powder
Medjool Date Caramel
- 200g (~10) Natural Delights Pitted Medjool Dates
- 3/4–1 cup full-fat coconut milk
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Dark chocolate chunks for the stems
Instructions
Apple Spice Cookies
- Combine coconut oil, almond/peanut butter, applesauce, coconut sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice. Microwave 30 seconds to melt, then whisk until smooth.
- Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt. Stir to combine.
- Fold in the diced apples.
- Freeze the dough for 15 minutes. While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 375 and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Scoop the dough (about 2 tbsp per cookie), roll into balls, and arrange on the baking sheets. Leave room in between for spreading, 6 cookies per pan.
- Bake 12-14 minutes at 375°F until the bottom edges are just starting to brown.
- Cool 10 minutes on the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Green Glaze
- Combine coconut butter and agave in a small bowl.
- Microwave 30 seconds to melt the coconut butter, then whisk until smooth.
- Add in the matcha powder, and 1-2 tbsp coconut oil if needed to thin it out. It will thicken as it cools.
- Dip or spoon onto cooled cookies, letting excess drip off the sides (place a piece of wax paper underneath the wire rack for easier cleanup!)
- Refrigerate cookies so the glaze hardens.
Medjool Date Caramel
- Blend Natural Delights Pitted Medjool Dates with 3/4 cup coconut milk, vanilla, and salt.
- Add the remaining milk slowly as needed if the blender gets stuck, you will need to stop and stir/scrape down the sides often. Add as little liquid as possible so you have a thick caramel filling.
- Chill 2-3 hours (or overnight) to thicken.
- Transfer to a piping bag.
To assemble
- Pipe a generous dollop of Medjool date caramel onto half of the cookies, sandwich with the remaining cookies.
- Use a blow torch to melt one end of a chocolate chunk, then immediately press it into the top of a cookie to attach the “stem”. Alternately, you can just press a chocolate chip onto the top the glaze will help it stick.
- Keep cookies chilled until right before serving.
Notes
*If you don’t have coconut butter, you can make a powdered sugar glaze with: 2 cups powdered sugar + 2-3 tbsp apple juice + 1/2 tsp matcha powder whisked together until smooth
Keywords: gluten free, fall, halloween, apples, cinnamon, spice, kids, healthy, dessert, glaze, caramel, medjool dates