Apple Cookies
Turn simple cookie dough into the sweetest apples with this icebox cookie recipe! These buttery, melt-in-the-mouth cookies are shaped and sliced to reveal a perfect little apple, complete with a leaf and pips. Fun to make, pretty to slice, and the cutest bake to celebrate cosy autumn days.
Ingredients:
150g unsalted butter, softened
120g icing sugar, sifted
pinch of salt
40g whole egg (whisked)
1 tsp vanilla paste
270g cake flour
30g ground almonds
1g baking powder
Gel food colouring: red, green, black
Instructions:
1. Make the dough
In a large bowl, beat the butter, icing sugar, and salt together until smooth and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla paste, mixing until fully combined. Sift in the cake flour, ground almond, and baking powder. Mix gently until a soft dough forms.
2. Divide and colour
Divide the dough into portions: keep about two-thirds plain for the apple flesh, tint one-quarter red for the apple skin, a small piece green for the leaf, and a tiny piece black for the apple pips.
3. Shape the apple flesh
Roll the plain dough into a thick cylinder about 4–5 cm wide. Use greaseproof paper and a bench scraper to smooth it into a neat log. Wrap and chill the log in the freezer for 1 hour until firm.
4. Prepare the red apple skin
Roll the red dough thinly between two sheets of greaseproof paper, large enough to cover the log completely. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
5. Assemble the apple
Once the plain dough log is solid, use a sharp knife to create a shallow groove along one side of the log for the leaf to sit in. You can also use the pointed end of a small cookie cutter (heart or star) to drag a neat V-shape groove. Wrap the red dough evenly around the plain log, using the greaseproof paper to help keep it snug and smooth. Trim the ends for a neat finish, then chill in the freezer for 30 minutes.
6. Add the leaf
Roll the green dough into a thin tube about 1 cm thick. Chill for 30 minutes until firm, then slice off a small piece and shape it into a leaf. Press the leaf gently into the groove of the log so that it will appear at the edge of each cookie when sliced. Re-wrap the log to maintain its shape and chill again in the freezer for another 30 minutes. Do not skip chilling, as it ensures clean slices and a neat apple shape.
7. Slice and add pips
Slice the log into cookies about 5 mm thick. Using the tip of a skewer or small knife, press 2–3 tiny teardrop-shaped pieces of black dough into the centre of each slice to create apple pips.
8. Bake
Arrange the slices on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper or a silicone mat. Bake at 160°C for 12–15 minutes, until just set but not browned. (For extra crisp cookies, I lower the temperature to 80°C to dry them out for another 30minutes). Allow the cookies to cool on the tray for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.