Fall has arrived rather quickly here in Central Ohio. We went from temperatures in the 90s last week to a high of 55 today. While that is wrong on so many levels, I welcome this cooler weather with open arms. I am done with my summer wardrobe & ready to move on to fall. If it could be fall year round, I would be just about as happy as a student seeing a substitute on test day.
When I was growing up my grandmother always used to make applesauce/spice cookies. They were some of my favorite cookies. The recipe originally came from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook, the 1969 edition. All I had to do was modify the recipe to make it gluten-free.
These cookies smell amazing while they are cooking. Using homemade applesauce really enhances the wonderful flavor of these cookies. The flavors are everything representative of the season. The recipe for the frosting that Betty Crocker suggests is not the one I use. I actually use the Cinnamon Icing that I use for my pumpkin cookies. They aren’t the prettiest cookies, but who cares when they taste so good?!? They don’t want to flatten out when they bake, so perhaps shaping them a little flatter before putting them in the oven will help in that regard.
Applesauce Cookies
**From The Betty Crocker Cookbook 1969 Edition
- ½ cup softened butter or margarine
- ¾ cup applesauce
- 2 ¾ cup flour (I used gluten-free Pantry’s All-Purpose mix that includes guar gum, so didn’t add any xanthan gum; make sure to add this if you don’t have it in your mix already)
- 1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum (use only if the flour mix you are using doesn’t contain xanthan or guar gums)
- 1 ½ cups packed brown sugar
- 1 cup chopped pecans (I used walnuts)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 2 eggs
Heat oven to 375. Mix butter and applesauce. Stir in remaining ingredients. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls about 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until almost no indentation remains when touched – 8 to 10 minutes. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Cool. Frost with Caramel Frosting if desired. About 6 dozen cookies – 70 calories each. (This made no where near 6 dozen, more like 2-3 dozen)
Caramel Frosting
**This is the recipe for frosting that Betty Crocker suggests; I did not use this one
- ½ cup margarine or butter
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- ¼ cup milk
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Heat margarine in 1-quart saucepan until melted. Stir in brown sugar. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir over low heat 2 minutes. Stir in milk. Heat to boiling; remove from heat. Cool to lukewarm. Gradually stir in powdered sugar. Place pan of frosting in bowl of cold water; beat until smooth and of spreading consistency. If frosting becomes too stiff, stir in additional milk, 1 tsp at a time. Frosts a 13 x 9 inch cake or fills and frost two 8 or 9 inch cake layers.
Cinnamon Frosting
**This is the icing/frosting that I use
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 TBSP milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Mix all ingredients together until icing is the right consistency to ice cookies. You can half this recipe if you want less icing.
Enjoy!!
Those look wonderful, Kim! I can only imagine how good they smelled while baking and how good they taste! 🙂 It’s easy to convert so many recipes to gluten free. You might want to tell folks exactly how much xanthan gum they’d need if not using a flour mix that already contains it. (Most newbies don’t know how much to add.) Slightly pressing down on each cookie with the bottom of a glass before baking might help with the appearance, although I kind of like their rustic look. 🙂
Shirley
Thanks Shirley! I will make a note in the post. I’ll have to try the glass trick!
Kim
Oh these look fabulous…might have to try them with the Pamela’s baking mix and see how they turn out. Like Shirley, i also like the way they look 😉