Soft Apple Cookies with Buttercream Icing
Packed with apples, golden raisins, and all your favorite spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. I fell in love with making these fresh apple cookies because they taste like everything good about fall baking. The secret is using plenty of freshly shredded apples, which makes them incredibly moist and gives every bite real apple flavor. They’re soft as little cakes and that sweet icing makes them absolutely irresistible
You won’t need the frosting to love these, but you’ll want it anyway.
Table of Contents
Ingredients and Tools You’ll Need
The type of apples you use doesn’t matter, and if you don’t have golden raisins, regular is fine. These cookies will stick to the pan, so use parchment or generously spray your baking sheets.
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This will make 36 cookies, but they don’t freeze well for later. But, if you need to double or triple this recipe, you can make adjustments in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Equipment
- Baking sheets
- Parchment paper
- Hand mixer or stand mixer
Ingredients
Cookies
- ½ cup shortening
- 1 ⅓ cups light brown sugar (packed)
- 1 egg
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- 2 small apples (peeled and shredded)
- 1 cup golden raisins
- ¼ cup applesauce
Icing
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons butter
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 dash cream or milk
How to Make Iced Amish Apple Cookies
Make sure you fully bake them! They will be quite brown when done, and shouldn’t appear wet at all in the center.
Step One: Make The Dough
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put shortening and brown sugar in a bowl and mix them together until they are light and fluffy.
Mix dry ingredients. Stir flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Add them to the sugar mixture and mix on low until a dough is formed.
Step Two: Add Mix-Ins
Add the golden raisins, applesauce, and shredded apples. The dough will be very wet, similar to a thick cake batter.
Step Three: Scoop And Bake
Drop 1½ tablespoon-sized scoops of cookie dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets. Bake for 11-13 minutes until very golden brown and baked through in the center. Remove cookies to racks and cool to room temperature.
Step Four: Frost
To make the icing, mix all the ingredients together until they are smooth. The icing should be thick so it can stay on the cookies, but also be spreadable. Frost the cookies and then serve them to your guests.
Serving & Storing
These apple cookies are best served with vanilla ice cream, frozen apple cider rum slushies, chai tea, caramel dip, or milk.
The cookies will do quite well stored in an airtight container, in the fridge, for up to 5 days. These cookies won’t freeze well because they’re cake-like and have frosting.
You can prepare the dough ahead of time and refrigerate it for up to 24 hours. Just let it sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes before baking.
More Cookie Recipes
There’s nothing like the smell of freshly made cookies when you walk in the door.
- Everyone loves chocolate chip cookies, and mine has a secret trick to make them the softest you’ve ever had.
- Butterscotch cookies are great when you want something different from chocolate chip.
- If you love super soft cookies, these cream cheese cookies are for you.
- Buttercream-filled thumbprint cookies are delicious, and you can mix up the colors for any occasion.
Printable Recipe
Frosted Apple Cookies
Equipment
- Baking sheets
- Hand mixer or stand mixer
Ingredients
Cookies
- ½ cup shortening
- 1 ⅓ cups light brown sugar (packed)
- 1 egg
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- 2 small apples (peeled and shredded)
- 1 cup golden raisins
- ¼ cup applesauce
Icing
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons butter
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 dash cream or milk
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Instructions
- Prep. Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C). Then, line two baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly spray them with non-stick cooking spray.
- Cream sugar and shortening. In a large mixing bowl, beat ½ cup of shortening and 1 ⅓ cups of packed light brown sugar with a hand mixer or stand mixer on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy for about 2-3 minutes.
- Add egg. Add 1 large egg to the sugar mixture and beat at medium speed until well combined, for about 1 minute.
- Mix dry ingredients: In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together 2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, ½ teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon of ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon of ground nutmeg, and ¼ teaspoon of ground cloves until well combined.
- Combine. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture, mixing at low speed until dough forms. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to ensure everything is well incorporated.
- Add apples, raisins, and applesauce. Gently fold in 1 cup of golden raisins, 2 small shredded apples (about 1 cup), and ¼ cup of applesauce using a spatula. The dough will be very wet, almost like a thick cake batter.
- Scoop and bake. Using a 1½ tablespoon-sized cookie scoop or two spoons, drop scoops of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake in the preheated oven for 11-13 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown and baked through in the center.
- Cool. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Make icing. In a medium bowl, beat together 1 ½ cups of powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons of softened butter, ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract, and 1-2 tablespoons of cream or milk (start with 1 tablespoon and add more as needed) until smooth and spreadable but thick.
- Frost. Once the cookies are completely cool, use a knife or offset spatula to frost them with the prepared icing.
Notes
Nutrition
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