West Coast Style Apple Picking and Apple Pie Cookies
Every year, our group heads up to Rileys at Los Rios Rancho in Oak Glen for an early breakfast and some apple picking in the local orchards. We have to go early because even at the end of September, it still gets up to about 85*! Now that Jax is almost three years old, he can finally pick the apples all by himself. He enjoys that! We picked Spartan (sweet for snacking) and Rome (great for baking) apples and fun tossing them into the bags and crates. After we fill up our bags, we head over to the Little Seedlings Farm on Los Rios Rancho and the kids feed and pet the goats…always a highlight of the trip for Jax. He even tells the goats, “I love you goat.” Melts my heart!
On the ride home, I always try to find new recipes to use with our picked apples to maybe find a new favorite. This year I DEFINITELY found a new FAV! I found the Apple Pie Cookie recipe on Pinterest and of course used the apples we picked instead of the Granny Smith like the recipe calls for. I used four Spartan and one Rome…because that’s just what I pulled out of our bag. And let me tell you, even though the Spartans are really great for snacking on because they are sweet (which Jax did as I was assembling!), they make an absolutely DELICIOUS pie filling! And because they are on the smaller side of apple sizes, they are perfect for this recipe because you don’t need a lot of apples to make a lot of “cookies”. These cookies are crumbly though, so be sure your littles aren’t eating over the carpet! LOL!
These will definitely be my new go-to for Thanksgiving dessert!
Quick Tips –
1. You won’t really be able to tell if the cookies are actually cooked because the crumb topping doesn’t really “brown” and the apple filling doesn’t bubble up. I baked mine 5 minutes longer because I was unsure. They still turned out great, but I’m sure they were done at the end of the 19 minutes like the recipe called for.
2. Definitely leave the cookies in the muffin tins for at least 15 minutes after they come out of the oven. Any sooner and the crumb topping won’t set enough to hold together. They are still crumbly even after that, but not nearly as much. They are easier to hold like a “cookie” if you let them set up.
Recipe Source: Apple Pie Cookies
Photography by Milisa Lin Smith of Love With Flare Photography
Photography by Milisa Lin Smith of Love With Flare Photography
Photography by Milisa Lin Smith of Love With Flare Photography
Photography by Milisa Lin Smith of Love With Flare Photography
Photography by Milisa Lin Smith of Love With Flare Photography
Ingredients
- 1 Roll of refrigerated pie dough
- 5 Small Apples (peeled, cored and diced finely)
- 1/4 Cup - Granulated Sugar
- 1 Teaspoon - Ground Cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoons - Lemon Juice
- 1 Tablespoon - Cornstarch
- STREUSEL TOPPING
- 2 1/4 Cups - All-Purpose Flour
- 2/3 Cup - Brown Sugar
- 2/3 Cup - Granulated Sugar
- 2/3 Cup - Old Fashioned Oats
- Pinch of Salt
- 3/4 Cups + 2 Tablespoons - Butter, melted (14 tablespoons total)
Method
- Preheat over to 350 degrees
- Spray the muffin tin with nonstick spray
- Roll out dough onto a lightly floured surface and cut out circles about 2 inches in diameter
- Repeat this process with the left over dough by gathering and re-rolling
- Place the circles of dough in the bottom of each muffin well
- Add apples, sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice and cornstarch to a medium saucepan. Cook on medium heat about 5-10 minutes until apples have softened slightly and juices begin to thicken. Remove from heat
- Add 1 tablespoon of apple filling on top of each circle of pie dough
- In a medium bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, oats and salt. Add melted butter and mix until incorporated
- Add a heaping tablespoon of the streusel topping to each muffin well and gently press on top of apples
- Bake 17-19 minutes. Allow to cool in muffin tin for at least 10-15 minutes so the cookies set up correctly
Milisa
Camping, exploring and getting dirty…three of Jax and Milisa’s favorites things! Making memories though is top priority. Knowing little ones grow up way too fast, Milisa tries to make as many memories as she can with Jax. And that usually means making memories in the great outdoors as a family…and with framily. Milisa is getting her teaching credential and currently in the student teaching phase, which is the last leg of her teaching credential. After having Jax, she realized how absorbent little minds were and wanted to make an impact. Milisa also has fun incorporating her love of adventuring with her love of creating - follow her on Instagram @adventurecreates. See what she’s up to over at her other IG handles - @milisalin and @lovewithflarephotography.
