The best fall spices and sweet apple flavors now come in the perfect seasonal cookie package. Filled with a rich buttercream and rolled in turbinado sugar, each bite is sweet, chewy, buttery bliss.
Apple Butter Sandwich Cookies
Makes 11 sandwich cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup (170 grams) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup (220 grams) firmly packed dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg (50 grams), room temperature
- ½ teaspoon (2 grams) vanilla extract
- 2¼ cups (281 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons (6 grams) kosher salt
- 1½ teaspoons (3 grams) apple pie spice
- 1 teaspoon (2 grams) ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon (3.75 grams) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (2 grams) cream of tartar
- Turbinado sugar, for rolling
- Apple Butter Buttercream (recipe follows)
- ¼ cup (75 grams) apple butter
Instructions
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to scrape sides of bowl. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, pie spice, cinnamon, baking soda, and cream of tartar. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating until just combined and stopping to scrape sides of bowl. Using a 1½-tablespoon spring-loaded scoop, scoop dough (about 34 grams each), and roll into balls. Roll dough balls in turbinado sugar, and place 1½ to 2 inches apart on prepared pans. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Bake until edges are set and center is still slightly soft, 13 to 16 minutes. Let cool on pans for 20 minutes. Remove from pans, and let cool completely on wire racks.
- Place Apple Butter Buttercream in a pastry bag fitted with a ½-inch round piping tip (Ateco #806). Pipe a buttercream border onto flat side of half of cookies. Spoon apple butter in center (about 1 teaspoon or 6 grams each). Top with remaining cookies, flat side down. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Apple Butter Buttercream
Makes about 2½ cups
Ingredients
- 1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon (4 grams) vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon (1.5 grams) kosher salt
- 2½ cups (300 grams) confectioners’ sugar
- â…“ cup (100 grams) apple butter
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, vanilla, and salt at medium speed until smooth. With mixer on low speed, gradually add confectioners’ sugar, beating until combined. Increase mixer speed to medium-high; beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in apple butter. Use immediately.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Made these and loved them! The cookies have a wonderful crunchy and chewy texture, and the filling adds incredible flavor without being overly sweet. Two suggestions though: 1) make the cookies smaller, the 1.5 tb scoop makes them quite large (almost like a whoopie pie) and 2) halve the buttercream recipe, I had way too much leftover
I am a very experienced cookie baker. Followed the recipe to a T. The dough was extremely dry, cookies never spread and were rock hard.
Idk if there is a missing piece to this recipe where the apple butter goes in the dough? But as it’s written it does not say to do that. Super bummed I was brining these to thanksgiving and now I’m going empty handed because there is no time to try again.
Hi Alexis,
You add the apple butter to the sandwich cookies in Step 6 of the instructions. Spoon apple butter in center (about 1 teaspoon or 6 grams each). Apple butter is not added into the dough itself. It is used in the buttercream and in the center of the finished cookie sandwich.
Hi Alexis,
We use European butter for all our development and photography and the extra fat does help with the spread of our cookie recipes. It also sounds like too much flour might be in the dough. We always recommend the use of a scale for your ingredients for the most accurate outcome. If you do not have a scale, make sure to fluff your flour and spoon it into the measuring cup, then leveling. Scooping, tapping, or packing will add too much flour to the recipe. Hope this helps!