Brown Butter Apple Pie Cookies

Cooler temperatures fuel a desire to turn on the oven and make something beautiful to kick off the fall season. These adorable pie cookies are the perfect thing. In this recipe, I’ve added warming spices (nutmeg and ginger for coziness, plus cayenne for kick), as well as spelt flour and angostura bitters for extra oomph. If you don’t have or can’t find spelt, you can swap in whole-wheat or rye flour. I always sauté apples before turning them into pie, to cook off some of their water content and achieve a richer result. Since butter is a natural choice for baking projects, why not take it a step further? Cooking the apple slices in brown butter yields a wonderfully nutty, earthy effect. You might be tempted to skip this step, but don’t: In the time it takes to peel, core, and slice your apples, you can brown the butter. For best results, use apples small enough that the slices don’t exceed the 3-inch pastry circles, and keep the dough well chilled as you work. If the dough becomes too warm, just transfer it to the refrigerator to firm up. Unlike a traditional pie, these cookies are ideal for easy dropping off for friends and neighbors—but once they are baked and you sample that first flaky, spiced morsel, you may be tempted to keep them all for yourself.

Brown Butter Apple Pie Cookies

Makes 12 Cookies

PASTRY

• 1½ cups (180 grams) all-purpose flour

• 1 cup (99 grams) spelt flour

• 1 tsp granulated sugar

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• ¼ tsp ground cayenne

• 1 cup (8 ounces/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cubed, frozen for 15 minutes

• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar

• ¼ cup ice water
   

FILLING

• 3 tbsp unsalted butter

• 3 small firm, tart apples (such as Braeburn, Stayman-Winesap, or Granny Smith)

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1 tsp ground ginger

• ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg

• 1 pinch kosher salt

• 3 tbsp tightly packed brown sugar

• Zest from 1 lemon

• 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

• 2 dashes angostura bitters

• 1 tsp cornstarch

• Buttermilk (or milk or cream), for brushing

• ¼ cup Demerara sugar, for sprinkling 

DIRECTIONS

1. Make the dough: In a food processor, pulse the flours, sugar, salt, and cayenne to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the pieces are pea-sized. Combine the vinegar and ice water. Slowly drizzle in half while pulsing the food processor until a shaggy dough forms. Pause, and test by squeezing a clump between your fingers—if it holds, the dough is ready. If it is still crumbly, drizzle a little more of the liquid while pulsing, then test again. Evenly divide the dough between two pieces of plastic wrap. Use the wrap to shape one portion into a rectangle and tightly seal. Pat the second one into a disk and save for another use. Refrigerate the dough for at least 20 minutes or up to 3 days (you may freeze the second disk, up to 3 months). 

2. Onto the filling: Melt the butter in a heavy, 9-inch skillet over medium heat. Once foaming subsides, cook until the butter is honey-colored and smells nutty, about 5 minutes, occasionally swirling the pan to prevent burning. 

3. While the butter is browning, peel, halve, and core apples, then cut into ¼-inch-thick slices.

4. Add the apple slices to the brown butter, toss to coat, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt and stir to coat. Now add the brown sugar and stir again. Add the lemon zest, followed by the juice, bitters, and cornstarch, and stir. Gently press the apples into an even layer and cook for about 5 more minutes. Once the apple slices are soft but still intact, remove the pan from the heat. Allow them to cool to room temperature. This step can be done 1 day in advance.

5. Roll out the dough: Roll the dough rectangle to ⅛-inch-thick, about 11 by 18 inches (I like to do this by lightly flouring a piece of parchment, then unwrapping the dough, flouring it and placing it on the parchment, then placing the plastic on top - keeps it neat and makes a cinch of transferring the dough on the parchment to chill as needed). If the dough becomes smeary or flabby at any point, transfer to a sheet pan and chill in the refrigerator for 10 to 20 minutes. 

6. Use a 3-inch round biscuit or cookie cutter and make 12 cutouts in the dough. Arrange them on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Reroll scraps into a 9x6” rectangle, then cut into ¼-inch wide strips along the long edge. Arrange these on another piece of parchment set on a small tray, and refrigerate.

7. Shingle 3 to 4 apple slices on each 3-inch circle, then replace the pan back in the fridge. 

8. Cut the long strips into 3 inch lengths and lay them in a square frame - essentially a single, wide lattice around the edge of each cookie. Dab the ends where they overlap with a little water to affix. Holding a cookie in your hand, roll the bottom pastry edge all the way around, making a tidy border and sealing in the lattice edges. Repeat with remaining cookies.

9. Lightly paint each pastry surface with buttermilk, then sprinkle Demerara sugar onto each (½ teaspoon or so per cookie).

10. Freeze cookies for at least 30 minutes or up to 4 hours. 

11. When you’re ready to bake, heat the oven to 400°F. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment. Place 4 cookies on each, each in their own corner. Bake for 25 minutes, until the crust is golden. After 15 minutes, rotate the pans and check the pastry—you can cover any especially dark pastry with foil strips as needed.

12. Cool the cookies on a wire rack to room temperature, and bake the remaining 4 cookies as you did the first batch. Store any leftover cookies at room temperature, wrapped in foil, for up to 2 days.