Friday, October 16, 2009

Caramel Apple Cookies

I think to say I "made" these cookies wouldn't be entirely true. The mix came from a box; the directions said: Combine mix with butter and water. 

But I did use my intuition to get that mix into cookie form, which I'm proud of since I haven't really made cookies before.

Ingredients ready to go.

So, when it said "combine," I thought I was supposed to use my electric hand mixer. But, friends, you know what happens when you put a hand mixer in mostly dry ingredients? Powder flies up into your face! Oops.

Once I'd gotten over the shock and wiped the apple-flavored powder from my cheeks, I realized the best tool might be my own hands. I squished the butter and powder together and added some more water at my discretion. NOTE: the cookies came out very soft...is this because of the extra water?

I finished the dough off with a hearty whirl of the mixer, then used a tablespoon to get the dough into cookie form.

It made like....9 cookies. Cookie fail! I seem to have this problem a lot — vanishing dough or batter. I never seem to have as much as the box suggests I should have. What's that about?

The mix came from World Market and has little dried apple bits already in it, which bake up very nicely. See on that picture on the box, where the icing looks like caramel goodness?

This is what it really looked like. It looked as thought I slathered the cookie with glue. Not a good look. I'm having my frosting on the side, thankyouverymuch.

The cookies are delicious, though; I highly recommend this mix if you happen to be in the neighborhood of a World Market.

I've had a week of cooking ups and downs; I'll write more about that later. Let's just say I haven't made anything to get enthused about.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

the warmth of your hands can melt the butter, causing it to leach water into the batter instead of turning to steam in the oven and creating a crisper, flakier cookie.

Try using a pastry cutter or fork or just mashing it with a spoon until enough of the dry mixture is incorporated that it doesn't fly up with the electric mixer.

looks good!
-KElly J.

Chanelle said...

Nine cookies or otherwise, these look delicious! And seasonal!

Supposedly a pastry bag and icing knife will help icing spread more evenly and smoothly. That's always been far too much effort for me though..

Also, in the event you like your cookies extra flat, try softening your butter to room temperature overnight. The softer the butter, the flatter the cookies. Don't try to microwave though, or you'll get the melted butter issue Kelly mentioned.

Then share!

Amber said...

omg. this is where understanding the science of how things work is useful.

Sara said...

These look much more successful than my caramel apple cookies. I think this mix has the right idea with the caramel on top. I will have to consider this. hah.