Apple Cider Snickerdoodles

 

Aw man are these cookies good.  So mmmm, holy cow.  So yeah, let's combine a few tasty favorites into one and make Apple Cider Snickerdoodles!

As an added bonus, they're monster easy to make.  The only hard part, if you will, which isn't very hard at all, is reducing some fresh apple cider down to essentially a syrup.

And before you ask, yeah, ain't nothin' wrong with that.

One year I made these as part of my annual huge, go-too-crazy-with-the-number-of-recipes-for-holiday-cookies list and goodness, were these a hit.  Mike took them to work and they were gone in seconds.  I was cornered by several people telling me how great these were.

And they are.  They're delicious!

So far on this spiffy baking blog, I've shared Chocolate Snickerdoodles with you which are *mwah* outstanding as well so if apple isn't your jam (ahhh haaa, apple, jam, pun.....), go ahead and make the chocolate ones.

Or make both, who am I kidding.

So Apple Cider Snickerdoodles, you say.  Yep. 

If you've never boiled down fresh apple cider into a sticky, gooey syrup before, you're in for a treat.  Nothing to be afraid of here, just oodles and oodles of concentrated apple cider flavor is what you get and the (hands off) time spent is so very worth it.

Sorry for the dark "after."  Late fall light, it's hard!

Boiled down, it can be used in cakes which reminds me there's an outstanding cake recipe I need to share with you, barbecue sauces (mmm try this one), donuts, waffles, marshmallows even....so many delicious things including these Apple Cider Snickerdoodles.

So basically these are your typical Snickerdoodles but amped up several notches, incorporating an apple pie bent.  Goodness, I treat you right. 

In fact, I'd go so far as to suggest these might be a betterment over the original garden cinnamon sugar variety.

The only con with these, the only downside?  The recipe makes too few.  Yeah.  Like twenty to twenty one cookies.  That's it and it's a freakin' shame.  You can double the recipe if you'd like. 

Any more than double though and you should probably restart with a fresh batch.  Why's that?, you ask.  Some recipes can be multiplied while others, the ratios of ingredients in larger quantities starts to not work properly.

But Becky, if everything is measured the same, why can't some recipes be multiple batches mixed at once?  Well.  Baking is a science still and scaling baking powder or baking soda doesn't always double or triple rationally, and ratio-y, in a recipe written for one batch.

While I have not tried the suggestions in this post from The Kitchn, it will give you an idea of what to watch for.

Long story short, you should be able to double the recipe for these Apple Cider Snickerdoodles without stressing your brain.

Let's do it, shall we?

Easy peasy.

In a wide bottomed skillet, start boiling your fresh apple cider.  It might take longer than outlined in the recipe so this is a good thing to do a bit ahead as it also needs to cool a hair.  You'll go from over a cup down to two tablespoons.  The wide skillet increases the surface area speeding the whole process, fyi.

If you happen to let the boiled down cider cool too long and it forms into a sort of solid jelly blob, no worries, just pop it in the microwave for a few seconds to loosen it up.

Drag out a small bowl* and toss the dry ingredients in there, fluff them around with a fork.  Oh, and then mix the smaller amount of sugar together with the apple pie spice in a lil' bowl.

Note, if you have any leftover apple pie spice sugar mix after this, sprinkle it on some toast or ooOOoh, on French toast.  Mmm.

Ok, in a stand mixer,* or using a hand mixer* and a bowl, or if you're tougher than me, just a bowl to mix by hand, toss your butter and the two sugars.  Cream those up for a couple a' minutes until nicely fluffy.  As it's only one stick of butter, it won't be extra fluffy, fyi.

Next, scoop in the boiled down apple cider and the one egg.  Run the mixer on low for a brief moment and don't panic if things look a little curdled.  It's that mixing of oil and water thing but it'll come together, no worries.

My cider cooled too long hence the little blobby bits.

Toss in the dry stuff and stir everything around until the dry almost disappears into the wet, not long.

All righty.  Next, whip out a tablespoon measuring spoon* or if you so happen to have a tablespoon sized cookie scoop,* that works, and scoop out little heaping tablespoons of cookie dough into your hand.

If you find it's too sticky, you can lightly dampen your hands with water or ooOOhh more apple cider!  Roll the dough into balls and roll them around in the apple pie spice sugar mix until coated over the whole dang thing.

Drop those on a baking sheet* a few inches apart, bake ever so briefly, and tada, Apple Cider Snickerdoodles!

You're looking for the edges to appear set and dried, lightly golden, while the tops will crackle like a typical Snickerdoodle, be puffy, and look slightly undercooked.  Perfect!

Right fresh out of the oven!

Let those cool if you can and then horde the whole stash for yourself.

Yum, right?!

Deeeeelicious!

Happy baking!

*The mixing bowls, stand mixers, hand mixers, measuring spoons, cookie scoops, and baking sheets are Amazon affiliate links.  Happy baking, thanks!  Please see the "info" tab for more, well, info.