These apple butter cookies are so good. It’s a cinnamon sugar, browned butter cookie with a cream cheese topping and sprinkled pecans. YUM. If you like a warm, soft brown sugar cookies, this is the perfect Fall bite for you. I know chocolate chip cookies are kind of the best, but these are a delicious way to mix things up!
What you need to make these apple butter cookies
- A mixer – a hand mixer is always fine (Ina Garten moment), but a KitchenAid works very well for this recipe. I used the standard beater attachment. Looking for a mixer? Click here for mine.
- Baking sheets – I used two baking sheets to speed the process up, but I only bake one sheet at a time. I have suffered from uneven bakes when I shove two sheets into the oven. I love the Williams Sonoma gold ones, here.
- A saucepan – for browning butter!
- Parchment paper – parchment paper is God’s gift to us, kind of. The cookies are on the thinner side and they will be very soft, so parchment paper makes them lift much easier from the pan.
What kind of apple butter do I need?
Use any kind of natural apple butter with REAL apples in it. I bought mine from an apple orchard and I keep it in the fridge. It is so good. You can also make apple butter on the stovetop or in a slow cooker, but the jarred kind is fine if you don’t want the hassle!
The best kind of apple butter (in my opinion) is made with honeycrisp or gala apples, so you can check the labels to see if they differentiate. You should be able to find a jar at most grocery stores during the Fall season (Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s definitely have this).
Make the browned butter
I love browning butter for cookies. It really makes a difference and I probably will do this for the majority of my cookies moving forward.
Just melt the butter in the saucepan over medium high heat and wait for it to start bubbling. I like to stir it a bit but you don’t need to go crazy. After 3-4 minutes, the butter should start to turn an amber color, and you might be able to smell it a little. It should NOT smell burnt – a mistake I have made many times. Once it is golden and slightly browned, go ahead and remove it from the heat.
I transfer the butter to a heat-proof bowl pretty quickly so that it doesn’t keep cooking. Then I throw it in the freezer for 5-10 minutes so it cools enough before we add it to our other cookie ingredients.
Tips for making the apple butter cookies
- Make sure the browned butter is cool before adding it to the bowl: We don’t want a hot and runny mess! If you can’t stick your finger in the butter, don’t add it in yet!
- It’s okay if the dough is soft: Your final product should be a bit wet, but still malleable enough to create tablespoon sized balls.
- Spread out the cookies: I only recommend adding 6 cookies to each sheet (I have a standard half sheet), but you could shove 8 on there if you are really crafty. When I did that, some of them conjoined in the oven.
- BANG the cookies on the counter: After 8 minutes in the oven, they are ready to be removed and banged on the counter. 2 quick slams work here – the cookies will flatten and expand, and then put them back in the oven for a couple more minutes to set.
- Do NOT frost while hot: the frosting will be a mess if you add the cream cheese topping while they are still cooling.
The Maple Cream Frosting
This frosting is very simple: cream cheese, maple syrup, powdered sugar, cinnamon. You don’t need much.
Now this frosting covered about HALF of my cookies, because I liked to have some that were naked and some that had frosting (the naked ones you can eat warm too!). So if you want ALL of your cookies covered, you may need to double your recipe frosting.
How to store the apple butter cookies
For any unfrosted cookies, just seal in an air tight container and leave at room temperature for 3-5 days. For frosted cookies, put in an airtight container but don’t leave out for more than day. After that, put them back in the fridge and consume within 3-5 days.
More fall recipes
If you liked these apple butter cookies with maple cream frosting, try these:
- Easy Apple Maple Spice Muffins
- Kitchen Sink Cookies
- Fig Swirl and Almond Muffins
- Giant Caramel-Drizzled Pumpkin Cookies
- Apple Cider Cinnamon Crostata
Leave a comment below to rate these cookies too! I would love to hear from you.
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Apple Butter Cookies with Maple Cream Frosting
Equipment
- stand mixer or hand mixer
- 1-2 large baking sheets
- parchment paper
- spatula
- large bowl
- small saucepan
Ingredients
For the apple butter cookies
- 1⅔ cups all purpose flour
- ⅔ cups almond flour
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), room temperature
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup apple butter
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup pecans roughly chopped
Maple Cream Frosting
- ½ cup cream cheese room temperature
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- crushed pecans for decorating
Instructions
For the apple butter cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Add 1½ sticks of the butter to a saucepan set over medium heat, cooking until the butter begins to brown, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour the butter into a small, heatproof bowl. Chill the butter in the freezer for 5-10 minutes.
- In a large bowl (or stand mixer), beat the remaining room temperature butter on medium speed until whipped, about one minute. Add in the cooled brown butter, brown sugar and vanilla and beat until combined, another 30 seconds.1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup unsalted butter
- Then add in the maple syrup, apple butter and egg and beat until combined. Add the all purpose flour, almond flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Fold in the pecans.1⅔ cups all purpose flour, ⅔ cups almond flour, ¼ cup maple syrup, ¼ cup apple butter, 1 egg, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, ½ tsp salt, ⅓ cup pecans
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll the dough into tablespoon size balls, and space them out at least 2-3 inches apart on a sheet pan. You can fit 6-8 cookies per pan.
- Bake the cookies for 8 minutes, and then remove them from the oven. Bang them on the counter a couple times to flatten them out, and then return them to the oven for 2 more minutes. Remove them from the oven, bang the pan once more and let cool. Move the cookies to a wire cooling wrack if you'd like.
Maple Cream Frosting
- In a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese for 1 minute until it's whipped. Add in the maple syrup, cinnamon and powdered sugar and beat again until well combined, about 1 more minute.½ cup cream cheese, 2 tbsp maple syrup, ¼ cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon
- Once the cookies are cooled, frost the cookies with a small spoonful of frosting, spreading it into a small circle and leaving a circular border around the edges. Sprinkle each cookie with chopped pecans and dust with additional cinnamon. Enjoy!crushed pecans
Nathan
Yum