Peanut Butter Apple Cookies

These Peanut Butter Apple Cookies are a nice twist on a classic cookie recipe! Who doesn’t love an apple with peanut butter for a snack? I can remember packing the kids lunches with a tortilla coated in peanut butter with paper thin slices of apple rolled up like a burrito. The tart and sweet, salty and nutty combination is just so satisfying.

I tried a few variations with this recipe and think I found a winner. Bread flour is a high gluten flour that has a little more protein in it. Combining bread flour with all purpose flour leads to a thicker cookie. While I love a soft chewy cookie which these are I also love some texture. Adding diced dehydrated apples (can be found in your grocery store with the raisins and craisins, dehydrated fruit), ground apple chips (also found in the dehydrated fruit section but are more like a potato chip) and peanut butter granola to this dough totally did the trick.

_{Gather your ingredients first.}

You are going to get tired of hearing me say it but reading your recipe and gathering all of your ingredients first is such an important first step in baking. It will save you time in the end. Any recipe seems easy when all you have to do is add items to a bowl.

_{Keys to success.}

Making a successful cookie starts with the creaming of the butter and sugar. You really want your butter and sugar to become fluffy like almost whipped. That takes patience because it also takes at least 3-5 minutes.

Which leads us to why we want room temperature eggs. Adding cold eggs to our creamed sugar could harden the butter we just worked so hard to whip in to fluff. If you forget to let eggs come to room temperature you can always put them in a cup of hot water for 20-30 seconds to take the chill off of them.

Once your dough has come together now you are going to want the chill. Pop the dough in the fridge for at least an hour. This gives the flour time to hydrate which should lead to a perfectly thick cookie.

I would also recommend an oven thermometer. They are inexpensive and can be found at your grocery store, Target, Walmart or on Amazon. I was shocked when I realized that when my oven signaled it was done preheating, my 350° oven was only at 325°! I waited until my oven reached the right temp before putting the cookies in. Lastly don’t over bake! Start checking on them at least one minute before end of recommended bake time.

Don’t forget to let me know how you make out if you try this recipe.