KARE in the Kitchen: Kowalski's Apple Butter Cookies

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — After a brief hiatus, KARE in the Kitchen is back this week with a timely taste treat from our friends at Kowalski's. 

Culinary and Branding Director Rachael Perron, a frequent and popular guest on KITK, brought ingredients to whip up a batch of Apple Butter Cookies. 

While these are "officially" considered Christmas cookies, they're great any time - including Thanksgiving - as they taste just like apple pie. 

Enjoy!

APPLE BUTTER COOKIES

(Makes 24)

INGREDIENTS

¾ cup granulated sugar, divided

3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, divided

10 tbsp. unsalted butter

1 tsp. Kowalski’s Organic Madagascar Vanilla Bean Paste

¾ tsp. kosher salt

½ cup brown sugar

1 egg yolk

½ cup Kowalski’s Apple Butter

¾ tsp. baking soda

2 ¼ cups flour

DIRECTIONS

1. In a small mixing bowl, combine ¼ cup granulated sugar and 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice; set aside.
2. Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat; cook and swirl occasionally. Butter will start to bubble and foam; eventually foaming will stop and butter will turn a dark golden brown, with tiny flecks of dark brown butter solids on the bottom of the pot (about 10 min.) Watch butter carefully to ensure the butter solids do not burn or turn black (or the butter will taste bitter).
3. Remove the pot from the heat; whisk in the remaining pumpkin pie spice, vanilla paste and salt. Cool 5 min.
4. In a large mixing bowl, combine cooled melted butter mixture, remaining sugars; stir until well combined.
5. Add egg yolk; stir 1 min.
6. Add apple butter; whisk in thoroughly.
7. In a separate small mixing bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda.
8. Add flour mixture to apple butter mixture; stir thoroughly until no traces of white remain.
9. Chill dough in refrigerator 1 hr.
10. Preheat oven to 350°.
11. Using your hands, roll 24 evenly sized balls (about 1 ½"); roll balls in spiced sugar mixture.
12. Place dough balls 2" apart on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets; bake until just barely set and puffy (10-12 min.), turning and switching pans halfway through; cool on pan for 5 min.
13. Cool cookies completely on wire racks. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

WATCH MORE ON KARE 11+

Download the free KARE 11+ app for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV and other smart TV platforms to watch more from KARE 11 anytime! The KARE 11+ app includes live streams of all of KARE 11's newscasts. You'll also find on-demand replays of newscasts; the latest from KARE 11 Investigates, Breaking the News and the Land of 10,000 Stories; exclusive programs like Verify and HeartThreads; and Minnesota sports talk from our partners at Locked On Minnesota. 

• Add KARE 11+ on Roku here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Roku Channel Store. 
• Add KARE 11+ on Fire TV here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Amazon App Store. 
• Learn more about the KARE 11+ app for Apple TV in the Apple App Store.
• Learn more about KARE 11+ here.

Get more recipes:

Watch the latest recipes featured on KARE 11 News in our YouTube playlist: