These decorated Apple Cookies are filled with candy and are topped with icing flavored with apple juice. They are fun back-to-school treats and make great teacher gifts. They are also a wonderful dessert to serve at a fall party.
I recently hosted a fall party and created apple-themed desserts to serve my guests.
My friends flipped over my candy-filled Apple Piñata Cookies. They not only looked like apples, but they also tasted like apples. The icing on the cookies was flavored with apple juice. They had a deliciously fresh flavor.
These three-layer cookies can be filled with red M&M's or your favorite candies.
My guests also loved Rice Krispie Treat Apple Tree which was the centerpiece on my dessert table. My guests were able to pull branches, cereal treat leaves, and M&M apples off the tree and eat it for dessert.
I also serve apple sauce in hollowed-out apples and some apple-shaped gummy candies which were made using apple and grape juice.
All of these ideas could be used for a back-to-school party or teacher's appreciation day.
Ingredients
- all-purpose flour
- salt
- baking powder
- unsalted butter, softened slightly
- sugar
- eggs
- vanilla extract
- almond extract
- red food coloring (the amount you'll need will depend on what type you use)
Apple Flavored Royal Icing
- 7 tablespoons Apple Juice, plus more to thin icing
- 1 pound (4 cups) confectioners' sugar
- 3 tablespoons meringue powder
Supplies
- rolling pin
- silicone mat (or use a flour-dusted countertop)
- large 5-inch apple cookie cutter
- 4-inch round cookie cutter
- baking sheets topped with parchment paper
Instructions
Make the cookie dough.
- Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl. Set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Stir in eggs, vanilla, almond extract, and some drops of red food coloring.
- Add more coloring until you get a really bright shade of red and mix until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) and stir just until it's mixed in.
- Note: Once you add the flour the color will tone down.
Cut out the apple-shaped cookies.
- Roll your cookie dough out to ¼ inch thickness either on a flour-dusted cutting board or between two non-stick silicone mats.
- Cut out 16 apple-shaped cookies that are ¼ inch thick.
- Place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Refrigerate for 30 min.
- Note: I used a 4-inch round cookie cutter and simply shaped it into an apple. I didn't want to use an actual apple cutter as I didn't want the stem or leave cut out, but you could if you prefer to ice the stem and leaf.
Cut out the centers.
- Roll the remaining cookie dough out to ⅜ inch thickness.
- Cut out some apples, set them on a parchment-lined baking sheet, then cut a circle out of the center of each cookie.
- Re-roll the dough and repeat making a total of 8 cookies with holes in the middle. Refrigerate for 30 min.
Note: It has to be thick enough for a Candy Apple M&M to fit inside so it's important for the dough to be at least ⅜ inch thick.
- Preheat the oven to 375°.
- Bake cookies for 12 to 14 min. allow them to cool completely.
Make apple juice icing.
- Heat the Mott's apple juice in the microwave for 15-25 seconds, just until warm.
- Make the royal icing by beating the confectioners' sugar, meringue powder, apple juice, almond extract, and red gel or paste food coloring until light and fluffy (about 7 to 10 min.) I highly recommend using a stand mixer for this job.
Fill with candy.
- Stack your cookies with one solid cookie on the bottom, one with a hole in it in the middle, and another solid one on top. Try to find the cookies that match up the best.
- Pipe a bead of icing on the backside of one of the holey cookies and stick it to a whole cookie.
- Fill the hole with (Candy Apple M&M's - no longer available), red M&M's, Red Sixlets, or Skittles, and then pipe a bead of icing around the edge of the cookie and stack another whole cookie on top.
Ice and decorate the cookies.
- Pipe a border of icing around the edge of the Apple cookies.
- Then thin out the remaining icing with a little bit more apple juice. Stir in 1 teaspoon at a time until you can drop a spoonful of icing into the bowl and it should completely flatten out.
- Pipe the thin icing inside the border of the Apple cookies flooding the entire area.
- While the icing is still wet, add a chocolate cookie stick stem and wafer paper leaf.
Dry.
- Allow the icing to dry completely overnight.
This cookie recipe is so good that these cookies can sit on your counter for days and still taste fresh. The apple-flavored icing has just a nice hint of apple flavor. I might use this recipe whenever I'm making decorated cookies.
Variations
You can just make decorated apple-shaped cookies without filling them with candy. Don't cut holes out of any of the apples.
You can make the cookies smaller using smaller cookie cutters.
You'll need more icing and decorations.
Related Recipes
If you are looking for more apple-themed desserts, give these recipes a try.
Recipe
Candy filled apple shaped cookies frosted with an apple juice royal icing are great for summer parties, back to school, teacher appreciation, and much more.
- 4 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened slightly
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ¾ teaspoon almond extract
- red food coloring (the amount you'll need will depend on what type you use)
- 7 tablespoons Apple Juice, plus more to thin icing
- 1 pound (4 cups) confectioners' sugar
- 3 tablespoons meringue powder
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- red food coloring
- 1 cup candies (red M&M's, Sixlets, or Skittles)
- 8 Pocky cookie sticks or pretzel sticks
- 8 edible leaves
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Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder.
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Cream together the butter and sugar.
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Add the eggs, vanilla, and almond extract and beat until combined
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Then, add the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
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Roll the dough out to ¼ inch thickness.
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Cut 16 apple-shaped cookies using 5-inch apple cookie cutters.
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Roll dough out to ⅜ inch thickness.
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Cut eight apple-shaped cookies and then cut a 4-inch circle out of the center of these cookies.
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Refrigerate the cut-out cookie dough for 30 min.
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Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes until set around the edges.
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Cool the apple cookies completely before decorating.
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Heat apple juice in microwave until warm.
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Beat the confectioners' sugar, meringue powder, apple juice and red coloring until light and fluffy, 7 to 10 min.
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Use icing to glue together one Apple cookie and one cookie with a hole in it. Fill hole with candies. Glue a solid Apple cookie on top.
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Ice the top of the cookies. While the icing is wet attach a stem and leaf.
Store your apple cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
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plasterer bristol says
Yum yum, these sound lovely, thanks for uploading this recipe.
Simon
Karen @ Sugartown Sweets says
Look at all the awesome sweets you are creating! This cookie I love! I was so excited today to find the brand new candy apple M&Ms and you have utilized them in the cutest way. Looks like everybody had a great time at the party. :o)
The Bearfoot Baker says
Everything about this post is amazing! I love the apple cookies!
The Partiologist says
What a wonderful party - and how I wish I could have attended, it looks like such fun. You did a terrific job on the apple cookies with the m & m's inside. Also, your mom's paintings are gorgeous!
Sue says
What a fun party! Your treat table is amazing! Your apple pinata cookies are fantastic and have definitely inspired me. 🙂
Cindyzs (cindy zemble stewart/freespiritczs) says
would love to see how you made the tree!! great job as always 🙂 !