Every so often I like to go to Aldi and have a look at their special deals that week. Sometimes they have themed weeks where you can buy food they don’t normally stock. In July I was browsing the shelves when I found a jar of apple pie seasoning. A germ of an idea had planted itself, which eventually turned into several batches of my homemade Spiced Apple Pie Cookies.

This recipe uses Aldi Taste of America American Style Apple Pie Seasoning. You’ll probably be able to find something similar in most supermarkets. If you do struggle to find any, it can be substituted with cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. This recipe uses two teaspoons of the spice, so I would suggest you use one teaspoon of ground cinnamon, half a teaspoon of ground nutmeg and half a teaspoon of ground allspice. Or if you don’t have those I’m sure two teaspoons of ground cinnamon would be just as delicious.

These Spiced Apple Pie Cookies are really quite simple to make. I have used thin slices of apple on the top of mine, but they’d be really good with some finely diced apple chunks sprinkled on the top before baking instead.

Homemade Spiced Apple Pie Cookies

Ingredients (makes 15 cookies)
125g butter, softened
100g soft brown sugar
125g caster sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 teaspoons of apple pie seasoning (or equivalent)
225g self-raising flour
1 apple, finely sliced or diced

Method
Preheat your oven to 180°C.

In a large bowl cream your butter and the two sugars. Once they are well combined, add the egg, vanilla and apple pie seasoning. Tip in the flour and keep mixing until it forms your cookie dough.

Take a baking sheet and either grease well or use a piece of baking parchment (I used baking parchment). Using a set of scales, take the dough and weigh into 40g balls, this helps ensure all your cookies are the same size.

Place the dough balls on the baking sheet making sure there is lots (and lots) of room for them to spread out. You might need to use two or more baking sheets. Squash each dough ball down a little with the back of a fork and place your apple slice (or apple chunks) on top of the dough. You could sprinkle a little more of the seasoning or a pinch of sugar over your apple slice if you want at this stage.

Bake the cookies in your pre-heated oven for 10 minutes until they’re just turning golden round the edges. Remove from the oven and leave them on the baking sheet to firm up for a few minutes before putting them on a wire cooling rack.

My batch of 15 cookies was gobbled up incredibly quickly. They can be stored in an airtight container if you can manage not to scoff them all in one go!