Orchard News and Chews

Chewy Maple Apple Cookies

Posted on April 22, 2020 Updated on April 22, 2020

When I started preparing for this post, I was thinking that this was the last Wednesday in April and so I should end with dessert. it wasn’t until I had made the cookies and taken all the pictures that I realized we have another April week coming! How the days and the weeks of my life run on without identification tags of any sort these days. So now I am left scratching my head for a finish-up-April sort of post next week. Coffee or tea, maybe?

I am always on the watch for recipes that use up maple syrup because in a typical year we get more than I can use up on pancakes. You see, the guy who taps our maple bush pays us back with free maple syrup, AND I have a son-in-law who produces excellent syrup that I love to use when I can. And who wants to eat pancakes every day? Not me. I realize that I am privileged to have this “problem”.

This recipe is actually one that I have enjoyed for many years and is in our Martin family cookbook, A Celebration of Harvest. I made some adaptations for these cookies, however. For one thing, it asks for vegetable shortening and I had no shortening except for lard and butter. So, in the spirit of using what’s in my LARDer (Get it? Haha. I crack myself up sometimes.) I used those two. For another, I decided to add apples and a few oats just because I felt like it. And finally, I cut back on the brown sugar. I use dark brown sugar a lot these days and, like cheese, you can use less because the flavour is stronger.

It’s a thick, sticky dough

My three test cookies.

Cookie sheet filled and ready to bake

Baked cookies

Ready to eat cookies

This post is sponsored by Martin’s Family Fruit Farm. The retail store is closed presently to keep our staff and customers safe. Thanks for understanding. 

I am not normally a fan of the McIntosh apples, except for straight off the tree in the fall when they’re nice and tart and as firm as a Mac will ever be. But last week, my husband brought some macs home for me to make chunky applesauce with and they were great! So good that I am actually eating them fresh and not one has been made into applesauce. So that’s what I used in these cookies. Look at them! 

McIntosh Apples

Martin Family Cookbook

Chewy Maple Apple Cookies

• Servings: 50
• Print

Ingredients

• 1 cup shortening (I used 1/2 c. butter, 1/2 c. lard successfully)
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup pure maple syrup (dark syrups are best for baking)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup oatmeal flakes (I used large flake)
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups shredded or flaked coconut
• 1 1/2 cups diced apples (washed and unpeeled for best appearance)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375° F (190° C). Grease cookie sheets.

With electric mixer, cream shortening and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla until well-mixed and fluffy again. Combine flour, oats, baking powder, and salt; add to creamed mixture. 

Stir in coconut and apples. Drop by rounded teaspoons or a cookie scoop onto greased baking sheets. Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned around the edges. Cool trays on racks for 5 minutes before removing cookies from pans. Pass the cookies, please!

Yields approximately 4 dozen 3 inch cookies.