Back to School: Apple-Honey Shortbread Cookies

It’s back to school time here in the south.  As a northerner, I always find it odd seeing the school buses on their morning rounds before the temperatures have even thought about dropping.  Fall is one of my favorite parts about back to school, but there isn’t even hint of fall in the air down here, mostly just humidity.  And even though I myself am not heading back to school, my nostalgia hasn’t waned.  So I was inspired this week to work with the icon of back to school: apples.

A good way to keep the doctor away.

Yes, I know.  Gone are the days when students bring teachers apples, but there is something so classic about the apple I couldn’t resist. Plus, I have a new challenge to overcome at work.  Oh, don’t worry it’s not actually job related.  It’s cooking related.  Several of my coworkers are on diets.  The kind where you need to keep track of exactly what you are eating and count up things throughout the day.  I couldn’t be more supportive of their efforts, but it leads to a bit of a dilemma in terms of my baking.  You see they are often my test audience as much of my baking is for events at work (birthdays, fairwells, French lunch), so this new development has led me to look for ways to reduce the fat and up the health content of my recipes so that everyone can enjoy them.

Stacked.

This week for French lunch I decided to make cookies, but in an effort to appeal to my food conscious coworkers, I wanted to make something that tasted sweet but had a healthy bonus.  I settled on apple-honey shortbread cookies.  I used whole wheat pastry flour, grated apples, and honey to improve the content of these cookies.

Made with love.

I really like how they came out.  I used a smaller cookie cutter (1.5 inch heart) that made a ton of small cookies.  They were the great size for a quick snack, and they pair perfectly with tea.  I would probably reduce the sweetness a touch for the next batch, but that’s a personal choice.  Overall a great option for a group esp a morning meeting or snack.

Melt my heart

Apple-Honey Shortbread Cookies

Based on a recipe found here.

1+3/4 cup wheat pastry flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2/3 cup brown sugar

1+1/4 sticks butter, at room temp

~1/3 cup grated apple

2 tbsp honey

Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whip together butter, honey and sugar.  Stir apple into butter/honey/sugar mixture.  Slowly fold in dry ingredients. Dough will be dry, but all ingredients will blend together.  Split dough in half, form into large disc, cover in plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.  Roll out dough to ~1/2 inch thick and cut-out cookies with cookie cutter of your choice.  Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes on parchment lined cookie sheet.  Overall yield will depend on size of cookie cutter.

Enjoy!