Toffee Apple Cookies

Interesting little cookies I made today. I had no eggs in the fridge and was too busy to go out so I worked a way around it by using apples blended and chopped in the mixture. Pretty good! The toffee element is actually the topping which I used from a jar of Dulce de Leche which I bought when I was in the Canary Islands. I knew I'd find a use for it!

Dulce de Leche translates as 'candy made of milk' and is basically sugar and milk boiled together. It can be bought in England - but many people use the other method of boiling tinned condensed milk in water for 2-3 hours. (If you do this PLEASE make sure the unopened can is submerged in water and don't walk away and leave it. If the water boils dry the can will most likely explode!). Fortunately, you can also buy tinned and jarred caramel too. I believe you can also melt actual toffee sweets too - but I have yet to try that!

Ingredients:

85g packed brown sugar (I used muscovado)
120g butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla essence
2 small apples, chopped finely
200g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Method:

Set the oven to 180 C. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper. To make it stick and sit flat, sprinkle the baking tray with water first.

Put the sugar, butter, vanilla and one of the chopped apples in a food processor and process until smooth. Put into a mixing bowl and add the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix to get a sticky dough. Fold in the other chopped apple with a spoon or spatula.

Put a heaped dessertspoon of the mixture on the tray and press a little to flatten out (use wet fingers to stop them sticking to you). Repeat, leaving about an inch in between each cookie. Cook for 8 minutes. Remove cookies and press a small hole in the centre of the cookies using a (clean) thumb or the back of a teaspoon. Put back in the oven for a further 5 minutes until golden. They will still feel soft but that is fine. Put onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

For the topping, Get a piping bag and pipe the toffee sauce (or dulce de leche) on the top. If you don't have a piping bag a teaspoon will do fine - it will just not look quite as pretty.

Eat   -    Enjoy!!!