Peanut butter apple cookies

We are still working through the massive pile of apples we brought from last week's apple picking, but luckily we're not sick of apples yet! Naturally, to help speed along the apple-depleting process before they all rot, I decided to bake with them. Again.

I've done apple pies and cupcakes so far, but haven't attempted apple cookies yet. Some quick Googling led me to a tasty-looking recipe: peanut butter apple cookies. Seemed simple (and yummy) enough!

The base of the cookie is a straightforward peanut butter cookie and nothing too complicated. For the apple, I peeled and diced them and added them to the dough like you would add chocolate chips. On a whim, I decided to make smaller cookies today and used my small cookie scoop to make cute little 2-inch cookies.

I ended up using the oven in the common space in the dorms, instead of my own oven. My oven is so small that the heat doesn't properly circulate, resulting in burnt things. The common oven is much bigger and the cookies came out perfectly round and baked.

As a final touch, I still had leftover salted caramel sauce from my previous apple pie adventure, so I drizzled it on top of the cookies to add some sweet flavor. Bringing these cookies to my first meeting of my new lab!

Peanut butter apple cookies (makes about 4 dozen cookies)

(Recipe adapted from Taste of Home)

• ½ cup shortening 
• ½ cup (129 g) creamy peanut butter
• ½ cup (100 g) white sugar
• ½ cup (100 g) brown sugar
• 1 egg
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1½ cup (187 g) all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp cinnamon 
• 2 medium apples - peeled/cored/diced
• Salted caramel sauce (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375F. 
2. Cream shortening, peanut butter, white sugar, and brown sugar together in a stand mixer on medium speed. 
3. Add in egg and vanilla and continue mixing until completely combined. 
4. Sift flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together separately and then add to wet mixture. Mix on low speed until just combined. 
5. Fold in diced apples. 
6. Scoop 2 tsp sized balls onto lined cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes or until the bottoms just begin to brown. 
7. Let cool and drizzle caramel sauce on top, if desired. 
8. Enjoy!