Envision a cookie that is as light as a cake and filled with toasted nuts and soft bits of apple, and then imagine the fragrance of butter rum, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves wafting through your house as you pull them from the oven. This is one of those times when the reality is every bit as good as the fantasy.
My husband is not known for his effusive compliments, so when he told me “I can NOT STOP eating them…they’re that good!”, I knew my recipe was blog-worthy.
There’s no actual rum in these cookies, though if you wanted to add a little pizazz, you could substitute rum for some of the water in the icing. The flavor comes from using hot buttered rum mix in place of the sugar, butter, and spices.
You have a choice here. You can use:
- Store bought mix. If you go this route, make sure you buy one that has butter as one of the main ingredients. The brand I bought had sugar as the first ingredient, and butter as the second. It was really delicious…and convenient! OR:
- My easy-peasy Hot Buttered Rum Mix.
The benefit of using my recipe for hot butter rum mix? You will still have enough batter left for about 10 mugs of hot buttered rum! That’s a no-brainer, right? Oh, and you’ll save money.
Butter Rum Apple Cookies
Here’s what you’ll need. I love the flavor of the toasted pecans in these cookies, but you can use walnuts if you’d prefer. Either way, toasting them briefly will make a huge difference. I like to cook mine slowly in a skillet on the stove, but the microwave works too. 90 seconds to 2 minutes works well in my microwave (stirring several times) but some people cook them much longer.
It’s a super easy recipe. The hardest thing you’ll have to do is peel, core, and chop the apple!
| Butter Rum Apple Cookies | Print |
- 1 cup hot buttered rum mix - slightly softened (make sure you use a mix that has butter as a main ingredient)
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 cups chopped apple (peeled and cored)...about 1 large apple or 2 small
- 1 cup lightly toasted pecans or walnuts, chopped
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- GLAZE (optional)
- 11/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 teaspoons meringue powder (Optional - this will just keep the glaze firmer during storage.)
- Water
- Heat oven to 375 F.
- Cover baking sheet with parchment (or very lightly grease it).
- In a large bowl, beat together the Hot Buttered Rum mix, the egg, and the sour cream until combined.
- Add the remaining ingredients all at the same time. Mix until incorporated.
- For round cookies, use a cookie scoop. Otherwise, drop by slightly rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until cookie begins to lightly brown.
- Move cookies from baking sheet to cooling rack. Cool before adding glaze.
- GLAZE:
- Whisk together powdered sugar, vanilla, meringue powder, if using, and slowly drizzle in enough water (or rum!) to make a fairly thin glaze. Brush or spoon over cool cookies.
- Keep loosely covered in a cool location.
So easy. Once the rum mix, egg, and sour cream are combined, just dump the rest in!
Drop by rounded tablespoons.
Mmmmm…can you smell them?
Spoon it on…
…or brush it on.
Butter Rum Apple Cookies – enjoy!
The cookies are soft and moist, so I’d recommend that you loosely cover them with foil so the glaze doesn’t get sticky. As with any spicy cookie, the flavor improves over the next day or two – if you can protect them from invaders for that long!
Lorinda