Old-Fashioned Coffee Cookies with Apple

Fat Options

I have always been a fan of butter in cookies. I’m not a fan of shortening for a number of reasons, least of which being inferior flavor in my opinion. Recently, however; I’ve been experimenting with lard in my cookie baking.

I render my own lard from a local hog purchase. And I know, lard can sometimes give a rather ‘porky’ flavor to baked goods. For baking, I use the whitest lard I render to cut down on that flavor. This is as true for pie crust as it is cookies.

Butter will work just fine this recipe, if lard isn’t your thing or isn’t easily available.

I imagine coconut oil would work too for folks wanting to keep it vegan but I have not tested it yet. Since it all gets melted, I don’t think it would matter all that much.

Soft with a Little Crunch

The original recipe called for 1 cup of chopped walnuts. I’m not a fan chunks of nuts in soft cookies. It’s a personal choice. Small bits of crunch feels better to me, hence the hemp hearts in this recipe. Sesame seeds or even hulled sunflower seeds would work well.

Fruit Choices

These spiced cookies with fruit are highly adaptable. Use pears in place of the apples if you prefer.

Most any dried fruit chopped small would work in place of the raisins or cranberries.

To Frost or Not to Frost?

These cookies are quite good on their own and sweet, too. However, soft cookies often get a little frosting. One could frost these for an extra presentation.

Keep it simple and lightly sweet to highlight the already strong flavors of the cookie.

Or increase the flavors even more with a fluffy cinnamon coffee frosting.

Freeze for Later

These soft spiced coffee cookies freeze delightfully well. Make a big batch and after cooling store in airtight container in the freezer for eating later. They’d even make nice ice cream sandwiches.

If baking is part of your fall plans, check out my favorite fall cookie recipes full of seasonal ingredients.