Shortbread Cookies with Apples and Cinnamon: the delicious and soft recipe for breakfast

The shortbread cookies stuffed with apples and cinnamon are crumbly and fragrant: a quick and easy recipe, to be prepared for different times of the day. Perfect to be enjoyed at breakfast or as a snack with tea, you can also serve them as an after meal, accompanied with a sweet wine or a grappa. A very easy recipe to make, so you will just need a few ingredients such as flour, eggs, baking powder, sugar and of course apples and cinnamon. The shortcrust pastry is made with seed oil, so a little less caloric than the classic shortcrust pastry made with butter: to give a touch of lightness to the recipe, without however softening the intense flavor of the shortbread cookies too much.

How to make Shortbread Cookies with Apples and Cinnamon

Peel the apples and cut them into small cubes (1).

Put the apple pieces in a casserole with the sugar, water and cinnamon (2). Cook on a very low heat until the apples are soft enough to be crushed with a fork. If you want, add also chopped dried fruit.

Meanwhile, prepare the oil shortcrust pastry. In a bowl put the egg and the seed oil. Mix flour, sugar and baking powder and add them to the mixture (3).

Knead until a nice shortcrust pastry (4) is formed: it will take some time and some strength.

Roll out the shortcrust pastry into two rectangles. Place some crushed apples on the first rectangle. Then cover with the second layer of shortcrust pastry and cut the cookies out of it (5). Take the unused shortcrust pastry, mix it again and proceed to prepare other cookies until the ingredients are finished.

Bake the cookies in a ventilated oven at 180° C for about 15 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve (6).

Tips

If you prefer, you can use a classic shortcrust pastry for these cookies, also enriching it with lemon zest or orange zest, if you prefer a citrus flavor. You can vary the jam by adding walnuts, pine nuts, dried fruit, or use a spoonful of apricot jam.

For this recipe we recommend the use of a particular type of casserole used in pastry-making with a hemispherical shape, with high walls and a rounded bottom. It is usually made of non-tinned copper and it has a long wooden handle and a rounded bottom: it is used in pastry-making for cooking delicate preparations such as creams, syrups, zabaglione and almond or peanut brittles. It can have two forms: a shallow one, suitable for cooking on a flame; while the other one is narrower and deeper, ideal for cooking in bain-marie. Alternatively, you can use a pan with a thick bottom and high edges.

How to store Shortbread Cookies with Apples and Cinnamon

The shortbread cookies stuffed with apple and cinnamon can be preserved in a tin box for about ten days.