When I was growing up my Grandmother (this time, my Mom’s Mother), always used to make applesauce/spice cookies. They were awesome. I woke up thinking about these last week and had to track down the recipe. I emailed my Grandma to ask if she had it, she didn’t. However, my Mom did! She had the cookbook that the recipe came from. Betty Crocker’s Cookbook, the 1969 edition. All I had to do was modify the recipe to make it gluten-free. I did just that. The cookies smelled amazing while they were cooking. In addition, I used my homemade applesauce that I made a huge batch of last week. I really think that just added to the wonderful flavor of these cookies. These cookies really said “fall” to me. The flavors were everything representative of the season. The recipe for the frosting that Betty Crocker suggests is not the one I used. I actually used the Cinnamon Icing that I used for my pumpkin cookies the other day. All of my taste testers have raved about these. They aren’t the prettiest cookies, but who cares when they taste so good?!? They didn’t want to flatten out when they baked, so next time I will probably shape them a little flatter before putting them in the oven. The texture and moisture level was perfect, so I don’t see altering the recipe to try to alter the shape.

Some pictures:

Before baking:

After baking, before frosting:

After frosting, ready to be eaten:

Applesauce Cookies

**Applesauce Cookies – from Betty Crocker cookbook 1969

½ cup softened butter or margarine
¾ cup applesauce
2 ¾ cup flour (I used Gluten Free Pantry’s All-Purpose mix that includes guar gum, so didn’t add any xanthan gum; make sure to add this if you don’t have it in your mix already)
1 ½ cups packed brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans (I used walnuts)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp baking soda
2 eggs

Heat oven to 375. Mix butter and applesauce. Stir in remaining ingredients. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls about 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until almost no indentation remains when touched – 8 to 10 minutes. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Cool. Frost with Caramel Frosting if desired. About 6 dozen cookies – 70 calories each. (BTW, this made no where near 6 dozen, more like 2-3 dozen)

Caramel Frosting
**This is the recipe for frosting that Betty Crocker Suggests; I did not use this one
½ cup margarine or butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup milk
2 cups powdered sugar
Heat margarine in 1-quart saucepan until melted. Stir in brown sugar. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir over low heat 2 minutes. Stir in milk. Heat to boiling; remove from heat. Cool to lukewarm. Gradually stir in powdered sugar. Place pan of frosting in bowl of cold water; beat until smooth and of spreading consistency. If frosting becomes too stiff, stir in additional milk, 1 tsp at a time. Frosts a 13 x 9 inch cake or fills and frost two 8 or 9 inch cake layers.

Cinnamon Frosting
**This is the icing/frosting that I used

2 cups powdered sugar
2 TBSP milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix all ingredients together until icing is the right consistency to ice cookies. You can half this recipe if you want less icing.

Enjoy!!