Apple Pie Cookies

1. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add the chopped apples, light brown sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon, and stir to combine.
2. Cover with a lid and cook covered over medium-high heat for about 3-4 minutes or until the apples are tender (so that a fork easily passes through them) and they've released their juices.
3. Remove the pan from the heat. In a small bowl, mix together the cornstarch (US)/cornflour (UK) and water to create a cornstarch slurry.
Add it to the apples and stir well to combine. Return to the heat and cook for about 30 seconds more, with constant stirring, until the apple juices have thickened.
4. Pour the apple filling into a bowl or deep plate, and set aside to cool. It needs to be cooled completely to room temperature before you start assembling the cookies.

Cinnamon cookie dough:

1. Before you start making the cookie dough, pre-heat your oven. Adjust the oven rack to the middle position, pre-heat the oven to 180ºC and line a large baking sheet with parchment/baking paper.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the softened butter and light brown sugar until pale and fluffy.
3. Add the egg yolks and vanilla, and mix well to combine.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the gluten free flour blend, cinnamon, xanthan gum, baking powder and salt, and add them to the wet ingredients.
5. Mix well until you get a smooth cookie dough with no flour clumps. It should have a scoopable consistency and shouldn't be sticky to the touch. It'll be firm enough so you can scoop it and shape it into balls with your hands, but it shouldn't be dry or crumbly.

Assembling & baking the cookies:

1. In a small bowl, mix together the granulated sugar and cinnamon to make the cinnamon sugar.
2. Use a 2-tablespoon cookie or ice cream scoop to scoop out a portion of the cookie dough. Roll it between your palms to shape it into a ball, then roll it in the cinnamon sugar so it's evenly coated.
3. Repeat with the rest of the cookie dough, you should get 12-14 cookies in total (depending on the exact size of your cookie dough balls).
4. Place the sugar-coated cookie dough balls onto the lined baking sheet, spacing them at least 2 inches (5cm) apart.
5. Use a ½-tablespoon measuring spoon to make an indent in the centre of each cookie dough ball.
6. Fill the cookies with about 1 tablespoon of the (cooled!) apple pie filling – it should form a small mound rising above the cookie dough ball (see blog post for photos).
7. Bake the cookies at 350ºF (180ºC) for 10-12 minutes or until they've spread and puffed up slightly, and they're evenly golden brown around the edges.
8. If you're baking the cookies in two batches, keep the other baking sheet at room temperature on your counter – no need to keep it in the fridge.
9. The cookies will be very soft and fragile immediately out of the oven. Allow them to cool completely to room temperature on the baking sheet – trying to move them around (for example, to a wire cooling rack) could make them crumble or break. Once cooled, serve and enjoy!