Marzipan Apple Cookies

 {adapted from The Cookie Jar}

I found this recipe on Sweet Sugarbelle’s blog! I thought it would be a really sweet way to welcome back the teachers at Hannah and Noah’s school and thank them for being SO wonderful!

Ingredients

• 8 oz almond paste {marzipan} If you live in my area, you can find this at Market Street or Whole Foods.
• 1 cup of butter, softened
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp almond emulsion or extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Americolor tulip red gel color
• whole cloves {Spice section at any grocery store}

Instructions

1. Soften the almond paste in the microwave. About 20 seconds should do. Combine the butter and almond paste and beat until well combined. Add both sugars and beat until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and enough of the gel paste to tint the mixture red. Finally sift together the flour and salt and add it to the creamed mixture, mixing until a soft dough forms. If the dough is not dark enough, add more coloring.
2. At this point,use a small cookie scoop {1 1/2 teaspoon size} to make little balls. Drop them onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Use your thumb to make a light impression on top of the cookie, and then insert a clove as the stem.
   
   Tip: Poke the cloves in pretty well so that they do not fall out after baking or  it’ll become a little annoying trying to shove them into baked cookies.
3. Chill for one hour.
   
4. After chilling, bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
   
   

They turned out really well {for me being the one making them!} I’m NOT a baker! I just recently learned how to decorate cookies, so let’s just say I’m not the greatest. I’ve received lots of advice from my wonderful sister-in-law! So, even though she didn’t make these, I’m going to give her most of the credit! Thanks Christy! You can find her blog here and more photos of her work here. She’s AH-MAZING!!




The leaves were made with a Leaf Tip by Wilton. They take a very small amount of practice to get the hang of it, just make sure your RI is very firm. I could have thickened mine up a little more and the leaves would have been more defined.


Change the color of the dough to orange and these would make super cute little pumpkins as well!!

Free Teacher Printables found here!
You can find the itsy bitsy cookie scoop I used here
Americolor Tulip Gel can be found here

I’ve been baking up a storm, so more pictures of my decorated cookies coming soon!