Applesauce Cookies with Chai Spice Browned Butter Frosting

Ingre­di­ents

• from: secretlifeofachefswife.com
Cookie:
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup gran­u­lated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups all pur­pose flour
• 1/2 tea­spoon cinnamon
• 1/4 tea­spoon cloves
• 1/2 tea­spoon salt
• 1 tea­spoon bak­ing soda
• 1 cup applesauce
Frost­ing:
• 3 cups pow­dered sugar
• 1/2 tea­spoon cinnamon
• 1/2 tea­spoon cardamom
• 1/8 tea­spoon ground ginger
• pinch cloves
• pinch nut­meg
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter
• 3–4 table­spoons milk

Instruc­tions

1. Pre­heat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Mix dry ingre­di­ents together in a medium bowl and set aside.
3. Cream together the short­en­ing and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Mix well after each addition.
4. Add the dry ingre­di­ents, alter­nat­ing with the apple­sauce, until mixed well.
5. Using a medium (#40) cookie scoop, put scoops of the dough (it’s really soft, like thick cake bat­ter) onto a pan pre­pared with either parch­ment or a sil­pat liner.
6. Bake at 325 degrees F. for 10–12 min­utes. The cook­ies will just begin to brown around the edges. Don’t over bake, or the cookie will end up dry.
7. Set aside while you make the frost­ing. If you make the frost­ing too far ahead of time, it will get too firm and you’ll have to thin it out.
8. Instruc­tions for frosting:
9. Mea­sure the pow­dered sugar and spices together into a mix­ing bowl. Set aside.
10. In a small saucepan, (not one with a dark bot­tom), put the but­ter. Melt it on medium heat until it starts to bub­ble. Watch­ing it closely, let it sim­mer until the but­ter slide on the bot­tom of the pan turn a medium col­ored brown. It can burn pretty fast, so keep a close eye on it. It’s a good idea to keep swirling the pan every 10 sec­ond or so. Once it reaches the desired color, remove it from the heat.
11. Pour it slowly and care­fully into the mix­ing bowl of pow­dered sugar/spices. Blend until mixed together.
12. Add the 3–4 table­spoons of milk until it reaches a spread­able consistency.
13. Top the cook­ies with frost­ing right away.
14. Store in an air­tight con­tainer for up to 2–3 days.