Apple Cinnamon Snickerdoodles

It's holiday baking season again! Yay!

I really do love baking any time of year but most especially this time of year.

It's just a bit chilly outside here right now and heating up the oven not only warms up my house but creates the most delicious smells and fun treats. And it is a great experience to get the kids in there with you and create a memory together.

I was recently challenged by Smart Balance to switch out my usual butter sticks for Smart Balance Buttery Sticks in my holiday cookie baking. I was a bit familiar with Smart Balance already. My Momma had switched out her butter spreads for Smart Balance when she was diagnosed with diabetes and she got my Grandma started on it as well. My Mom said she knew it would be no problem for me to switch the butter out in the cookie recipe because she already does it and with great results.

The buttery sticks are a 50/50 blend of real butter and Smart Balance buttery spread.

And it's got Omega 3's in it. So not only am I gonna make and eat some yummy cookies, but I'm gonna be a little better to the hearts of the folks I love the most. What's not to love about that?

And it has all the measurements printed on it just like you are used to seeing with your usual sticks of butter.

So I picked a favorite cookie recipe and went to it. 

Ingredients:
2 medium Granny Smith apples (peeled, cored, cut into 1/4-inch cubes)
1 1/2 sticks of Smart Balance Buttery Blend
1 cup light brown sugar (packed)
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs
3 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Cinnamon Sugar Blend:
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

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 Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, stir together dry ingredients (flour, cornstarch, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon). Set aside.

 In a mixing bowl (or your stand mixer), cream the Smart Balance until smooth.

 Add in both sugars and mix until fully incorporated. 
Next, add eggs in one at a time, and continue stirring until batter is thoroughly mixed.

 If you are using a stand mixer, you'll probably have to take a minute to scrape 
down the sides to make sure all your batter is mixed properly.

 Now begin adding in the dry ingredients slowly. Mix well after each addition.

Now stir in (by hand) the diced apples. Batter will be very thick so this will take a couple of minutes. 

In a separate small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar mixture.

Scoop out a generous tablespoonful of cookie batter.

 Drop it into the cinnamon sugar mixture and roll it around.

 Put it on your lined cookie sheet and gently press it down to flatten it slightly.

One down, 4 more dozen to go! 
(Oooh lawdy, look at those red hands. Can y'all tell I've been washing them like crazy? I am trying to stay healthy this winter!)

 Bake each sheet for 8 minutes. Then turn the baking sheet around and bake for another 8 minutes.
Do not bake more than one sheet at a time (unless you have a convection oven) or uneven baking may occur.

Cook's Review: The Smart Balance did not disappoint. My cookies turned out soft and moist and fluffy as they should. My family could not even tell any difference between using the Smart Balance Buttery Sticks and the regular butter sticks I usually use.  And I took some into work and they got rave reviews (thank you to my co-workers for always being good guinea pigs!).

Enjoy!

Printable Recipe Here

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Disclosure: Smart Balance provided me with product vouchers for the purpose of testing out their products. I was compensated for my time in writing the post and was asked to give an honest and fair opinion of the product.  As always, all opinions of any product I test are mine and mine alone.

Recipe slightly modified from David Venable QVC recipe