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These sage and apple butter thumbprint cookies are an unexpected, elevated take on a classic recipe. Add these to your fall and winter cookie trays to make them a little more interesting.
I was gifted a little jar of apple butter in my welcome package when we stayed at Water’s Edge recently, and I was inspired to do something a little more creative with it than just slather it on a piece of toast. Although it is delicious that way, too. 🙂 I love combining unexpected herbs and other aromatics that you might not normally associate with sweet treats into my baking recipes, and this combination of earthy sage and tart apple butter sounded just crazy enough to work. Drizzled with a basic vanilla glaze, these cookies not only work, they’re actually incredibly delicious and instantly craveable. I don’t think you’ll be finding this flavor combination in any stores any time soon, though, so you’ll just have to make a batch of these sage and apple butter thumbprint cookies yourself if you want to try them out.
More unexpected cookie recipes to try: Chocolate Chip Lavender Cookies
Ingredients Needed for the Apple Butter Sage Thumbprints
You’ll need:
- Good quality apple butter (homemade or store bought)
- Ground sage
- All-purpose flour (or a gluten-free 1:1 flour blend)
- Salt
- Baking soda
- Granulated white sugar
- Softened, room-temperature butter (or a non-dairy substitute)
- Eggs (or a plant-based substitute)
- Vanilla extract
- Basic vanilla glaze for drizzling
You can definitely use dried, crushed sage leaves from your garden if you want the herb flecks to be a little more prominent in your finished cookies, but I used finely ground sage for a subtle flavor throughout the cookie dough. If you use gluten-free for this cookie recipe, you may want to add about 2 tbsp more flour because gluten-free flour is a bit less absorbent than regular wheat flour. You may also wish to chill your cookie dough before scooping it out to make it a bit easier to work with.
My most popular thumbprint cookie recipe: Cardamom Fig Jam Thumbprints
Process for Preparing the Sage Thumbprint Cookies With Apple Butter
Combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and ground sage in a medium bowl, mix them together, then set the bowl aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine your softened butter with the granulated sugar and cream them together until you have a smooth, fluffy mixture. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and continue running the electric mixer until everything is well combined.
Next, with the mixer running on low, slowly add your dry ingredients, a little bit at a time, mixing continuously until an even cookie dough forms. Remove the bowl from your stand mixer and chill in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes if your dough is a bit sticky. If not, move on to scooping out your dough.
Using a small cookie scoop, scoop out your cookie dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat baking mat, leaving about an inch between each dough ball. With a clean thumb or the end of a wooden spoon, make a dent in the middle of each cookie to allow space for the apple butter.
Using a teaspoon, add a small amount of apple butter to the centre of each cookie thumbprint, making sure to keep things as tidy as possible to avoid any apple butter spilling out onto the outer part of the cookies.
Bake the cookies at 350° for 12 minutes, rotating your cookie tray halfway through. Repeat with several more batches until all the cookies have been baked. Allow them to cool completely on a wire cooling rack until the cookies reach room temperature.
Mix the glaze topping according to the directions and drizzle the glaze over each cookie in a zigzag pattern. Allow the glaze to set for at least 20 minutes before storing the cookies in an airtight container.
Here’s the full printable recipe! Use it on your tablet or phone, or print it off for your recipe binder. Don’t forget to pin this recipe so you have it later when you need it!
These sage and apple butter thumbprint cookies are an unexpected, elevated take on a classic recipe. Add these to your fall and winter cookie trays to make them a little more interesting.
- 2 cups All-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp Baking soda
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Ground sage
- 3/4 cup Granulated white sugar
- 1 cup Butter softened (or non-dairy substitute)
- 1 Egg (or a plant-based substitute)
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup Good quality apple butter
- 1 recipe Simple vanilla glaze
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In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the sugar and the butter until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla and continue mixing until everything is well combined.
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In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, salt, sage, and baking soda and mix to combine. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, a little at a time, with the mixer running on low. Continue mixing until everything is combined into a smooth dough ball. Refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes if it seems a bit sticky, or just use it immediately.
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With a small cookie scoop, scoop out the dough, roll it into little dough balls, and place them on a parchment-lined baking pan. Using the handle of a wooden spoon or your thumb, create a small indent in the top of each dough ball, then fill it with about 1/2 teaspoon of apple butter.
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Bake the cookies at 350° for 12 minutes, turning the cookie sheet halfway through the baking time. Allow the cookies to cool completely on a wire cooling rack.
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Once the cookies are cooled, prepare the glaze, then drizzle it over each cookie in a zig-zag pattern. Allow the icing glaze to set for about 20 minutes before storing the cookies in an airtight container.
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Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.