Make the cookie dough

With an electric hand mixer whip room temperature butter with the two different kinds of sugar for a few minutes.

Whip in the egg, then mix in the vanilla.

Mix flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda together then add this mixture to the wet ingredients and fold with the help of a rubber spatula just until combined. Do not overmix.

Prepare 2 baking pans with parchment paper. I recommend baking 5 cookies at once.

Divide the dough into 10 equal balls (using a digital scale is handy) or use an ice cream scooper and place them onto the parchment papers leaving enough space between them to spread. Create a thumbprint pattern in each dough using a tablespoon or your fingers.

Let the cookie dough rest in the fridge for an hour while preparing the apple pie filling.

Make the apple pie filling

Peel and cut apples into identical pieces and sprinkle the apples with some freshly squeezed lemon juice to avoid browning.

Melt butter, sugar, and spices in a saucepan, then place apples into the mixture and cook it for about 8-10 minutes over medium heat.

Only cook the apples until they slightly soften, do not overcook. And, make sure you have some sauce (apple butter) left too in the saucepan as that will be used when filling the cookies.

Let the apple pie mixture come to room temperature before using.

Bake and Assemble the Apple Pie cookies

Pre-heat oven to 175 C / 347°F (no fan) and after 1h chilling time, bake the cookies for 15 minutes.

As soon as you take the cookies out of the oven, immediately reshape them to the pre-baked thumbprint pattern using a tablespoon.

Let the cookies rest for a few minutes, then carefully remove them from the parchment and let them cool on a Cooling rack.

Fill each cookie with a tablespoon of the apple pie filling and drizzle the top with the sauce (apple butter).

Store the cookies at room temperture for a few days in air tight jar or container.