Minnesota Cookies

Look at these! Cookies! Shaped like Minnesota! I can’t get over it (obviously). I suppose, objectively, Minnesota isn’t a better shape than any other state, but it’s just so home-y to me. Like seeing a familiar face after traveling alone for a long time.
To make my cookies, I modified this recipe like so: omitted the lavender, added a heaping 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, used one egg + one egg yolk (instead of three yolks), and I used cinnamon sugar to dust (and definitely didn’t use an entire cup of sugar, as called for in the recipe). Oh, and I mixed in a large handful of dried apple bits at the same time as the eggs.
I used three State Fair apples, cored and sliced, but with the peels on. I dried them in the oven, at 170F (as low as mine will go), for about three hours (flipping them halfway through). I didn’t need them crispy — I just needed enough of the moisture out so that they wouldn’t make the cookies soggy. Once they were dry, I minced them up pretty well. The bits made the cookies slightly more challenging to cut, but only slightly, and it was easy to trim off any nubs after they were baked.
I guess I made mine a lot thinner than traditional shortbread, but that’s okay. It’s a really good recipe — not at all greasy, which is my usual complaint (I’m not actually that big of a shortbread fan). The addition of cinnamon makes them a bit snickerdoodle-y, but I can’t actually say how apple-y they were, since I ate mine along with an actual apple (the one in the photo, in fact).
An apple which came from my own backyard! I know it’s kind of ridiculous to be astonished that I grew an apple where once there was not an apple (okay, the tree grew it), given the extent of my vegetable gardening. But I’m still sort of amazed. It was perfect — crunchy and sweet, but with just enough tartness to be interesting. Like… a real apple.