Featuring buttery biscuits topped with sugar and cinnamon and gooey apple pie filling, these cinnamon apple shortcakes are a Fall favorite! A great way to use up an abundance of apples. Top with freshly whipped cream or ice cream!
Apple Pie Shortcakes
It’s our first apple recipe of the season! And I’m so excited to share these apple shortcakes with you! They’re obviously a spin on the classic Summer treat: strawberry shortcake! But I figured… why let strawberries have all the fun? Why not take this delicious shortcake idea and give it a cozy Fall spin?
And that my friends, is exactly what I did! Enter these cinnamon apple shortcakes! The flaky biscuits are golden brown and flavored with warm spices and just enough sugar. And the apple filling is reminiscent of what you’d find inside a homemade apple pie! But the best part? This quick treat comes together in less than an hour… and will be consumed in minutes!
Let’s Talk Biscuits!
Aka the shortcake part of this recipe! These biscuits are tender, slightly sweet, and super flaky! Made with basic ingredients like flour, sugar, baking powder, butter, and heavy cream, they’re easy to whip up anytime a craving strikes! Just make sure your butter is cold, cold, COLD! Soft or even worse, melted butter, will create flat and dense biscuits.
And they come together very quickly! Just assemble the dough, you can do this by hand in a large bowl, or in the food processor. Then pat the out the dough on top of a counter. Use a biscuit cutter to carefully cut out 4 biscuits, then bake! All in all, this should take just a little over 30 minutes. If you’re not ready to bake right away, you can wrap the disc of dough in plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge for 25-30 minutes. But I don’t recommend much longer than that.
Moving onto the Apple Mixture!
Don’t be surprised if you find yourself making these apples just to eat by the spoonful… or with ice cream lol! These are similar to stewed apples, but instead of cooking them in just sugar and water, we cook them in a combination of lemon juice, butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and cinnamon! Plus, a touch of flour to thicken. So simple, but oh-so-delicious!
Add some Whipped Cream!
These apple shortcakes are divine with freshly whipped cream! But if you’re not a whipped cream fan (???), feel free to add ice cream, a drizzle of salted caramel sauce, or a light dusting of icing sugar!
While this might be our first apple recipe of the season, it’s certainly not our last! Keep your eyes peeled for apple fritters, apple crumb cake, and even an apple cheesecake! And if you can’t wait, check out all of the apple recipes I’ve linked below!
More Apple Recipes:
- Salted Caramel Apple Pie
- Overnight Apple Pie French Toast
- The Best Apple Crisp Bars
- Chai Spice Apple Crisp
- Cute Little Apple Hand Pies
- The Best Apple Crumb Muffins
Cinnamon Apple Shortcakes
Ingredients
For the Cinnamon Sugar Biscuits:
- 2 and 1/2 cups (300 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (49 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon (15 grams) light brown sugar
- 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons (18 grams) baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon (1.5 grams) salt
- 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter very cold, cut into 1/2" cubes
- 2/3 cup (170 grams) heavy cream cold
- 1 large egg cold
- 1 teaspoon water
- 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
For the Apple Topping:
- 6 medium apples peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4" slices
- 1 Tablespoon (15 grams) lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 3 Tablespoons (43 grams) unsalted butter
- 1/4 teaspoon (1.5 grams) salt
- 1/4 cup (53 grams) light brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup (49 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons (3 grams) ground cinnamon
- 1 Tablespoon (15 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons (6 grams) vanilla extract
For the Whipped Cream:
- 1 cup (227 grams) heavy cream cold
- 2 Tablespoons (14 grams) confectioners' sugar sifted
Instructions
For the Cinnamon Sugar Biscuits:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees (F). Line a medium-sized baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, both sugars, baking powder, and salt.
- Add in the cold, cubed butter, and using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles a coarse meal. The butter should be no smaller than the size of peas, and no larger than the size of hazelnuts.
- Add in the cream and, using a rubber sptula, stir it into the mixture. It will be very shaggy.
- Pour the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead it together. Use your hands to shape the dough into a 3/4" thick circle.
- Using a 3" biscuit cutter, cut out 4 biscuits. Gently re-roll any scraps of dough, if needed.
- Gently transfer the biscuits onto the preapred baking sheet.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and water. Lightly brush the top of each biscuit with the egg wash.
- In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle the top of each biscuit with a teaspoon or two of this mixture.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 22 minutes, or until puffy and golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and allow biscuits to cool completely on the baking sheet.
For the Apple Topping:
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the sliced apples with the lemon juice and toss well to coat. Set aside.
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the apples, salt, and both sugars and, using a wooden spoon, mix well to combine. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples have softened and have begun to release some of their juices, about 10 minutes.
- Add in the cinnamon and flour, mix well, and continue cooking, stirring almost constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Stir in the vanilla and set aside until needed.
For the Whipped Cream:
- In a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream on medium speed until soft peaks form.
- Add in the confectioners' sugar and continue beating until well combined.
- Increase the speed to high, and beat just until stiff peaks begin to form.
- Turn mixer off and use whipped cream at once!
Assembly:
- Using a serrated knife, cut each biscuit in half horizontally.
- Place about 1 cup of the apple topping on top of the bottom biscuit.
- Add a dollop or two of whipped cream. Then top with the top of the biscuit. Repeat with all shortcakes.
- Serve and enjoy at once!
Perfection is common with your recipes!
AHHHHH! THIS LOOKS AMAZING!! I made a recipe similar to this the other day but the apples where bland and the biscuit was sickly sweet, so I’m SO happy that you did this! Thanks so much, I’m totally making this today!!
Much love,
Abby x