Loaded with recent apple taste and loads of heat spices, these comfortable and chewy apple cinnamon oatmeal cookies are completely excellent for the autumn season. Completed with a heat, candy maple icing, they’re the quintessential autumn cookie!
I initially revealed this recipe in 2016 and have since added new images and updates to the recipe to enhance the feel and scale back the spreading. The modifications are mirrored within the recipe card under.
Within the fall months, apple desserts are sometimes overshadowed by pumpkin pie and all issues pumpkin spice. Whereas these fan-favorite brown butter pumpkin oatmeal cookies at all times hit the spot, at the moment’s apple cinnamon oatmeal cookies are simply as satisfying and ship large on these fall flavors (sans pumpkin!).
Talking of favourite desserts, have you ever tried salted caramel apple pie but? It’s my #1 favourite dessert of all time!
Inform Me About These Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies
- Texture: These apple cinnamon oatmeal cookies are comfortable and chewy with moist facilities and crisp edges. Each hearty, healthful chunk is loaded with chewy oats, tender bits of apple, crunchy walnuts, and topped with creamy maple icing. A lot texture in simply 1 cookie!
- Taste: You’ll get pleasure from many fall flavors in every chunk together with apple spice, cinnamon, and maple—similar flavors you will discover in these wholesome apple muffins. Should you’re searching for a maple cookie to strive, these maple brown sugar cookies are a well-liked selection.
- Time: After taking the ten minutes initially to cut back the applesauce, the apple oatmeal cookie dough comes collectively shortly. And there’s no dough chilling required, so you possibly can bake these cookies immediately!
Selecting the Proper Elements
Listed below are among the key elements and why they work on this recipe:
- Extra oats than flour = a chewier cookie: You want 2 cups of entire oats and 1 and 1/4 cups of flour to attain the right chew.
- Sugars: You’ll want each granulated sugar and brown sugar on this recipe. I desire darkish brown sugar right here for a bit of further molasses taste, however mild brown sugar works simply as effectively.
- Applesauce: Search for the unsweetened selection. And in case you have some leftover, strive a batch of those applesauce muffins. Lowering the applesauce on the range deepens its apple taste whereas eradicating further liquid, so your cookies bake up comfortable—not soggy.
- Egg yolk: Utilizing simply the yolk of the egg provides richness and helps to bind the elements, with out including an excessive amount of further liquid to the dough (since we’re including applesauce).
- Walnuts: I like including walnuts to those apple cookies (a lot nice texture!), however you possibly can go away them out in case you desire.
- Finely diced apple: Be sure you reduce the apple into teeny-tiny chunks—not slices like I like to recommend for apple pie. I often seize a Granny Smith apple for this recipe, however you need to use any crisp, juicy selection you like. (And in case you’re , listed below are the finest apples for baking.)
- Spices: Cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg add simply the correct heat and depth of taste.
You additionally want baking soda, salt, vanilla extract, and room-temperature butter.
Key Step in This Recipe: Briefly Prepare dinner the Applesauce
After I first shared this recipe again in 2016, there was no have to prepare dinner down the applesauce. However the cookies usually unfold an excessive amount of, turned out a bit of cakey, and lacked daring taste. My group and I’ve since found that spending simply 10 minutes decreasing the applesauce on the range makes all of the distinction.
Simply as we scale back recent strawberry puree for strawberry cake and mashed banana for the banana walnut cookies in Sally’s Baking 101, we’ll prepare dinner the applesauce on the range earlier than utilizing it. Simmer till it’s diminished by about half—this simple step concentrates the apple taste and removes extra moisture.
Left, under: applesauce earlier than decreasing. Proper, under: applesauce after decreasing.
From there, it’s only a matter of whisking the dry elements, creaming the butter and sugars, mixing within the moist elements (together with the diminished applesauce), and bringing all the pieces collectively. Right here is the cookie dough… and there’s no have to refrigerate it earlier than baking! It is going to be a bit of sticky:
Use a medium cookie scoop to scoop the cookie dough (about 1.5 Tbsp/35g of dough every) onto lined baking sheets.
A drizzle of maple icing is the right crowning glory on these apple cinnamon oatmeal cookies. Soften butter with pure maple syrup, after which whisk in confectioners’ sugar and a pinch of salt. Drizzle over the cookies. It’s the identical icing we use for fan-favorite maple brown sugar cookies.
If in case you have a bit of extra time, salted caramel frosting would even be scrumptious… or strive the brown butter icing from these brown butter apple blondies… YUM!
Success Ideas for Apple Cinnamon Cookies
- Scale back the applesauce first: That is the important thing to creating certain these cookies don’t overspread. We need to focus the apple taste with out including an excessive amount of moisture to the cookie dough.
- Bake immediately: The oats will take in a whole lot of the moisture in case you let the cookie dough sit too lengthy. You’ll get a greater cookie in case you bake them immediately. Impatience lastly pays off!
- Don’t over-bake: You need the facilities of the cookies to look very comfortable and even a bit of underbaked if you take them out of the oven. They’ll proceed to set as they cool on the baking sheet. Over-baking them till the facilities look completely completed will end in dry cookies.
- Avoid wasting for day 2! Like banana bread, these cookies have even extra taste on the second day… in case you can wait that lengthy to eat them!
Description
These comfortable and chewy apple cinnamon oatmeal cookies are exploding with candy apple taste. Crammed with cinnamon and apple spices, loaded with applesauce and apple chunks, and topped with a creamy maple frosting, they’re completely excellent for the autumn season. Don’t skip decreasing the applesauce on the range (step 1); it’s key to the feel and taste.
- Scale back the applesauce: Place the applesauce in a medium saucepan over medium warmth. Carry to a low boil after which simmer, stirring often, till the quantity is diminished by half (to 1/3 cup/80g). On my range, this takes about 10 minutes. Switch the applesauce to a heat-proof bowl and put aside to chill to room temperature.
- Make the cookies: Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line giant baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Whisk the oats, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg collectively in a big bowl. Put aside.
- Utilizing a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar on medium pace till creamed collectively, about 5 minutes. (Right here’s a useful tutorial in case you want steerage on the way to cream butter and sugar.) Scrape down the perimeters and backside of the bowl with a silicone spatula as wanted. Add the diminished applesauce, egg yolk, and vanilla, and beat on medium-high pace till mixed. Scrape down the perimeters and backside of the bowl as wanted.
- Add within the dry elements and beat on low pace till mixed. Lastly, beat within the chopped apples and walnuts (if utilizing). The cookie dough shall be thick and sticky.
- Utilizing a medium cookie scoop, scoop mounds of cookie dough (about 1.5 Tbsp/35g of dough every) and organize 3 inches aside on the ready baking sheets.
- Bake for 14–16 minutes or till calmly browned and set across the edges. The cookies will look very comfortable within the center however will proceed to set as they cool. Take away the cookies from the oven and permit to chill for 10 minutes on the baking sheet, then switch to a cooling rack.
- Make the icing: In a small saucepan over low warmth, soften the butter and maple syrup collectively, whisking often. As soon as the butter has melted, take away from warmth and whisk within the sifted confectioners’ sugar. Style. Add a pinch of salt, if desired. Drizzle over cookies. Icing will set after about 1 hour.
- Retailer cookies in an hermetic container at room temperature for as much as 2 days, or within the fridge for as much as 1 week.
Notes
- Make Forward Directions: You may make the cookie dough and chill it within the fridge for as much as 3 days. Permit to come back to room temperature then proceed with step 5. Baked cookies, with or with out icing, freeze effectively for as much as 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze effectively for as much as 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an additional minute, no have to thaw. Learn my suggestions and tips on the way to freeze cookie dough.
- Particular Instruments (affiliate hyperlinks): Small Saucepan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Electrical Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack | Wonderful Mesh Sieve (for sifting confectioners’ sugar)
- Oats: Use entire rolled oats for the very best texture. Fast oats are reduce finer, which makes them extra powdery. They’ll take in extra moisture, inflicting the dough to bulk up so the cookies don’t unfold correctly, and may go away the cookies tasting dry.
- Brown Sugar: I like to recommend darkish brown sugar for a deeper taste, however you need to use mild brown sugar as an alternative.
- Apple: Be sure you reduce the apple into teeny-tiny chunks. I often use a Granny Smith apple for this recipe, however you need to use any crisp, juicy selection you like. (And in case you’re , listed below are the finest apples for baking.)
- Can I Use Apple Butter As a substitute of Decreased Applesauce? We haven’t examined it right now. I’m not sure if the cookies will unfold an excessive amount of since apple butter is thinner than the diminished applesauce. Should you use it, chances are you’ll need to refrigerate the cookie dough for a minimum of 1 hour earlier than shaping and baking. And in case you strive it, tell us the way it seems.
- Replace in 2025: My group and I made 4 small updates to the recipe to cut back the spreading and enhance the feel. The modifications are mirrored on this recipe. To make the previous model, scale back the flour to 1 cup (125g). Scale back the applesauce to 1/2 cup (120g) and skip decreasing it on the range (step 1). Use 1 entire egg as an alternative of 1 egg yolk. Scale back the butter to 1/4 cup (56g) and soften it. Whisk it along with the moist elements in step 4, as an alternative of creaming it with the sugars.
