Spiced Apple Cookies.
These Spiced Apple Cookies take fall flavor to a new level. Soft, chewy cinnamon cookies are topped with sweet, gooey apple filling. It’s the ultimate fall apple treat.
We love pumpkin as much as anyone else when fall rolls around, but we never forget how delicious apples are this time of year, too! We love the classics like apple pie and cobbler, but we also like to get creative with our apple recipes, which is where these spiced apple cookies come in. They’re the perfect fusion of cookies and apple pie flavor.
Table of contents
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Basic Ingredients: This recipe uses simple kitchen staples, so there’s no need to go searching for fancy ingredients.
- Easy to Make: Both the cookie dough and apple topping are simple and easy to make.
- Classic Apple Pie Flavor: These soft cinnamon cookies are topped with classic, homemade spiced apple pie filling.
- The Perfect Fall Treat: The flavor and ease of these cookies make them the perfect fall treat.
🛒Ingredients
These cookies are made with basic kitchen staples that you probably have in your kitchen right now. Anything you don’t have is just a quick trip to the grocery store away.
We’ve listed all the ingredients here, but you can find their exact amounts in the recipe card at the end of the post.
For the Cookie dough
- Unsalted butter
- Sugar
- Brown sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Cinnamon
- Baking powder
- Salt
For the Apple Topping
- Sugar
- Apple
- Brown sugar
- Butter
- Cinnamon
- Water
- Cornstarch
- Caramel ice cream topping
🔪 How to Make Spiced Apple Cookies
These spiced apple cookies are incredibly easy to make. They only take a few minutes and a few simple steps!
Step 1: Combine the Wet Cookie Dough Ingredients
Cream the butter and sugars in a large bowl until fluffy and creamy. Then, add the egg and vanilla and mix again.
Step 2: Combine the Dry Cookie Dough Ingredients
In another bowl, whisk the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt together.
Step 3: Mix the Cookie Dough
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until the dough forms. Chill in the refrigerator for an hour. Start making the apple filling about 10 to 15 minutes before the dough has finished chilling.
Step 4: Cook the Apples
Add finely diced apples, butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar in a small saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until it begins to bubble.
Step 5: Add the Cornstarch
Combine the water and cornstarch and mix it into the apple filling. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens. Remove the apples from the heat and cool for 5 to 10 minutes.
Step 6: Roll and Coat the Dough
Divide the dough evenly into 9 balls and roll each one in a shallow bowl of sugar, making sure to coat them completely. Place the balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Step 7: Flatten
Flatten each ball a bit with your hands and make a big depression in the center of each one. Add the apple mixture to the depression in each cookie.
Step 8: Bake
Bake the cookies for 14 minutes. Then, remove them and let them cool completely. Drizzle the caramel over the cookies, sprinkle with brown sugar, and enjoy!
📝Variations
- Apples: Use your favorite apples for the apple topping. They all work and give the cookies a slightly different flavor.
- Apple Spice: Try adding apple spice to the cookie dough and/or topping for even more fall flavor.
- Cookie Dough: You can use your favorite sugar cookie dough recipe for these cookies.
If you think this fusion of apple pie and cookies looks good, then you’ll love this apple pie monkey bread.
🥄 Equipment
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Mixing bowls
- Cookie sheet
- Parchment paper
- Wire cooling rack
- Electric mixer
🥫 Storage
Refrigerate these cookies for up to 4 days in an air-tight, freezer-safe container.
What to Serve with Spiced Apple Cookies
Just like both apple pie and cookies, these spiced apple cookies are perfect with a scoop of ice cream. They also make a great dessert after a fall meal, like pot roast or stew or part of a larger dessert spread at holiday gatherings.
💭 Tips
- Stir your apple topping constantly while cooking it to prevent sticking or scorching.
- Mix your cookie dough until just combined. To ensure the cookies come out soft and chewy.
- Chill the dough for at least an hour to control the cookie spread while baking. You can also leave the dough in the refrigerator overnight.
- Roll all the cookie balls first to ensure you have equal-sized balls before rolling them in the cinnamon.
⁉️ FAQ
Refrigerating cookie dough chills the butter in the cookies. This makes the butter melt more slowly as the dough bakes, creating softer, thicker cookies and keeping them from spreading too much.
Adding more fat to cookie dough will make it softer and more chewy. Extra butter or eggs work well. In addition, removing the cookies before they’re fully baked and letting carryover cooking time from the heat of the baking sheet finish them off will keep them softer and chewier.
You sure can. Using cake flour makes cookies extra soft and tender.
🍽 More Recipes
Do you enjoy apples? Then try these delicious recipes:
🧾Recipe Card
Want to make this recipe? Print the recipe card below, or pin this recipe so you can find it later.
Spiced Apple Cookies
Equipment
- large bowl
- Hand mixer
- sharp knife
- small saucepan
- Baking sheet or cookie sheet
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temp
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 large apple
- 4 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ⅓ cup caramel ice cream topping
Instructions
- In a large bowl add the 1 stick of room temp butter, 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of brown sugar and mix together using a hand mixer, until it turns fluffy and creamy.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix again.
- Add the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt and mix again until a cookie dough forms.
- Cover the bowl and place in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Around 10-15 minutes before you take the dough out begin making the apple filling.
- Chop the apples all up into tiny pieces and make sure the skin is off.
- In a small saucepan over medium to low heat add the apples, butter, cinnamon and brown sugar and stir until the mixture is melted and starts bubbling.
- Combine the water and cornstarch together and stir.
- Pour that into the saucepan and stir and let simmer for 5 minutes on a medium heat until the mixture becomes thick. After the 5 minutes is up turn off the heat and let the mixture cool for 5-10 minutes.
- While the apples are cooling roll out the cookie dough balls.
- Add 1/4 cup of sugar to a small bowl and set aside. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Roll out 9 even balls of dough and roll each one into the bowl of sugar, coating the entire thing in sugar.
- Place on the baking sheet.
- Flatten the cookie some with your hand and make a big indent with your finger in the middle of the cookie for the apples to sit in.
- Add the apple mixture into the middle of the cookie, about 1 tbsp.
- Add to the preheated oven and bake for 14 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let cool completely.
- Drizzle the caramel all over top of the cookies and sprinkle just a bit of brown sugar on top!
- Enjoy!
