Loaded with fresh apple flavor and plenty of warm spices, these soft and chewy apple cinnamon oatmeal cookies are absolutely perfect for the fall season. Finished with a warm, sweet maple icing, they’re the quintessential autumn cookie!
I originally published this recipe in 2016 and have since added new photos and updates to the recipe to improve the texture and reduce the spreading. The changes are reflected in the recipe card below.
In the fall months, apple desserts are often overshadowed by pumpkin pie and all things pumpkin spice. While these fan-favorite brown butter pumpkin oatmeal cookies always hit the spot, today’s apple cinnamon oatmeal cookies are just as satisfying and deliver big on those fall flavors (sans pumpkin!).
Speaking of favorite desserts, have you tried salted caramel apple pie yet? It’s my #1 favorite dessert of all time!
Tell Me About These Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies
- Texture: These apple cinnamon oatmeal cookies are soft and chewy with moist centers and crisp edges. Every hearty, wholesome bite is loaded with chewy oats, tender bits of apple, crunchy walnuts, and topped with creamy maple icing. So much texture in just 1 cookie!
- Flavor: You’ll enjoy many fall flavors in each bite including apple spice, cinnamon, and maple—same flavors you can find in these healthy apple muffins. If you’re looking for a maple cookie to try, these maple brown sugar cookies are a popular choice.
- Time: After taking the 10 minutes at the start to reduce the applesauce, the apple oatmeal cookie dough comes together quickly. And there’s no dough chilling required, so you can bake these cookies right away!
One reader, Rosemary, commented: “With nights dipping down into the 50s, our family is ready for fall flavors. These cookies were perfect! Chewy, sweet, and full of the spices we were craving! Love that there’s no chill time for the dough. ★★★★★“
One reader, Sharon, commented: “Sally, I cannot get enough of these cookies, nor can my husband. I have made them twice already and will bake half of a batch tomorrow and freeze the other half. The maple icing is the perfect complement, too! ★★★★★“
One reader, Jenn, commented: “This recipe was super easy to follow and the cookies are fabulous. I made these for a potluck at work and was arguing with my husband and son about how many they were allowed to eat because they loved their tester cookies so much. You don’t need to make the icing, but it only takes a few minutes and it really elevated the look/flavor. ★★★★★“
Choosing the Right Ingredients
Here are some of the key ingredients and why they work in this recipe:
- More oats than flour = a chewier cookie: You need 2 cups of whole oats and 1 and 1/4 cups of flour to achieve the perfect chew.
- Sugars: You’ll need both granulated sugar and brown sugar in this recipe. I prefer dark brown sugar here for a little extra molasses flavor, but light brown sugar works just as well.
- Applesauce: Look for the unsweetened variety. And if you have some leftover, try a batch of these applesauce muffins. Reducing the applesauce on the stove deepens its apple flavor while removing extra liquid, so your cookies bake up soft—not soggy.
- Egg yolk: Using just the yolk of the egg adds richness and helps to bind the ingredients, without adding too much extra liquid to the dough (since we’re adding applesauce).
- Walnuts: I love adding walnuts to these apple cookies (so much great texture!), but you can leave them out if you prefer.
- Finely diced apple: Make sure you cut the apple into teeny-tiny chunks—not slices like I recommend for apple pie. I usually grab a Granny Smith apple for this recipe, but you can use any crisp, juicy variety you prefer. (And if you’re interested, here are the best apples for baking.)
- Spices: Cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg add just the right warmth and depth of flavor.
You also need baking soda, salt, vanilla extract, and room-temperature butter.
Key Step in This Recipe: Briefly Cook the Applesauce
When I first shared this recipe back in 2016, there was no need to cook down the applesauce. But the cookies often spread too much, turned out a little cakey, and lacked bold flavor. My team and I have since discovered that spending just 10 minutes reducing the applesauce on the stove makes all the difference.
Just as we reduce fresh strawberry puree for strawberry cake and mashed banana for the banana walnut cookies in Sally’s Baking 101, we’ll cook the applesauce on the stove before using it. Simmer until it’s reduced by about half—this easy step concentrates the apple flavor and removes excess moisture.
Left, below: applesauce before reducing. Right, below: applesauce after reducing.
From there, it’s just a matter of whisking the dry ingredients, creaming the butter and sugars, mixing in the wet ingredients (including the reduced applesauce), and bringing everything together. Here is the cookie dough… and there is no need to refrigerate it before baking! It will be a little sticky:
Use a medium cookie scoop to scoop the cookie dough (about 1.5 Tbsp/35g of dough each) onto lined baking sheets.
A drizzle of maple icing is the perfect finishing touch on these apple cinnamon oatmeal cookies. Melt butter with pure maple syrup, and then whisk in confectioners’ sugar and a pinch of salt. Drizzle over the cookies. It’s the same icing we use for fan-favorite maple brown sugar cookies and these pumpkin crumb cake cookies.
If you have a little more time, salted caramel frosting would also be delicious… or try the brown butter icing from these brown butter apple blondies… YUM!
Success Tips for Apple Cinnamon Cookies
- Reduce the applesauce first: This is the key to making sure these cookies don’t overspread. We want to concentrate the apple flavor without adding too much moisture to the cookie dough.
- Bake right away: The oats will soak up a lot of the moisture if you let the cookie dough sit too long. You’ll get a better cookie if you bake them right away. Impatience finally pays off!
- Don’t over-bake: You want the centers of the cookies to look very soft and even a little underbaked when you take them out of the oven. They’ll continue to set as they cool on the baking sheet. Over-baking them until the centers look totally done will result in dry cookies.
- Save some for day 2! Like banana bread, these cookies have even more flavor on the second day… if you can wait that long to eat them!
Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 14 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 24 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These soft and chewy apple cinnamon oatmeal cookies are exploding with sweet apple flavor. Filled with cinnamon and apple spices, loaded with applesauce and apple chunks, and topped with a creamy maple icing, they’re absolutely perfect for the fall season. Do not skip reducing the applesauce on the stove (step 1); it is key to the texture and flavor.
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2/3 cup (160g) unsweetened applesauce
- 2 cups (170g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats
- 1 and 1/4 cups (156g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) light or dark brown sugar (I use dark)
- 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup (90g) finely diced apples
- 1/2 cup (63g) chopped walnuts (optional)
Maple Icing
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup (80ml) pure maple syrup
- 1 cup (112g) sifted confectioners’ sugar
- pinch salt, to taste
Instructions
- Reduce the applesauce: Place the applesauce in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a low boil and then simmer, stirring occasionally, until the amount is reduced by half (to 1/3 cup/80g). On my stove, this takes about 10 minutes. Transfer the applesauce to a heat-proof bowl and set aside to cool to room temperature.
- Make the cookies: Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Whisk the oats, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar on medium speed until creamed together, about 5 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula as needed. Add the reduced applesauce, egg yolk, and vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Add in the dry ingredients and beat on low speed until combined. Finally, beat in the chopped apples and walnuts (if using). The cookie dough will be thick and sticky.
- Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop mounds of cookie dough (about 1.5 Tbsp/35g of dough each) and arrange 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 14–16 minutes or until lightly browned and set around the edges. The cookies will look very soft in the middle but will continue to set as they cool. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.
- Make the icing: In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and maple syrup together, whisking occasionally. Once the butter has melted, remove from heat and whisk in the sifted confectioners’ sugar. Taste. Add a pinch of salt, if desired. Drizzle over cookies. Icing will set after about 1 hour.
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Allow to come to room temperature then continue with step 5. Baked cookies, with or without icing, freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Small Saucepan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack | Fine Mesh Sieve (for sifting confectioners’ sugar)
- Oats: Use whole rolled oats for the best texture. Quick oats are cut finer, which makes them more powdery. They’ll absorb more moisture, causing the dough to bulk up so the cookies don’t spread properly, and can leave the cookies tasting dry.
- Brown Sugar: I recommend dark brown sugar for a deeper flavor, but you can use light brown sugar instead.
- Apple: Make sure you cut the apple into teeny-tiny chunks. I usually use a Granny Smith apple for this recipe, but you can use any crisp, juicy variety you prefer. (And if you’re interested, here are the best apples for baking.)
- Can I Use Apple Butter Instead of Reduced Applesauce? We haven’t tested it, so are unsure if the cookies will spread too much since apple butter is thinner than the reduced applesauce. If you use it, you may want to refrigerate the cookie dough for at least 1 hour before shaping and baking. Apple butter is also sweetened, so expect a sweeter cookie. And if you try it, let us know how it turns out.
- Update in 2025: My team and I made 4 small updates to the recipe to reduce the spreading and improve the texture. The changes are reflected in this recipe. To make the old version, reduce the flour to 1 cup (125g). Reduce the applesauce to 1/2 cup (120g) and skip reducing it on the stove (step 1). Use 1 whole egg instead of 1 egg yolk. Reduce the butter to 1/4 cup (56g) and melt it. Whisk it together with the wet ingredients in step 4, instead of creaming it with the sugars.
Reader Comments and Reviews
How do I make this with no butter or egg? Can I go with olive oil and fax egg and Apple sauce?
After reading all the great reviews I was excited to make this recipe, but sadly it didn’t work as well for me. Cookies baked cakey/did not spread as nicely as recipe pics, and texture was off. I carefully weighed all ingredients, cooked applesauce down to 80G, used Bob’s Red Mill GF old fashioned rolled oats, also added in 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans. In trying to troubleshoot, is it possible that the size of the chopped apple could affect the cookie texture? I finely chopped my apple, even smaller than recipe pics. Dough did come together great though, would love to try again.
Hi Jen, we’re so sorry this recipe didn’t turn out well for you. The size of your diced apples could be contributing to that cakey texture. If they’re smaller, they may act more like a wet ingredient (like shredded apples do) rather than as an add-in (like diced apples), releasing more moisture into the batter. If they did not spread much, was it possible that your flour was over-measured? Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to ensure the flour isn’t overmeasured, which can prevent the cookies from properly spreading and also lend a more cakey texture. We hope this helps for your next batch!
Delicious. I love a fluffy cookie so I added some baking powder to mine and loved how cloud like they turned out. Great recipe with really lovely warm fall flavors.
The flavor of cookies was great but my oats did not soften, any idea what I could’ve done wrong?
Hi Joanna, did you use whole rolled oats? Other oats, like steel cut, will be too hard for these cookies.
I used sprouted rolled oats, wonder if that could make a difference
My son said these are the best cookies he’s ever tasted.
Is it possible to use Apple Pie Spice? If so how much do you think?
Hi Martha! You could try replacing the spices with your blend, so 1 and 3/4 tsp. Let us know if you try!
Is it possible to make these cookies larger, using a 1/4 cup scoop? If so, how long do I bake them for?
Hi Rachael, you can make the cookies larger, although we’re unsure of the exact bake time. Keep a very close eye on them.
These came out great — just what I was looking for in a fall dessert recipe. So much flavor. Thanks Sally!
I made these today and the flavor is delicious but I’m wondering if the texture and overall bake was correct. The cookies spread well and I measured by weight but they are not crispy at the edges in the slightest and are very soft. They hold together and look just like Sally’s but I just wasn’t expecting them to be completely soft all the way through. Is that how they ar supposed to be? I would say they could have used more time but they were browning on the edges when I took them out…
I baked the cookies for a young adults group (18-30 yrs) and they were a huge hit! They tasted like an apple crisp in cookie form. I plan on making these again, and again!
Can I freeze the cookie dough? I need these cookie next week, I am wondering if I can make the dough ahead.
Absolutely! See Notes after the recipe for details.
Do you have calorie and sugar counts, etc. For this recipe?
Hi Anne! We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
These cookies are absolutely amazing! Instructions were easy to follow. My hubby and I did a taste test with and without icing and definitely worth making the icing. Next time I will make half amount of icing. Thank you for the recipe!
Hi! This was my first attempt ever at making cookies from scratch. They were a massive hit everywhere! Work, home, with my friends, my family!
I was wondering, they didn’t spread out or anything like a classic cookie, like how I usually think of them baking. They pretty much stayed the size of really small balls like when I rolled them. The texture inside was so perfect, so in the future if I made them bigger and flattened them out myself by hand before baking, would that screw up the texture inside? I am a complete novice, so I just want to make sure I don’t mess with it. Small cookies aren’t so bad! PS the icing was delicious, but I would like them to be more maple-y. Can I add more to the recipe?
Thank you so much! Your instructions were fantastic and I’m glad I chose your recipe to attempt my first bake!
Hi Audrey! Usually when cookies don’t spread, there’s too much of the dry ingredients (oats and flour) in the dough. How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post. Glad you liked the icing! You could add a bit of maple extract to the cookies if you want to bump up that flavor. Here’s 5 Cookie Baking Tips that may be helpful as well. Thank you so much for making our recipes and I hope these tips are helpful!
Hi Sally,
Is it possible to use boiled apple cider in place of the reduced applesauce?
Hi Barbara, no, that’s not an ideal replacement for this cookie dough. The reduced applesauce is the best option here.
Is it possible to make these cookies (biscuits here in Australia) without the egg yolk please?
Hi Faith, You can, but they do taste quite fluffy and cakey without it. We haven’t tested them with any egg substitutes, but let us know if you try anything.
These are a problem. They’re so good: I didn’t have apple sauce but just reduced one cubed apple with some water and sugar and they came out perfect!
I live at 9100 ft, and these worked unbelievably well at altitude! The only tweaks I made for altitude were to add maybe 15g more flour and bake at 360°. I also browned the butter for the glaze — not many recipes work this well up here so these will be in heavy rotation this winter for our team of ski patrollers/EMS
These were amazing. The icing brings it to another level. My only recommendation is to halve the icing recipe as it made way too much.
Made these over the weekend and they are amazing!! Gone already!! Will def use this recipe again!
Want to make these but was wondering why I have to simmer the apple sauce. Would there be a noticeable difference if I just used 1/3 cup of applesauce to begin with?
I’ve loved all of Sally’s recipes that I have tried, so I’m sure there’s a reason to do this…
Hi Audrey! You can find details on developing the recipe in the post above 🙂
I used 1 cup (because I didn’t want to have to store the extra little bit left of the batch) of my very thick homemade apple butter. It was already well spiced, so I omitted the spices in this recipe. Gala apples were on hand and worked well. Added lots of chopped walnuts for some crunch and nutrition. Baked from frozen cookie dough balls. The cookies smell and taste amazing, without the frosting!! I have substituted applesauce for 1/2 of the butter in oatmeal cookies, but I never thought to sub raisins for chopped apples. Wonderful!
This recipe was super easy to follow and the cookies are fabulous – I made these for a potluck at work and was arguing with my husband and son about how many they were allowed to eat because they loved their tester cookies so much. You don’t need to make the icing but it only takes a few minutes and it really elevates the look/flavor.
I made these last week with apples from my 94yr old father’s orchard. I brought 1/3 to a meet up with friends, gave a 1/3 to my dad and the rest I left at home. The reviews were as follows “Wow these so are delicious”, “They were the best apple treats I’ve had all year, I loved all of the different flavours” and “When are you making them again?” Well, I made the apple sauce today, so I plan to make a batch tomorrow and give them to my dad on Monday and will savour the rest of them myself!
Sally, I cannot get enough of these cookies, nor can my husband. I have made them twice already and will bake half a batch tomorrow and freeze the other half. The maple icing is the perfect complement to it, too!
Can’t wait to try these, but was wondering, if I make these cookies with a her scoop (to create bigger cookies) does the cook time change at all, and if so, how?
Hi Audrey! The bake time will be longer for larger cookies, but we’re unsure of the exact bake time needed. Bake until lightly browned and set around the edges. Let us know if you try!
I can’t believe there aren’t more reviews for these! Delicious! I didn’t want the icing to overpower the apple flavor, so I skipped it, and they were AMAZING! Glad I made a double batch. 😉
yep these are AWESOME! had to make right away when I saw that recipe.
Great flavor and texture. this will definitely become a regular fall cookie in my house! thanks!
Sally, Your ”Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies” are magnanimous! My husband and I have practically inhaled this 3 dozen batch. It’s officially fall in our home.
Delicious cookies even without the icing! Instructions were excellent.