Soft & Chewy Apple Cookies

You all loved my chewy pumpkin cookies and I’m so happy about it!!! Some people have told me they subbed in apple butter for the pumpkin butter to make chewy apple cookies and said they’re awesome. I also tried it but didn’t like my apple butter. (If you do have apple butter you like, go for it!). 

And I still wanted to create a chewy cookie that was the apple version of those pumpkin cookies. But instead of having you make some apple butter (which is very time consuming compared to pumpkin butter =/) I worked around this chewy berry cookie and made you an apple version. 

You’ll use freeze dried apples, two types of sugar, and spices you’d usually find in an apple pie. No need to chill the dough. You have the option to coat the cookies in a spicy sugar or to glaze them with some fresh cider. When they come out of the oven we’re using my “squash” technique that I started with these peanut butter cookies. This will press a ton of air out of the cookies so they will be thick and chewy. 

Recipe Ingredients 

Flour: all purpose flour, it should be a higher protein brand like king arthur which is about 11.5%. If you’re using another brand, check the protein content first because if it’s lower than 11% the cookies will spread more and be thinner. I’d switch to a combination of bread and ap in this case (half of each). 

Butter: american style butter, unsalted is best because you can control the amount of salt added to the cookie dough. 

Egg: one whole large egg. 

Sugar: a combination of fine granulated sugar and brown sugar. The brown can be light or dark. 

Apples: any kind of freeze dried apples. I use two bags (for a total of 70g) in the dough and they are very ‘apple-y’. You can reduce this by a bit if you don’t want it as forward. Trader Joe’s used to sell these but I can’t find them this year. Target always has them though (and for a better price than other grocery stores). 

Cinnamon: ground cinnamon. You can add some allspice and nutmeg if you like! 

Salt: fine sea salt. If using table salt, halve the amount. 

Vanilla: pure vanilla extract. You can use one or two teaspoons for more flavor, up to you! 

How to make these apple cookies 

Melt the butter: we want it half melted, this way it can be creamed easily by hand with a whisk. If youre using a hand mixer, it can just be softened. 

Add the sugars and the flavorings (here I have a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice but later trials had me convinced these are best with just cinnamon).

Then whisk in the egg until it’s light and creamy.

Grind the apples in a food processor. Save this step for right before you’ll add them to the dough. If you do it too early the apple powder will start sticking together.

Fold in the dry ingredients until there’s no trace of flour or apple powder. 

Scoop and portion the dough: I use a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop and I get 12 cookies in total. Roll the dough between your palms to smooth it over (apple bits have a tendency to stick out).

Bake until the cookies are fully domed, have golden edges, and they have cracks all over. Immediately proceed to pressing them down. 

Before or after pressing (squashing!)

When these cookies bake they rise up and dome like little mountains rather than spread (I only got a good spread on these when I used a lot more butter and then the flavor was off). There’s a lot of air in the cookies that we don’t want so to get rid of it we’ll press them when they come out of the oven, this way we’ll have thick chewy cookies. 

If you don’t wan them as thick and fudgy inside, you can press them down before they bake. They’ll spread a bit more and get some lovely crinkles. 

Options for Topping the Cookies 

Spiced sugar: to roll the cookies in some sugar for added crispy texture, combine ⅓ cup granulated sugar with some spices. You can do just cinnamon (1-2 teaspoons) or a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. 

Apple Cider Glaze: whisk together 1 cup organic powdered sugar with 2-3 tablespoons apple cider. If the glaze is very thin add more powdered sugar (one tablespoon at a time, and whisk to check the texture). If it’s very thick, add more apple cider, also a tablespoon at a time. 

Making apple cookies ahead of time 

Make the dough and portion it onto a plate. Freeze the dough balls for about 10 minutes, until solid. Then transfer them to a ziplock bag and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. 

Rather than bake the cookies from frozen, set them on the baking sheet they’ll cook on and let them come to room temperature then bake as directed.

Apple Cookie Recipe

Apple Cookies

Soft and chewy apple cookies flavored with freeze dried apples and ground cinnamon These crinkle apple cookies can be rolled in sugar or glazed with fresh apple cider.

Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 10 minutes mins

Yields: 12 cookies

5 from 4 votes

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Ingredients

• 170g or ¾ cup butter unsalted
• 150g or ¾ cup brown sugar
• 50g or ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ¾ tsp fine sea salt
• 1-2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 250g or 2 cups all purpose flour
• 70 g or two bags of freeze dried apples use the full amount for a strong apple flavor, use 35-50g for a more subtle flavor

Method

• In a heatproof bowl add the butter. Set it in the microwave for 1 minute to almost fully melt it.
• Add the sugars and whisk for 30 seconds. Add the soda, spices, salt and vanilla and whisk well.
• Crack in the egg and whisk for a good 60 seconds, until the egg is well blended in and the mix looks shiny.
• Set the apples in a food processor and grind into a powder.
• Add the flour and ground apples and use a rubber spatula to stir until well-mixed.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two greased baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Scoop the dough in 2 tablespoons apiece, roll them between your palms to smooth the tops and set them on the baking sheet so they are 2 inches apart all around.
• If you’d like to top them with the spiced sugar: combine ⅓ cup granulated sugar (organic is great here because of its bigger granules) with 1 tsp cinnamon and ½ tsp nutmeg and allspice.
• Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, until the edges are golden brown, and they’ve puffed up into domes and cracked in the oven. When they come out of the oven, immediately use the bottom of a measuring cup to press them down.
• If you will be glazing the cookies, wait until they are completely cool before you make and dip them in the glaze. Glaze instructions above the recipe in the section titled “options for topping the cookies”.

Notes

Freeze dried apples can be expensive (Target usually has the best price) so if you'd like to use just one bag that's fine, the cookies will be a little less flavorful and a little less soft. 

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