These Soft Apple Spice Cookies are perfect for Fall baking! Made with warm spices, chunks of juicy apples, and a caramel topping, these apple pie cookies will satisfy any sweet tooth!
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If you love all things Fall, these cookies are for you. All the delicious flavors of you love from cinnamon, to caramel, brown sugar, apple bits, and more combine into a dessert everyone will enjoy. Also be sure to try my Libby’s Pumpkin Bread and Cinnamon Roll Sugar Cookies for Fall options!
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Why You’ll Love these Apple Spice Cookies
- Brings all the Fall flavor– not only are these cookies perfectly soft, but they have a warm, gooey apple topping that is Heavenly.
- Quick and Easy to make– these apple pie inspired cookies come together using simple ingredients and only 1 hour of chill time before ready to bake. You can even prepare the cookie dough early and bake them the next day!
- Perfect for any occasion– whether you choose to indulge in a cookie with your morning coffee, as a snack, or evening treat with ice-cream, these are the perfect anytime spiced cookies.
- A great way to use up apples you may have on hand– if you go apple picking and are looking for more ways to use up those apples, these cookies are just the thing to bake!
Ingredient Notes for Apple Pie Spiced Cookies
See printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for exact ingredient amounts and step by step directions.
- Butter– unsalted butter is best as it allows you to control the amount of salt in this recipe.
- Granulated Sugar/ Brown Sugar– you’ll use both white and brown sugar to give these cookies their sweetness.
- Egg– you’ll use one large egg, room temperature is best as it combines into the batter easier.
- Vanilla Extract– opt for pure vanilla extract versus imitation as it adds much more flavor depth.
- Flour– all purpose flour is best for this recipe.
- Cinnamon– ground cinnamon. You can add in some allspice, nutmeg, cloves, or pumpkin pie spice if desired.
- Baking Powder/ Salt– ensure freshness by changing out your baking powder every 6 months, this gives the cookies their rise and texture.
- Apple– I use whatever apple I have on hand, however, some great options are Granny Smith apples, Honey Crisp, or Fuji.
- Water– you’ll combine this with cornstarch to make a slurry for the apple mixture.
- Cornstarch– this will help thicken the apple mixture that tops these cookies.
- Caramel Topping– this is typically located near the ice-cream toppings, you will use it to drizzle on top of the cookies before served for a caramel apple flavoring.
How to make Soft Apple Spice Cookies
COOKIES
- In a large bowl add the 1 stick of room temp butter, ½ cup of sugar and ¼ cup of packed 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.
APPLE FILLING
- Chop the apples all up into tiny pieces and make sure the skin is off. In a small saucepan over medium heat add the apples, butter, cinnamon and brown sugar and whisk until the mixture is melted and starts bubbling.
- Combine the water and cornstarch together in a small separate bowl 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.
ASSEMBLING
- While the apples are cooling roll out the cookie dough balls. Add ¼ 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. Spoon the apple pie filling 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 on a wire rack. Drizzle the caramel sauce all over top of the apple cookies and sprinkle just a bit of brown sugar on top! Enjoy!
Recipe Tips for success
- If desired, you can omit the brown sugar on the topping to make these cookies less sweet.
- To save on time, feel free to prepare the cookie dough the day before and store in the fridge covered until ready to assemble and bake.
- Make the cookie dough balls first before moving onto dipping into the sugar to ensure the cookies are all the same size.
- Use room temperature butter and egg as this makes it easier to cream together without having to over-mix the dough.
- To make the cookie dough balls the same size, use a cookie scoop or ice-cream scoop.
Storing Soft Apple Spice Cookies
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 4 days.
- Due to the apple topping and caramel, I don’t recommend keeping these on the counter at room temperature as they may get messy.
- If freezing, store in a freezer safe container up to 3 months. Allow to thaw before serving.
- Pro tip: warm these up in the microwave when ready to enjoy if not fresh from oven. Only about 15 seconds is needed.
More Fall recipes to try
Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies– incredibly flavor packed and easy to make! Moist, almost cake-like cookies that are loaded with Fall flavor! Perfect to enjoy with your morning coffee, as an anytime snack, or an evening sweet treat!
Starbucks Copycat Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins– light, fluffy textured muffins that are even better than the original. This pumpkin muffin recipe is perfect to make any time that pumpkin spice craving hits!
Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting– soft, moist pumpkin cake generously topped with an incredible cream cheese frosting infused with warm spices in every bite.
Cinnamon Streusel Pumpkin Cake– cinnamon, pumpkin, and maple syrup all combined into one amazing Cinnamon Streusel Pumpkin Cake! What more could you want for a Fall treat, right??
Apple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Bake– the ULTIMATE sweet treat to enjoy anytime! Fluffy rolls combined with apples, cream cheese, spices, and more!
Incredible Apple Bread– this yummy quick bread combines the sweetness of juicy apples with warm spices, resulting in a loaf that is both comforting and irresistible.
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Apple Spice Cookies
Ingredients
COOKIE
- 8 tablespoon butter *unsalted, softened
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg *room temperature
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups flour *all purpose
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
APPLE FILLING
- 1 apple *peeled and diced
- 4 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
TOPPING
- ¼ cup sugar
- ⅓ cup caramel ice-cream topping
Instructions
COOKIES
- In a large bowl add the 1 stick of room temp butter, ½ cup of sugar and ¼ 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. Mix again until a cookie dough forms. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for at least one hour. About 10 minutes before taking the dough out, start preparing the apple filling.
APPLE FILLING
- Chop the apples into tiny pieces and peel the apple. In a small saucepan over medium to low heat, add the apples, butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Stir until melted and combined.
- Combine the water and cornstarch in a small bowl. Pour mixture into saucepan and stir. Let simmer for about 5 minutes over medium heat, or until apple mixture thickens up. After about 5 minutes, turn off heat to allow to cool.
TOPPING
- While apple are cooling, roll the cookie dough into 9 dough balls. Add ¼ cup sugar to a bowl and roll the cookie dough balls evenly through sugar to coat thoroughly.
- Place onto parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Flatten the cookie with your hand a bit and make a big indent in the center of the cookie for the apple filling to go.
- Add about 1 tablespoon apple filling to the center of each cookie.
- Place cookie sheet into preheated oven (350 degrees) and bake for about 14-16 minutes.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Drizzle the caramel on top of the cookies and sprinkle additional brown sugar (if desired).
- Serve and enjoy!
Sandi says
Oven temp?
Kristin says
Good catch, sorry! 350 degrees! Fixing recipe now!