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This chewy cinnamon apple cookies recipe is full of warm spiced apple flavor with perfect texture: chewy inside and crispy outside with crackled tops. And these cookies take less than an hour to whip up, including cleanup time!
These cookies are for the apple lovers. If you’re looking for the perfect autumnal treat, this is it! They’re chewy on the inside and crispy outside. They have the same texture as molasses crinkle cookies, but with the flavor of warm spiced apple pie or apple crisp. Apple butter is the secret ingredient that lends intense apple flavor here.
These cookies are easy to make and whip up in less than an hour. They’re a fun way to kick off fall baking!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- These cookies have amazing texture! Similar to molasses crinkles, these are chewy inside and crispy outside with crackled tops.
- If you love the flavor of apple paired with warm spices, these are the cookies for you. They’re full of fall flavor!
- These are quick and easy to make. In less than an hour from start to finish (including cleanup time!), you’ll have a fresh batch of delicious cookies made.
Ingredients
Breaking It Down
Ingredients Explained
In this section I explain the ingredients and give substitution ideas where applicable. For the full recipe (including the ingredient amounts), see the recipe card below.
- Unsalted butter – Butter adds rich flavor and chewy texture to these drop cookies.
- Light brown sugar – Brown sugar adds notes of caramel and molasses. It also helps create a deliciously chewy texture for cookies!
- Egg yolk – Egg yolk bumps up the fat, which makes these cookies richer and chewier. For a single batch of these cookies, we only need one egg yolk. However, if you want to make a double batch you can use 1 whole egg instead of 2 egg yolks.
- Vanilla extract – For flavor and aroma.
- Apple butter – Think of apple butter as highly concentrated applesauce. Apple butter is made by cooking down apples until their sugar caramelizes and it forms a thick, rich paste with intense apple flavor. Sometimes warm spices like cinnamon are also added.
- Flour – All-purpose flour is the base of this cookie dough.
- Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves – Don’t skimp on the spices! This warm spice blend is really lovely with the flavor of apple butter. If you don’t have these spices on hand, you can substitute with 1 1/2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice or 1 1/2 teaspoons of apple pie spice.
- Baking soda – This is the leavening agent; it makes these cookies rise, and helps create the perfect texture.
- Salt – Yes, we even need salt in sweet recipes! Salt is a natural flavor enhancer that seasons the dough and pulls out the flavor of everything else.
- Granulated sugar + ground cinnamon – Before baking, we double roll the cookie dough balls in cinnamon sugar. This not only adds another layer of flavor, but it creates the gorgeous crackled tops.
Instructions
- Add the butter, brown sugar, egg yolk, vanilla, and apple butter to a large bowl and whisk until well-combined.
- Add the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves, and stir to combine.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes (the dough will stiffen as it chills). Meanwhile, combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl.
- After the dough is chilled, use a 1.5-tablespoon scoop to measure out the dough. Roll it into balls, and roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar twice.
- Arrange the dough balls on baking trays lined with parchment paper or silpat baking mats.
- Bake at 350F until the cookies are golden along the outside and on the bottom, about 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the trays once halfway through. Note that the cookies will puff up when they’re done baking, but then deflate and have a crackly top when they’re cooled.
Storage
After cooling, store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Variations
- Add up to 3/4 cup of chopped nuts, such as walnuts or pecans.
- If you like raisins, add 1/2 cup to the dough. Or go with dried sweetened cranberries (aka craisins).
- Skip the cinnamon sugar coating and drizzle a little white chocolate on these cookies after they’re cooled.
Expert Tips
- Don’t skip the chill time for the cookie dough! Otherwise, your cookies are likely to be too flat.
- The cookies will look puffed when you remove them from the oven. They will settle (de-puff) and develop crackled tops as they cool.
- Rolling the cookie dough balls in sugar before baking is what causes the pretty crackled tops! You can skip this step to reduce the sugar a bit if you don’t care about crackled tops.
- If you have a kitchen scale, I highly recommend toggling over to the metric measurements in the recipe card and weighing your ingredients for precision. It makes a huge difference in baking!
Apple Cookies Recipe FAQs
Here we use the perfect blend of ingredients to keep these cookies soft and chewy: butter, brown sugar, and egg yolk!
Also, make sure to measure your flour accurately so you don’t add too much. Adding too much flour can create a cake-y cookie rather than a chewy cookie.
I like where your mind is at! I developed this recipe using apple butter (not fresh chopped apples) because I wanted it to have a texture similar to molasses crinkle cookies. You know, chewy inside, crispy outside, and with those gorgeous crackled tops.
However, if you don’t mind the texture changing a bit, yes, you can definitely add fresh chopped apple to the cookie dough! I would go with 1 small apple per batch, peeled and diced into 1/4-inch pieces (about 1/2 cup diced). Also, pat the apples dry to remove any excess moisture before stirring them into the cookie dough. Lastly, I would hold off on adding the chopped apple until after the dough has chilled so the apple is less likely to release its moisture into the dough.
More Fall Cookies to Try
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Chewy Cinnamon Apple Cookies Recipe
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Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter softened slightly (not melted)
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar lightly packed
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons apple butter
- 18 tablespoons all-purpose flour (see Notes)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
Cinnamon Sugar Coating:
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line 2 large baking trays with parchment paper or silpat baking mats.
- Add the butter, brown sugar, egg yolk, vanilla, and apple butter to a large bowl and whisk until well-combined. Add the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves, and stir to combine. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes (the dough will stiffen as it chills).
- Combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl.
- After the dough is chilled, use a 1.5-tablespoon scoop to measure out the dough. Roll it into balls, and roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar twice. Arrange the dough balls on the prepared baking trays.
- Bake until the cookies are golden along the outside and on the bottom, about 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the trays once halfway through. Note that the cookies will puff up when they’re done baking, but then deflate and have a crackly top when they’re cooled.
- Let the cookies cool, and then remove from the trays.
Notes
- Recipe Yield and Serving Size: This recipe makes 15 cookies; each serving is 1 cookie.
- Storage: After cooling, store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- Flour (And Measuring in General): 18 tablespoons of flour is 1 cup + 2 tablespoons. However, if you have a kitchen scale, I highly recommend toggling over to the metric measurements and weighing your ingredients for precision. It makes a huge difference in baking!
Nutrition
Nutritional information is automatically calculated and should be used as an approximate.
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I’m the writer, recipe developer, photographer, and food stylist behind this blog. I love finding the human connection through something we all do every day: eat! Food is a common ground that we can all relate to, and our tables tell a story. It’s my goal to inspire you to get in the kitchen, try something new, and find a favorite you didn’t know you had.
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Awesome everyone loved these.followed recipe exactly, used scale to measure ingredients.
I made these according to the recipe and loved them. They are soft, slightly chewy, and have just enough of a cracked texture for me. I do like a cake-y cookie and I realize that some do not. The flavor is spot on, too. It was a good way for me to use up the last little bit of apple butter I had left!
First Bake, followed US measurement and exact instruction. Result: cakey cookie that did not spread or crackle. 4/10.
Second Bake, followed Metric measurement and followed typical cookie instruction. I.e.: cream butter and sugars together, add in vanilla, egg yolk, apple butter mixture. Stir in flour/baking soda/spice mixture until just incorporated. Completed the rest per listed instruction. Came out perfect, 10/10.
Happy Baking!
Hi! My cookies puffed-up but then didn’t deflate during cooling! They’re still delicious but more cakey than chewy cookie. Any thoughts? Thanks! Jo 😊
Jo, Hmm, that is a good question! Without being in the kitchen with you, it’s hard to say, but I can try to help you troubleshoot. Here are a few questions: 1) Did you make any changes to the recipe, either to the ingredients or to the method? 2) How did you measure the flour? (If your cookies are turning out more cakey than chewy, it sounds like there may be a bit too much flour.) 3) Is your oven calibrated? (You can test this with an oven thermometer.) Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope this helps!
These cookies are soft, chewy, and lightly crisp on the outside with the cinnamon sugar coating. They hold they’re structure and shape so well and I’m genuinely impressed. Not flat at all. I added caramel chocolate chips to them and they were incredible! Will definitely be making these again!
I didn’t have apple butter, but I used cinnamon butter and added fresh cut apples as well and they turned out amazingly! They tasted like apple pie in a cookie.
I love this recipe, but for some reason the cookies have turned out really flat the past few times I have made them. I did not have trouble the first few times I made them. Any tips?
Hi Olivia, Thanks so much, I’m so happy you’re enjoying this recipe! Have you made any changes the past few times? Are all your ingredients (especially leavening agents) fresh? Are you sure your oven is calibrated properly? I hope this helps troubleshooting! :)
I was attempting to recreate some really good apple/cinnamon cookies I had from my grocery bakery, but these turned out so much better! I threw in some butterscotch chips, otherwise followed the recipe exactly. What a great recipe.
The recipe came out good. I feel like there wasn’t enough apple in the cookie. Next time I would add more :)
These cookies are delicious!! Made a batch yesterday and another one today!