Hi sweet friends.ย The calendar flipped to September without me really being able to wrap my mind around it. Here we are;ย Time waits for no one.ย With the flip into September we spiritually have to set aside our watermelon wedges (noooo, not yet!) and reach for the apples and cinnamon (honestly, not a bad consolation).ย I can handle it if this switch involves chewy oatmeal cookies with browned butter. I mean, with those words alone, summer is fading into the distance.
Today’s cookies are a hybrid of two of the most popular cookies here on JtB: Everybody’s After School Cookies and Dad’s Very Best Chocolate Chip Cookies. These are admittedly more of an after school cookie so the invitation (and it’s a good one) is to keep a batch of frozen cookie dough balls in the freezer to bake off every afternoon as your soul calls for.ย You don’t have to be in school to need an after school cookie.ย For these Oatmeal Apple Cookies we’re keeping the browned butter, of course.ย We’re adding dried apples instead of raisins and swapping butterscotch chips for dark chocolate.ย Not a bad idea in the bunch. These cookies will vary in textures – crisp and chewy perfection!
Welcome to the coziest season.
Here’s what you’ll need for these special Oatmeal Cookies with apples:
โขย Both browned butter and softened butter
โขย Granulated sugar and brown sugar
โขย All-purpose flour (though a gluten-free one-for-one blend also works well!), baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, and cinnamon.ย Cream of tartar will give the cookies an added chewiness and softness.
โขย Old-fashioned oats though quick cooking oats are just a delicious in this recipe
โขย Large eggs and vanilla extract
โขย Dried apple pieces, coarsely chopped to bite size pieces.
โขย Optionally you can add finely chopped pecans and butterscotch chips.ย I can also imagine chopped walnuts and dark chocolate chips being delicious. There’s no wrong move here.
โขย Another optional move is adding nuts OR coating the dough balls in cinnamon sugar – like a loaded snickerdoodle.
Start by browning butter and cooling it to room temperature.
The browned butter can be cooled but still liquid (that’s totally fine) or cooled to solid but pliable (also great).
Add softened butter along with granulated and brown sugar to the oatmeal cookie dough.ย Whip together with a hand mixer until pale and fluffy – 3 to 5 minutes.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well before adding the second egg.ย Eggs will help the cookies rise and help give them their structure so add with care.
After eggs, we’ll add our vanilla extract.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour mixture, leavening, salt, cinnamon, and rolled oats.
Add the dry ingredients all at once to the wet ingredients and give the two a big ol’ stir together into a stiff batter.
I usually stir the cookie dough with a wooden spoon and spatula from here on out.ย Dig deep and look for any hidden butter or flour patches in the dough.
What makes these Oatmeal Apple Cookies the most delicious version of oatmeal cookies yet? Soft and sweet dried apples, duh.ย Earthy pecans and sweet butterscotch chips, too.ย We’re loading these cookies up.
Shape the cookie dough into generous balls using a cookie scoop and roll in cinnamon sugar before placing on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
We’re adding a hint of extra spice, that sugary crunch and who doesn’t love a snickerdoodle.ย These classic cookies can do it all.
I like to bake my cookies in the upper third of the oven. Not the top rack, not the middle – in that sweet spot in the upper third.ย ย We talk about which oven rack is best for baking in our Baking 101 series.
Bake until the oatmeal cookies are spread and golden.
They’ll be incredibly fragrant and golden around the edges. Transfer to a wire rack to cool until they’re just cool enough to pick up and taste test. Just the best oatmeal cookie recipe, EVER.
If you’re baking the cookies from frozen, give them a minute or two more in the oven.
Print
Browned Butter Oatmeal Apple Cookies
- Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 42 minutes
- Yield: about 36 cookies 1x
- Category: dessert
Description
The perfect fall after school cookie with oats and dried apples, pecans and bonus butterscotch chips.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butters melted to browned and cooled to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups (250g) old-fashioned rolled oats
- 2 cups (256g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cups diced dried apples
- 1 heaping cup butterscotch chips
- 3/4 cup finely diced pecans
For Coating:
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- a big pinch of kosher salt
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a medium bowl with electric hand beaters cream buttes with the sugars and beat on medium speed until aerated and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minutes between each addition. Add the vanilla extract. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl as necessary.
- In a large bowl whisk together the oats, flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
- Add the dry ingredients all at once to the butter mixture and beat on low speed. Remove the bowl from the mixing stand and stir in the dried apples, butterscotch chips, and pecans. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or transfer the dough to plastic wrap or waxed paper and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.
- Just before baking, place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl whisk together sugar, cinnamon and salt.
- Form the dough into 2 tablespoon balls. Roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place each ball about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake until golden and puffed for about 12 minutes, rotating the pan once during baking. Allow cookies to cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
- Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Uncooked dough can be portioned (not rolled in sugar) and frozen in balls first on a baking sheet, then in a freezer safe bag. Bake cookies from frozen for 14 or so minutes.
Photos with my dear friend Jon Melendez.
69 Responses
I am a novice in the kitchen and if you follow each step carefully – right down to the parchment paper – these turn-out great! It did take a lot of prep time for me and because I am new, Iโm slow and had to stop to buy different ingredients. Worth the challenge (for me)!
I love this recipe! I make it around this time every year and people always ask about them. This year I added some halva crumbles and some extra flakey salt on top. So good!
I loved the flavor of these cookies! However, I’m reducing my star rating because the batter was a bit dry and they were not as chewy as I’d like. Next time I will up the butter 1/4 cup to see if the cookies will spread more.
Great recipe! We have an over-abundance if apples, have made lots of apple chips and these cookies are a delicious way to use them! We don’t add the butterscotch chips and don’t miss them. Thank you so much for a fantastic cookie recipe!
Great – Great Cookie! We have an abundance of apples – so we made apple chips, and this recipe is fantastic! Easy to make, and great tasting!! Thank you!
Can freeze dried apples be used?
Yes, freeze friend apples will work just fine!
Very delicious cookie BUT I followed the recipe exactly and I do not taste the apple. Very disappointed in that regard.
I had high hopes for these cookies – the flavor of the cookie dough was amazing! However, they didn’t bake quite right. The balls didn’t properly flatten in the oven and the butterscotch chips melted and tended to burn on the bottom of the cookie, despite being baked on the top 1/3 of the oven. For my second sheet I ended up flattening the balls of dough with a glass before putting them in the oven and they turned out better. That said, the butterscotch chips were still problematic. It might be because I used Lily’s butterscotch chips which are more “natural” than the typical processed Nestle chips. Overall the flavor of the cookies were good but the texture could have been be better, not something I’ll be rushing to make again without tweaks.
Thanks for the feedback Sarah! Good call on flattening the cookie dough a bit before baking. These cookies are jam packed with mixins so I can see a world in which they’d have a hard time spreading. And I’ve used Lily’s chips in these cookies too and did notice they were extra toasty on the bottom after baking. I too think it’s because they’re more natural.
Wow, these are a spectacular cookie, never made one like it before! Highly recommend.
Yup, these are great! I had a heck of a time finding dried apples, so ended up using a bag of apple chips chopped up and they turned out fine. I made them for my husband’s DND group and they were GONE.
I loved these cookies. As a child, one of my favorite breakfasts was the instant apple cinnamon oatmeal packets. I loved the way the dried apple chunks plumped up and provided little juicy apple morsels in the oatmeal. These cookies brought back all those childhood feelings for me. Unfortunately, I didn’t have pecans on hand, although I can imagine what a great addition they would be – balancing out the sweetness of the apples and butterscotch chips. I ate mine with a warm vanilla latte while sitting under the changing fall leaves. I will say though, my kids didn’t like them as much, mostly because it bothered them to have fruit in their cookie. I think it says more about my kids’ taste in food than it does about the cookies though. :)
Someone suggested using the Salted Caramel Baking Chips from Trader Joeโs. I bought some, and some if their Sweet Apple Rings.
Now I am eating them together, yum! Iโd better stop, so I have enough to make the cookiesโฆ
I would really go 4.5 stars if an option. Baked two batches of these over the weekend. First batch I left dough in refrigerator overnight – then got dough to room temp. Dough didnโt spread at all on the sheet but I was able to lightly press them down with a glass which helped. 2nd batch was in refrigerator for 4.5 hours. Same issue and used the glass technique. All this said, it is a very delicious cookie and delivers on crispy and chewy. Did not do butterscotch chips though and glad for it.
The batter before a baking was absolutely delicious; all the flavors came though! My first batch was pretty crispy, not chewy or very flavorful. I baked the 2nd batch for 2 minutes less and they came out much better, more flavorful! I wonder if it was the GF flour?
These have very good fall like flavors. A bit dry… They didn’t spread much at all, I started smashing the cookie dough balls down a tiny bit before baking. I’m glad I only used 1/2 c butterscotch chips, it would have over powered everything. And I don’t taste much brown butter flavor, the sweetness, cinnamon, and butterscotch over power it. But that’s ok. I’d make them again, with a few tweaks maybe.
I browned all the butter and omitted the white sugar and used caramel chipsโฆ.
Excellent cookie and great for breakfast too! Thanks for the recipe?
Made these tonight utilizing butterscotch chips. Skipped the sugar coating. AMAZING! Thanks for sharing.
Hello, do you know if you can substitute non-dairy margarine or ghee instead of the butter? Dairy allergy in the house. TIA!
I would use a vegan butter in equal proportions, all softened and none of it browned.
Iโd run out of chocolate chips and decided to give these a try; they were a hit with my band mates at the end of a long rehearsal. Really good flavors. Thanks Joy+team!!
Where do you purchase the dried apples from or do you do it yourself?
I purchased them at Whole Foods but have also seen then at my regular grocery store in New Orleans.
Do these cookies not spread much? They taste great but mine barely spread when I baked them.
Delicious! Really liked the flavor from combining browned and regular butter. Texture was the perfect chewiness. Make these!
One word: WOW! I took these cookies to a party and got asked about them by every single guest. They were gone in no time. I loved the combination of flavours at this time of the year. Thanks for another delicious recipe, Joy!
I brought these to my work at the ICU on a particularly stressful day and I think they helped keep everyone from having a meltdown! One of my coworkers said she would give up a child just to have another ; )
Thanks for a great recipe! I used the TJ’s salted caramel chips and can agree that they’re v good.
Hi Lu! As a former ICU nurse, hang in there!! I recently moved to Epidemiology and my co-workers also loved these.
I made the dough for these on Friday – scooped it up and put into the fridge. Looking at them now on Sunday I somehow convinced myself they were going to taste “healthy” (ie dry and very full of chewy apple pieces). I’m very glad I was very wrong. They’re simple the most decilous oatmeal cookies just kissed by fall flavour. (Yes I’m Canadian and that’s how we spell it – which also thanks to the other commenter who let me know the existance of Chipits Salted Caramel Chips!)
This is great! I had this for snacks together with bubble tea. Next time I’ll add some chopped bananas to the recipe.
Can you explain what the cream of tartar does in this recipe?
Aaaand I just reread the recipe notes…. Nevermind! *facepalm*
In a rainy day like it is today (when did my laundry took so long to dry the last time?) these cookies are food for the soul!
LOVE. Skipped the butterscotch chips and used cinnamon chips instead. Thought it may be too much cinnamon with what was already called for in the recipe, but it worked! And I second the earlier suggestion to categorize this as a breakfast cookie. A+ idea.
This was a great recipe and a real crowd pleaser! It makes a lot which is great for me, but if you don’t want so many you could easily cut this recipe in half. I did use the TJ’s sea salt caramel chips and they were a great addition. Endless possibilities. A perfect fall cookie!
These cookies are truly delicious. I made the recipe as is and the cookies were too sweet for me. I would half the butterscotch chips next time and reduce the sugar. Donโt get me wrong- if you like sweet, these are the right sweet. I just happen to like a little less sugar overall. The butterscotch chips overwhelmed the apples for me. I dehydrated the apples in my oven. First time and it worked really well. Thanks for the recipe!!
I just made these and I would have to agree. They are delicious but too sweet for me. I definitely plan on skipping the butterscotch chips next time and adding more dried apple. The butterscotch really does seem to overwhelm the other flavors going on.
Just made these cookies, and I couldn’t be more pleased. Writing from Paris, where I had trouble finding soft dried apples (made my own in the oven) as well as cream of tartar (substituted baking powder) and butterscotch chips (used good quality white chocolate). Thanks once again Joy. Can’t wait to share these with friends and family.
These cookies are wickedly good. Note, I’m not a Snickerdoodle fan so I skipped the rolling in sugar and cinnamon afterwards and still thought they were great. I also accidentally bought crispy apple chips instead of the soft dried ones and, so as not to waste, chopped them up and put them in. They were just fine, though I imagine the soft pieces would impart more apple flavor. All that to say, this proves to be a forgiving and delicious recipe. Thanks!
Browned butter makes these cookies! So yummy, a great balance of nutty, butterschotty, fall goodness.
These cookies are SO GOOD! And they make the house smell incredible. I made them as is and they are perfection. I can’t wait to try them with the caramel chips, might see how they do with gluten free flour as well. This will be a new Fall staple for sure!!
Can all the butter be browned, or is there an important reason for having some unbrowned? Thanks!
What is a good substitute for oats?
Oats are pretty important in these cookies. You might want to just make Dad’s Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. No oats there! The recipe is linked up in the post!
Omg these are over the top good. I dehydrated 2 chopped apples by placing in a 200ยฐ F oven for 2 hours. Is it wrong to call them breakfast cookiesโฆ
So….I missed the comment about buying soft apple chips and stumbled upon it after I had already mixed crisp apple chips into the batter!! The crisp apples seemed to have soften in the baking process; delicious cookies, anyway! Thanks for another good one, Joy!!
โSpiritually set aside our watermelon wedgesโ ? now that, my friend, is funny.
โClamoringโ fairly describes the reaction to this recipe around my house. Would chopped English toffee make a good substitute for the butterscotch chips?
Can you use fresh apples instead of dried?
Going to try these! Just so people know, if you have an air fryer you can very easily dehydrate fruit.
Thank you for this as I have lots of fresh apples and I’m now going to make these this weekend.
OMG JOY, did you read my mind?! My dad loved your dadโs recipe for the best chocolate chip cookies and he texted me today asking if I could make them again but with walnuts and oatmeal. Canโt wait to make these! You are just the best!! =)
HAHA! We’ve all got autumn on the brain!
Trader Joe’s has salted caramel chips for fall- those would be amazing in these too! I’m adding dried apples to my next grocery list. Thanks for the recipe!
Salted caramel chips!?!? I’m a goner!
I only had fresh apple so I made that switch. I added in chai spices and chocolate chips instead of butterscotch of caramel. Amazing.
Is there a good sub for butter for someone trying to be dairy free?
I would substitute Earth Balance butter sticks and skip the browning.
You can brown the brand Miyokos, itโs what I used. Itโs at Costco and traderJoes. Itโs the BEST non dairy butter.
Great recipe! We have an over-abundance if apples, have made lots of apple chips and these cookies are a delicious way to use them! We don’t add the butterscotch chips and don’t miss them. Thank you so much for a fantastic cookie recipe!
Hersheyโs Chipits sell a year-round salted caramel chip. Theyโve been on the market for maybe 5 years now in Canada! Theyโre amazing. Could be a good alternative for those not near a Trader Joeโs.
These look and sound delicious. Now I must pick up some dried apple, I donโt suppose diced fresh would work?
Just curious if you think fresh apple would work? Thank you
That’s a good question, Linda. Fresh apples would obviously add a lot more moisture. That could be fine. I’m not sure the cookies dough would freeze well with fresh apples and you might want to store them in the refrigerator instead of room temp? Also I’d reduce the amount of fresh apple to 1 cup of peeled apple, chopped small. That’s my two cents not having tested the recipe this way!
There are also lots of directions on the interwebs telling you how to dry apples, including making them chewy (soft) or crispy. Good info, if, like me, maybe you got too enthusiastic while apple picking…
These cookies look amazing! I have a question about the dried apple pieces. Is this something you purchase from the grocery store? If so, do you recommend any specific brand? I canโt wait to give these a try! Thanks!
Peeled Snacks and TreeTop both have good dried apples that are soft. Just make sure the apples are soft and not crisp dried.
Hey joy,
Have you found a brand of butterscotch chips that you love? I’ve never been a huge fan of the nestle ones, which are the only ones I can ever find.