Caramel Apple Cookies. These easy to make, soft cookies are bursting with bits of fresh apple and chewy caramel.
These Caramel Apple Cookies are the perfect Fall dessert. Loaded up with spices, fresh apple, and little bits of gooey caramel. Using the caramel bits makes this recipe super easy to toss together, and keeps a good consistency of the caramel after the cookies cool down. These cookies won’t get rock hard!
How To Bake with Apples?
Baking with apples is easy! My favorite for baking with is Granny Smith. They are firm and have a wonderful tart flavoring that lends well to baking. The end product will still have chunks of apple (not mush) and the tartness helps keep the food from being overly sweet.
You can of course bake with other types of apples. Other apples that hold up well in baking include: Jonathan, Braeburn, Honeycrisp, Jonagolds and Pink Ladys.
Just remember for these cookies you want to peel the apples and then dice the apples fairly small. The smaller the better so that the dough can hold together and each bite is enjoyable!
What is Apple Pie Spice?
This recipe calls for Apple Pie Spice. It’s a blend of spices that you would typically find in an apple pie. And if you don’t have a little bottle of it readily available in your spice cabinet, of course you can make your own blend!
It’s a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cardamom. There’s a recipe here at Betty Crocker. I’ve also seen recipes that include a little bit of ginger too for a little zip.
More Apple Recipes:
More Cookie Recipes:
- Banana Split Cookies
- Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Caramel Apple Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp apple pie spice
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1½ cup apple, peeled and diced
- ¼ cup caramel bits
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- In small mixing bowl combine the flour and baking soda, salt, and apple pie spice set aside.
- In mixing bowl add room temperature butter and sugars. Beat with medium speed to cream them together. Add in the egg and vanilla extract and continue to beat with medium speed until completely combined.
- Add in the flour mixture slowly, half at a time mixing with low speed each time until combined.
- Fold in the chopped apples and caramel bits. Recipe works best if the apple is diced into small pieces.
- Prepare a cookie sheet with cooking spray, or parchment paper. Place about a tablespoon of dough on the sheet.
- Bake for approximately 14 minutes. Allow to cool on the sheet for 5 minutes then remove to continue cooling on a wire rack.
Notes
Nutrition
I just made a batch of these, and so far they’re looking great! I’d made a different kind last winter and they were actually kind of soggy from the apples, so this time I sweat them for a bit, rinsed and dried them, then added them to the mix. Definitely a lot less soggy! I did double up the caramel bits, but not to the detriment of the recipe. Will definitely use this one again!
I made this recipe according to a recipe and a half because I wanted more than 18 cookies. I did not have cardamom for the apple pie spice, but the flavoring of this cookie came out very well. I also grated my apples instead of dicing them because of one of my pickier eaters. Everything turned out well. The one thing that I feel that should be mentioned is that this produces a very cake-y cookie. If you are looking for a chewy cookie, this is not it. If you want to eat a cookie that resembles a muffin top, this is a good stop.
These are like small soft apple cakes, tender and very good. The bits had a tendency to stick to the cooling rack, however. Next time I’m going to place 3 bits on top of each dough ball before baking.
These are great. I just feel there should be more caramel, mine had a good amount of apple but the caramel felt lacking. Next time I’m probably going to go with a full cup of caramel bits.
I’m going to modify this with oats and walnut dust and put them around a stick and drizzle the caramel on the outside once cooled…. if not will try gingerbread with apple to get it hard enough for a stick…
You mention adding the egg and vanilla in the instructions but I don’t see vanilla in the ingredients list. Should there be vanilla and if so how much?
Yes!! So sorry Sheri, I got that updated in the recipe 🙂
I made these cookies and they came out flat as pancakes..tried chilling them before baking..tried baking a little hotter and a little coolecoolwer than 350..and nothing worked..still flat. Any ideas?
Hi Amanda! Baking can be tricky sometimes. If you find the cookies to be too flat, you can try to reduce the amount of butter and sugar slightly, or add just a bit more flour. It’s all about finding the right balance.
I will def try this recipe it looks wonderful but I was searching for your original recipe with the vanilla pudding mix and could not find it. Would it be possible to have it please? Everybody was loving this one in my house and I would write it down this time so I have it forever! Thank so much!
Hi Louise, I do still have the recipe. The internet keeps archives on everything!! For anyone else interested in the original recipe that involved the pudding mix here it is in entirety.
Just so that it’s noted why I updated this recipe, over the years I have changed how I cook and bake, and I love going back and updating and improving my own recipes!
This particular recipe I love the updated version, with the caramel bits as opposed to placing the large pieces of caramel in the center. I also worked hard to get the same texture to the cookie with the new recipe that was achieved by adding pudding to the old recipe.
INGREDIENTS
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick butter (room temperature)
½ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup sugar
1 3.4 ounce package instant vanilla pudding
2 eggs
½ teaspoon apple pie spice
1 apple peeled and chopped (equals about 1 cup)
20 caramels
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In small mixing bowl combine the flour and baking powder, set aside.
In mixing bowl add room temperature butter and sugars. Beat with medium speed to cream them together. Add in the eggs and continue to beat with medium speed until completely combined.
Mix in the pudding and the apple pie spice.
Add in the flour mixture slowly, half at a time mixing with low speed each time until combined.
Fold in the chopped apples with a wooden spoon, (or spoon of choice!)
Prepare a cookie sheet with cooking spray, or parchment paper. Place about a tablespoon of dough on the sheet, place an unwrapped caramel in the center, and then place another tablespoon size scoop of dough on top. Slightly press down to ensure the caramel is covered by dough, otherwise it will leak out during baking.
Bake for approximately 15 minutes. Allow to cool on the sheet for 5 minutes then remove to continue cooling on a wire rack.
Be careful not to bite into them when they’re hot! The caramel will burn!!!
NOTES
Cookies are delicious when cooled, the caramel is slightly chewier though. To reheat the cookies place in microwave for about 10 seconds to warm the caramel to enjoy the oozy caramel again!
I love these. Perfect seasonal cookies!
Hi Serene! This recipe looks amazing! I love cookies that use pudding in the mix, and I see a lot of comments about pudding, but don’t see it in the recipe. Did you change it up from the original post? And if I use a different pudding mix cookie base, would you recommend using vanilla or caramel pudding with this recipe?
Hi Emily! This recipe did use to include a pudding mix. I updated the recipe recently to give the same type of texture, but without the mix. If you want to use a pudding mix cookie base I had always used vanilla. Let me know if you try the cookies 🙂
Do we have to prepare the pudding first or just add the dry mix?
Hi Alyssa, just use the dry pudding mix 🙂
Thanks!
Dear Serene,
I just bumped into your blog by accident, and loved it! I can’t wait to try the caramel apple cookies, but I need your help…see, I live overseas and here we don’t have pudding, can you think of a substitute for the recipe? Please tell me you do!!!!! I so want to try ’em…
Thank you in advance!!!!!!
Aww. Thanks so much! You’re so sweet. Sadly, I don’t know of a substitute for the pudding. But.. I did use this recipe because it’s a cookie base that I love, the pudding just makes them a little softer. You might be able to use a cookie dough base you enjoy and just add the apple, spices, and caramel center. I can’t tell you for sure that they’ll turn out the same, the baking time might be different. But it might be worth a shot!
Thank you so much! You’re the sweetest!!! I’ll try it and let you know how they turn out.
Best to you!
Could you sub cream cheese with a little more vanilla?
If I were to win the kitchenaid mixer, I would choose the color pink and I would use this to make the caramel apple cookies!! 🙂
A pink one would be so much fun!! And these cookies would definitely taste so much better being made in a pink KitchenAid! Good luck Ann 🙂
Oh man, Apple Cookies oozing with Caramel??? Wow! These look so delicious!
Thanks so much Meggan 🙂 I think anything oozing with caramel is just amazing!
Those COOKIES look AH-Mazing!! Yummo!
Thanks Jaren! Have an awesome week! XO
Wow, Serene! Seriously, let me at that gooey caramel coming out of these cookie! Looks absolutely amazing!
Thanks so much Ashlyn!!
Wait…wait…. Rainbow Sherbet Cupcakes?!!!!!! I must be dreaming!!! Guess what I will be making…and SOON!!!
Yay!! They are sooo good! Enjoy 🙂