Let’s face it — people either want a great fall cookie recipe or they’re still recovering from Hershey’s decision to ditch their Caramel Chips with Sea Salt. We’re here for both. This recipe has the chewy, oat-packed goodness you want in a fall cookie, plus tender apple pieces and caramel chips with a little sea salt to balance everything out. Bonus: I'll tell you which caramel chips to grab with a link so you can get your own.
Recipe Update - We've Made it Even Better
This recipe originally used Hershey’s Caramel Chips with Sea Salt, but since those disappeared from shelves, I’ve given it a tasty makeover. Now we use caramel baking chips and add a pinch of sea salt for that same sweet-salty magic and maybe even better than before!
Walking into our local grocery store, there are bins filled with all kinds of apples. It can be hard to decide which is best for baking, but I found the Granny Smith to be an excellent choice. They are firm and hold up well when you bake them. The Granny Smith apple is tart, which helps balance the sweetness of the brown sugar and caramel in this cookie. There are many health benefits to eating the Granny Smith apple.
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Ingredients
- Butter unsalted
- Light brown sugar
- Sugar white
- Egg
- Vanilla Extract
- Unsweetened applesauce
- All-purpose flour
- Apple pie spice
- Baking powder
- Sea Salt
- Granny Smith apple
- Caramel Chips
- Quaker Whole Grain Oats Quick 1-Minute
Ingredient Notes
- Apples – Firm and a little tart is best. Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, or Fuji will keep their shape and not turn into mush. But I usually go for the Granny Smith...
- Caramel Baking Chips – Hershey’s are gone (sad face), so after testing different caramel chips I found that (Amazon) Lieber's Real Caramel Chips work the best for these cookies. I also like the Kraft Caramel Bits but I find they stick to the parchment paper and then pull out of the cookies. I keep hoping someone will pick up the Hershey's caramel chip recipe and remake them.
- Sea Salt – Fine sea salt goes into the dough, coarse flakes can be sprinkled on top before baking for a little “pop” when you bite in.
- Oats – Since I wanted a softer cookie I went with the Quaker's Quick 1-Minute Oats
Step-by-Step Instruction
Prep the Ingredients
Weigh or measure the light brown and white sugar into a bowl and set it aside. Next, I weigh or measure the flour, apple pie spice, baking powder, and salt into a medium-size bowl and whisk to blend. Finally, I take one more bowl and weigh or measure the oats.
On a cutting board, dice ½ of a Granny Smith apple. You should get about ½ of a cup. I usually eat the other half of the apple with a little peanut butter.
Make the Apple Oatmeal Cookie Dough
1. Cube the butter into your mixer bowl. I cube it to check how close it is to room temperature — that helps me estimate how long to cream the butter.
2. If the butter is room temperature I mix the butter on a medium mixer speed for a minute or two. You want the butter to look smooth and creamy.
3. Next, add the sugars to the creamed butter and mix on a medium mixer speed for 3 to 4 minutes.
4. Now you want to add the egg, unsweetened applesauce, and the vanilla extract and mix well. At this point I scrape down the sides and across the bottom.
5. On a low mixer speed add about half the flour and incorporate before adding the other half. Try not to over mix.
6. Finally, add the caramel chips, diced apples, and quick oats. Mix for about 15 seconds. Scrape down the sides and if it needs another 10 second mixing you can do it now.
Chill for about 20-30 minutes. You do not want the cookie dough to be hard so no more than 30 minutes.
Scoop and Bake
7. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C or 180°C) and line two cookie sheet pans with parchment paper. I used a medium cookie scooper to place 12 cookie dough mounds onto the prepared cookie sheet pan.
Bake for 11-13 minutes. I test for doneness by touching the top of the cookie; if the outside is a little set, I pull them out of the oven.
Cool and Finish
8. The cookies will flatten a little as they cool. But leave them on the cookie sheet pan right out of the oven for at least 5 minutes before you move them to a cooling rack to finish.
Enjoy!
FAQs
Sure, but the fine sea salt is what I am adding to replicate the caramel chips that were made by the Hershey company. You can use whatever salt you have handy.
You of course can use them! But you can also make your own quick oats by putting the old fashion oats in a food processor and whip them around a few times. Old fashion will not give you as soft a cookie as the quick oats.
I cut my apples last after I have all my ingredients measured or weighed. It does not take long to mix the dough so the apple do not turn brown hardly at all. But you can put a little lemon juice on the cut apple pieces, just pat the apple pieces dry before adding them to the cookie dough mix.
I store them in a container with a loose-fitting lid. Letting the apple pieces dry a bit first helps keep the cookies from getting soggy. But if they start to feel a little too firm after a day or two, I’ll tighten the lid to lock in moisture again. Fresh fruit can be a little tricky, so it’s all about finding that balance to keep the texture just right.
Love Apples Here are a Few More!
Recipe
Apple Caramel Oatmeal Cookies
Barbara HallWould you like to save this recipe?
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Ingredients
- 1 cup (227 g) Butter unsalted room temperature
- 1 cup (220 g) Light brown sugar
- ½ cup (100 g) Sugar white
- 1 Egg room temperature
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ¼ cup (61 g) Unsweetened applesauce
- 1 ¾ cups (218.75 g) All-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon Apple pie spice
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon Sea Salt
- ½ cup (62.5 g) Granny Smith apple
- ½ cup (146 g) Caramel Chips
- 3 cups (243 g) One-minute quick oats
Instructions
- Weigh or measure the light brown and white sugars into a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, weigh or measure the flour, baking powder, apple pie spice, and salt. Whisk to blend. In another bowl weigh or measure the oats and set it aside. Dice half a Granny Smith apple into small pieces (about ½ cup) after removing the core and peel.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer, cube the butter and mix on medium speed for 1–2 minutes until creamy. Add the sugars and mix for another 3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl, then add the egg, applesauce, and vanilla extract. Mix to combine, scraping the bowl again.
- Add the flour mixture about half at a time and combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the oats, diced apples, and caramel chips, then mix just until evenly distributed, about 10–15 seconds more if needed. Chill the dough in the fridge for 20–30 minutes. You want the butter to firm up but still scoopable, don’t let it harden completely.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C or 180°C) and line two cookie sheet pans with parchment paper. Using a medium cookie scoop, portion 12 dough mounds per pan. Bake for 11–13 minutes. The tops should look soft and slightly set. Leave the cookies on the pan for at least 5 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack. This helps them firm up while keeping that soft oatmeal texture.
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NUTRITION DISCLAIMER
I am not a certified Dietitian or Nutritionist. The nutrition amounts given below are provided through a program and are only a guideline.
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