The fall season means apples and caramel apples are everywhere. It is that time of year for fall fairs and carnivals. I don't know what your fall fairs are like, but ours are food and fun. Between pie and cookie contests and which farm grew the biggest pumpkin, these fairs remind us of our youth as we watch the young kids having fun. Fall is my favorite time of year.
Walking into our local grocery store, so many bins of all kinds of apples. It is hard sometimes to think about which is better 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.
Ingredients
- Butter unsalted
- Light brown sugar
- Sugar white
- Egg
- Vanilla Extract
- Unsweetened applesauce - My favorite brand is Mott's No Sugar Ad ed. I buy the 3.9 oz—6-pack cups since I can save the other cups for other cookies or just to eat.
- All-purpose flour
- Apple pie spice
- Baking powder
- Kosher Salt
- Granny Smith apple
- Caramel Chips with Sea Salt - I have found that I get good results using Hershey's brand, but if you find other caramel chips without the sea salt just add a little sea salt to the cookie dough.
- One-minute oats - Quaker Whole Grain Oats Quick 1-Minute These oats can be purchased anywhere. Quaker Oats, whichever variety, is the only brand I use for my cookies.
Making Apple Oatmeal Cookies
I always start by weighing out all my ingredients and having everything prepped before I start. I tend to forget something if I do not have everything ready to be added to the mixer bowl.
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 use an apple slicer with 12 blades to core and slice my apple. I prefer the stainless steel cutters since they seem to last longer for me.
In your mixer bowl, add the butter and both sugars. Bring the mixer speed to medium speed and mix for 3 minutes. You want the sugars and butter blended. Next, scrap the bowl and add the egg, applesauce, and vanilla extract, blending on a low speed.
Add the flour mixture and mix just until the flour is incorporated. Next, I scrape down the mixer sides. Then add the diced apples, caramel chips, and oats and mix. Of course, you can always take a spatula and mix it by hand if you think the apple pieces and caramel chips need to be distributed more. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
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 firm, I pull them out of the oven.
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 wire rack to finish cooling.
Storage
These cookies will last about a week. I put either parchment paper or wax paper between the layer. They do have some fruit in them, so if they start to get really soft, just leave the lid off for a while.
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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 (1) Egg room temperature
- 2 teaspoon (2 teaspoon) Vanilla Extract
- ¼ cup (61 g) Unsweetened applesauce
- 1 ¾ cups (218.75 g) All-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) Apple pie spice
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) Kosher Salt
- ½ cup (62.5 g) Granny Smith apple
- ½ cup (146 g) Caramel Chips with Sea Salt
- 3 cups (243 g) One-minute oats
Instructions
- Weigh or measure the light brown and the white sugars into a bowl and set aside. Next, weigh or measure the flour, baking powder, apple pie spice, and salt into another bowl. I use a whisk to blend. Next, take half a Granny Smith apple and take the core and skin off. You want to dice it into small pieces.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer, add the butter and both sugars and mix on medium speed until the sugars are incorporated about 3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and add the egg, applesauce, and vanilla extract and mix. I scrape down the bowl again and turn the mixer to a low speed. Add the flour mixture and incorporate. I stop and scrape down the sides again and add the oats, diced apples, and caramel chips, mixing until they are through the cookie dough. After taking the bowl off the stand, you can combine the cookie dough by hand with a spatula if you think the apple and caramel pieces did not spread evenly throughout the cookie dough.
- 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 scoop and placed 12 mounds onto a pan. Bake the cookies for 11 to 13 minutes. They will look soft when you pull them from the oven but leave them on the pan for at least 5 minutes, and you will have a soft oatmeal cookie. The longer they stay in the oven, the harder they will be when the cookies cool.
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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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