August 28, 2024
by Kirbie
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These apple pie oatmeal cookies taste like apple pie in cookie form. The cookies are only 3 ingredients and don’t need any flour, eggs or dairy butter. It’s an easy one-bowl recipe and the cookies are ready in about 20 minutes.
These oatmeal cookies taste like all the flavors of apple pie but in a healthier oatmeal cookie form. The cookies don’t contain any flour, eggs, added sugar, or dairy. I couldn’t resist adding a caramel drizzle for decoration, but it’s completely optional and I enjoy eating the cookies without it, too.
Ingredients
- Quick Oats
- Apples
- Apple Butter
Quick oats: I tested this recipe with both quick oats and rolled oats and I think quick oats work much better. Quick oats are oats that are further processed so that they are smaller and thinner. As a result, they bind and compact better in these cookies. The rolled oats version didn’t hold together well. If you don’t have quick oats, you can also make your own by pulsing rolled oats in a food processor until they become the size of quick oats.
Apples: Fresh apple cubes are added to the cookies to mimic the soft cooked apples in apple pie filling. You will want to cut the apples into small 1/4 inch cubes so that they have enough time to cook and soften during the short bake time. Make sure to choose a sweet apple variety like Fuji, Honeycrisp or Gala.
Apple butter: Apple butter is the key to giving these cookies a rich apple flavor. Apple butter is not actually butter. It is a concentrated applesauce made from apples slowly cooked in apple juice until the sugar caramelizes. It has a very rich apple flavor and is thicker and darker in color than applesauce. I recommend using an apple butter that also is cooked with cinnamon and other spices to really make the cookies taste like apple pie. I did test these cookies with applesauce but they didn’t taste as good. They didn’t have as much of a rich apple flavor and the cookies were also a little drier.
How to Make Apple Pie Oatmeal Cookies
- The quick oats, apple cubes and apple butter are all stirred together until evenly mixed.
- Use a 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop the cookie dough and release onto your prepared baking sheet. Flatten the dough with your hand or the back of a metal spoon until the dough forms round disks. The cookies are then ready to be baked.
- You can enjoy the cookies soon after they are cooled. You can also garnish them with caramel drizzle for decoration, but it is optional.
Texture and Sweetness
The cookies have a soft and chewy texture. They are not like traditional oatmeal cookies. These are meant to be a healthier oatmeal cookie. They have a texture more like baked oats in cookie form. The cookies are lightly sweetened. I found the apple butter made the cookies sweet enough for me but if you want more sweetness you can add 1-2 tablespoons of maple syrup to the cookie dough or add a caramel drizzle on top of the cookies.
More Apple Recipes
- 3 Ingredient Caramel Apple Oatmeal Cookies
- 2 Ingredient Apple Bread
- 2 Ingredient Apple Cake
3 Ingredient Apple Pie Oatmeal Cookies
Servings: 9 cookies
Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes minutes
Total Time: 17 minutes minutes
Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: American
Soft and chewy oatmeal cookies that taste like apple pie in cookie form. These cookies have all the flavors of apple pie in an easy healthier cookie form. These cookies only need 3 ingredients and don't contain any flour, eggs, butter or added sugar.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (84 g) quick oats
- 1/2 cup (131 g) unsweetened apple butter with spices
- 1/4 cup (28 g) chopped apples (peeled, cored and cut into 1/4 inch cubes) choose a sweet apple variety
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Add oats, apple butter and chopped apples to a large mixing bowl. Stir until the ingredients are evenly mixed and incorporated and the oats are fully coated in apple butter.
Use a 1.5 tbsp cookie scoop and scoop dough balls, releasing them onto the prepared baking sheet, spaced about 2 inches apart. Using your hand or the back of a metal spoon, press down on dough balls to form thick round disks. The cookies will not spread or change shape during baking so shape them as needed until they are how you want them to be.
Bake cookies about 11-13 minutes or until they are done. Be careful not to overcook the cookies or they will turn out dry. Let the cookies cool fully on the baking sheet before removing. They should easily peel off when they are cooled. Store uneaten cookies in the fridge or freezer.
Notes
- Make sure to use quick oats and not rolled oats. The quick oats bind better. Cookies made with rolled oats will fall apart more easily.
- For the fresh chopped apple, I recommend choosing a sweet variety. You don't want to use a tart apple because the cookies are only lightly sweetened. Fuji, Gala and Honeycrisp are all good options.
- The cookies are meant to be a healthier oatmeal cookie. They are only lightly sweetened. You can taste the batter and if you prefer sweeter cookies you can add 1-2 tablespoons of maple syrup to the cookie dough. You can also drizzle caramel sauce on top of the cookies to add sweetness.
- These cookies have a soft and chewy texture but they don't have the texture of traditional oatmeal cookies. They have a texture similar to baked oats.
- I used unsweetened apple butter cooked with cinnamon and other spices. You can use plain apple butter without spices but your cookies won't taste as much like apple pie. I haven't tested these cookies with sweetened apple butter but I think it should work.
- The color of your cookie may vary a little depending on the brand of apple butter you use. Some are browner in color and some have a darker redder color. I try to avoid the redder colored apple butters so that the cookies look brown instead of a dark red. I used Langer Farms apple butter.
- I don't recommend using applesauce. The cookies turned out drier and had less apple pie flavor. If you do want to use applesauce, I recommend also adding about 1/4 cup of peanut butter to add more richness to the cookies.
- You can also add peanut butter to this version to add some healthy fat to the cookies, but adding the peanut butter does hide some of the apple flavor.
- I added a caramel drizzle for decoration to make the cookies look prettier but they don't need it. I like eating the cookies plain and don't usually add the caramel sauce.
- The estimated nutrition does not include the optional caramel drizzle.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie, Calories: 67kcal, Carbohydrates: 15g, Protein: 0.02g, Fat: 1g, Saturated Fat: 0.1g, Sodium: 0.1mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 6g, NET CARBS: 14
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
Did you make this recipe?I'd love to see it! Mention @KirbieCravings and tag #kirbiecravings!
Posted in: 4 Ingredients or Less, Cookies, Recipes
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