Applesauce cookies are moist, chewy, cake-like cookies made without eggs. Simply spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg for fall and seasonal snacking.
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Applesauce Cookies are where the warmth of cinnamon meets the natural sweetness of apples. They’re delightfully soft, easy to whip up, and perfect for cozy gatherings or a quick snack.
Cinnamon Applesauce Cookies
Our soft Applesauce Cookies recipe removes the eggs from a simple spiced sugar cookie (similar to my favorite old-fashioned applesauce oatmeal cookie) and replaces them with an alternate binding ingredient: applesauce!
This applesauce cookie recipe is prepared with unsweetened applesauce to provide natural sweetness and moisture; while you won’t taste the apple flavor, you will notice the fluffy texture.
Just because a cookie recipe contains whole grains doesn’t mean it’s healthy – most are made with 4 eggs and over a cup of shortening. Apple sauce is a great substitute for portions of fat, and since it has a high water content, it works well to create soft-baked, cake-like cookies (often with fewer calories too!).
Why We Love Applesauce Cookies Recipes
- Quick and easy to make.
- Uses a handful of simple ingredients.
- Egg free cookies are chewy, moist, soft, and sweet when made with applesauce.
- Cookies made with applesauce are delicious when dunked in milk!
- Perfect afternoon snack, dessert, or portable treat for potlucks, picnics, or a cookie exchange.
Applesauce Cookies Ingredients
- All purpose flour: Feel free to use whole wheat flour or gluten-free flour if you prefer.
- Corn starch
- Ground cinnamon
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Ground nutmeg
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Light brown sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Unsweetened applesauce: You can use store-bought applesauce or homemade applesauce.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions and Additions
- Make With Mix-Ins: Feel free to add some chocolate chips, chopped walnuts, raisins, or dried fruit into the apple cookie dough before baking.
- Vegan Version: To make dairy-free, vegan cookies with applesauce, use coconut sugar instead of brown sugar, make sure your granulated sugar is unrefined and raw, and use coconut oil instead of butter.
How to Make Applesauce Cookies
- Make The Dry Mixture: Whisk together the flour, corn starch, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside.
- Make The Wet Mixture: Beat together the butter, both sugars, and vanilla extract until combined (about 2 minutes), then beat in the applesauce.
- Create The Cookie Dough: Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and beat until you no longer see dry ingredients.
Pro Tip: Be careful not to mix the cookie dough too much, or the cookies won’t bake up nice and chewy. - Roll Round: Scoop balls of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet, then roll them into smooth round balls. Place the unbaked cookies in freezer for 15 minutes.
Pro Tip: The cookies can be close together but not touching for this step. - Bake: Take some cookies out of the freezer and leave the rest in the freezer until you are ready to bake them. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 13 to 14 minutes.
Pro Tip: The tops should look set (no longer wet), but the cookies will still look slightly underbaked in the middle. - Serve: Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheet before serving. Enjoy!
Tips For Making The Best Applesauce Cookies
- It is important to measure out the flour accurately. Too much or too little flour will affect how the cookies turn out.
- Your butter should be slightly melted before mixing it with the sugars and vanilla. Cold butter from the fridge can be microwaved for 30 seconds on high.
- Bake your cookies all from frozen. Freezing the cookies before baking helps to prevent the cookies from spreading too much during baking. When baking, cookies should be at least 2 inches from each other on the baking sheet since the cookies will spread a bit while cooking.
- Bake only one tray of cookies at a time to ensure an even baking temperature for all cookies.
- The cookies will finish baking on the hot baking sheet after it is removed from the oven. Do not overbake the cookies or they’ll become dried out.
How To Measure The Flour For Applesauce Cookies
To accurately measure the flour, either use a food scale to measure out the grams exactly or use the spoon and scoop method. The spoon and scoop method means you put the measuring cup on the counter then use a spoon to scoop flour directly out of the bag and lightly place it into the cup.
If you use the measuring cup to scoop flour directly from the bag, you’ll likely end up with 25% more flour than you actually need because the flour will get packed down in the cup.
How to Store Applesauce Cookies
- To Store: Store applesauce cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
- To Freeze: You can freeze your cookies in a freezer-safe container or bag for up to 2 months.
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Applesauce Cookies
Serves — 44
Applesauce cookies are moist, chewy, cake-like cookies made without eggs. Simply spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg for fall and seasonal snacking.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 13 minutes
Chill Time 15 minutes
Total Time 38 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 cups (420-grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup (227-grams) unsalted butter slightly melted (cold butter from fridge, 30 seconds on high in the microwave)
- 1 cup (200-grams) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (100-grams) light brown sugar packed
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, corn starch, ground cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ground nutmeg. Set the dry mixture aside for now.3 cups (420-grams) all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon corn starch, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- In a separate large bowl, beat together the butter, granulated sugar, light brown sugar and vanilla extract until well combined (about 2 minutes).1 cup (227-grams) unsalted butter, 1 cup (200-grams) granulated sugar, ½ cup (100-grams) light brown sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Beat the applesauce into the wet ingredients just until combined.½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- Add the flour mixture into the wet mixture and beat on low speed just until combined (until you no longer see dry ingredients). Be careful not to mix the cookie dough too much or the cookies won’t bake up nice and chewy.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Using a 2-tablespoon sized cookie scoop, scoop balls of cookie dough onto the parchment lined baking sheet then use your hands to shape them into smooth round balls. The cookies can be close together but not touching for this step.
- Place the tray of unbaked cookies in freezer for 15 minutes. Freezing the cookies before baking helps to prevent the cookies from spreading too much during baking.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line a second baking sheet with parchment paper, take some cookies out of the freezer then place those cookies on the second baking sheet. Leave the rest of the cookies in the freezer until you are ready to bake them. Bake the cookies all from frozen. When baking, cookies should be at least 2 inches from each other on the baking sheet since the cookies will spread a bit while cooking. Bake only one tray of cookies at a time to ensure an even baking temperature for all cookies.
- Bake each tray of cookies for 13 to 14 minutes. The tops should look set (no longer wet) but the cookies will still look slightly under baked in the middle. The cookies will finish baking on the hot baking sheet after it is removed from the oven. Do not over bake the cookies or they’ll become dried out. Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheet before removing.
- Store cookies in a sealed food safe container at room temperature for up to 4 days or in freezer for up to 2 months.
Jenn’s Notes
Storage:
- To Store: Store applesauce cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
- To Freeze: You can freeze your cookies in a freezer safe container or bag for up to 2 months.
- It is important to measure out the flour accurately. Too much or too little flour will affect how the cookies turn out.
- Your butter should be slightly melted before mixing it with the sugars and vanilla. Cold butter from fridge can be microwaved for 30 seconds on high.
- Bake your cookies all from frozen. Freezing the cookies before baking helps to prevent the cookies from spreading too much during baking. When baking, cookies should be at least 2 inches from each other on the baking sheet since the cookies will spread a bit while cooking.
- Bake only one tray of cookies at a time to ensure an even baking temperature for all cookies.
- The cookies will finish baking on the hot baking sheet after it is removed from the oven. Do not over bake the cookies or they’ll become dried out.
Nutrition Info
Calories: 98kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 11mg | Sodium: 41mg | Potassium: 26mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 130IU | Vitamin C: 0.03mg | Calcium: 9mg | Iron: 0.4mg
