Last week, I bought three big bags of apples for 99 cents each. My husband looked at me funny and said: what are you going to make with all of those apples? I replied: apple pie cookies of course!

I’ve shared this recipe over at MOMables before because I love these cookies inside the lunchbox. I also have cookie making days where I freeze, freeze, freeze all kinds of unbaked cookie dough! I am the queen of freezing baked goods and breakfast items for later. Ok, don’t think of me as super mom because as my friend Melissa from TheFresh20 says… I am “dinner averse”. I am not that good at make-ahead dinners.
I’m glad I’ve waited a while to share them here… because since I shared them as the perfect little addition to any lunchbox, I’ve made these gluten free and grain free (still working on that recipe so I can share that version).

Isn’t this little boy adorable? That is my friend Alison’s son totally munching on these cookies. Alison was the first contributor I hired for the blog side of MOMables and in the last two years she’s become a very close friend.
Let me tell you a little bit about Alison and why this adorable boy is holding on to this cookie. Alison blogs over at This Homemade Life and she also works on all of my “special projects.” Special projects are some of my recipe development shoots for brands, magazine photo shoots, and of course, my cookbook!
Alison has 3 boys and they’ve spent much of the summer tasting over 50 recipes she photographed for my cookbook. Today, I can officially announce that my cookbook: The Best Homemade Kids’ Lunches on the Planet will be released July 1st 2014. You can pre-order your copy here.

This recipe makes me think of her often because it brings back memories of when she came to visit me this summer to map out a recipe photo shoot schedule for the book. While she had worked for me for nearly two years, we had never met in person! Crazy, right? Having her here was really the icing on the cake on our friendship and I’m so grateful to have her talent available for my company.
When the apples are cooked, they become part of the “cookie” with a sweet flavor. If you don’t want “crispy” cookies, use a scoop or make dough balls and pull them out of the oven when they are nice and “chewy”.

Apple Pie Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour*
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ brown sugar, packed
- 12 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon McCormick Vanilla extract
- 1 cup granny smith apples, chopped (about 2 apples)
- 1 teaspoon McCormick ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
- Using an electric mixer, cream together sugar and softened butter. Add eggs and vanilla extract mixing until combined.
- Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and continue mixing on medium speed, until cookie dough begins to form. Turn mixer off and gently fold in chopped apples by hand.
- Roll dough into 2 tablespoon sized balls of dough. Arrange dough on prepared cookie sheets, giving them room to spread while baking.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes (cookies should look slightly undercooked). Allow to cool completely on cookie sheets before removing. Store in airtight container.
Notes
For a gluten free version, I have successfully made these gluten free with Cup4Cup gluten free flour mix at a 1:1 ratio.
Bianca
Thanks so much for all your hard work. I’ve tried several of your recipes, with lots of success.
However I’m not the best baker.
I used whole wheat flour, will that make it not be doughy(if that’s a word)?
I accidentally melted half the butter by leaving it in the microwave too long. I was attempting to soften it.
Needless to say it was more like sand than dough? So I just added more room temp butter which made them a little too sticky!
Ahhhhh…well we will them anyhow!
Love your websites!
Laura Fuentes
thank you Bianca!
I am going to assume you used regular whole-wheat flour (vs whole-wheat pastry flour) and that will make your cookies more dense. When you melt butter, it becomes an easy-to-absorb liquid so that is probably why you had a sandy texture to your cookies. bummer! how did they come out? If you are going to use whole-wheat flour next time, try only using 50% regular whole-wheat. Thank you for following my recipes! 🙂
Virginia
I am happy to have found your site & recipes but….could you add the amount that your candies and cookies make? I don’t have any candy bar molds so I am winging it for the Chunky bars and it would be a lot easier if I knew in advance how many tiny candy cups to have ready before I melt the chocolate.
thank you,
Virginia
Kay Kathleen
This recipe looks great! Just curious how many cookies this yields…
Laura Fuentes
depends how big you make them! lol. I usually make 12 out of the batch.
Kay Kathleen
Made these last night…they are insanely delicious and must be made again and again with certain frequency!! 🙂
Laura Fuentes
Love the “insanely delicious” Kay. 🙂
Kelly @ The Nourishing Home
So excited about your new book! It’s so fun to see the recipes coming to life. I can’t wait to get a copy of your book! Lots of blessings, sweet friend, Kelly
Tamara
These cookies are delicious! I made them yesterday for a cookie exchange. Its totally an apple pie, in a cookie=) I’m thinking about adapting them a bit (ie less sugar) for a breakfast cookie. Have you tried this?
Laura Fuentes
So glad you liked them! I replied with the info you need to convert into a breakfast cookie in the facebook post.
Reema
Congrats on your book! Can’t wait! I use your blog a lot. Is this part if that series: best homemade baby food on the planet? I used that a lot too!