When I was nine years old, my grandma moved from Ohio to California to live in the same town as my parents so we could see her more often. As she settled into her new house, I was giddy with joy. Before, she only visited once or twice a year, but she always brought baked goodies like zucchini or banana bread. With her only 10 minutes away, I thought she’d make those for us at least once a week!
My mom quickly explained that no, it was not Grandma’s job to feed us, but Grandma would still bring over homemade goodies every so often. The one I looked forward to the most was — without a single question or doubt — her apple pie.
She always made a double-crusted apple pie with the flakiest texture on both the top and bottom. The crusts were perfectly golden, without a dark or burned patch in sight, and concealed the soft fruit hiding inside.
Grandma generally chose tart Granny Smiths, the traditional option she grew up using. She thoroughly doused them in cinnamon and sugar, then baked the pie until the fruit slices were supremely tender and nearly falling apart.
She usually brought over one of her apple pies on the 4th of July and around my dad’s birthday in September, and sometimes when I asked nicely, she would bake one around my birthday too.
This past week, in an effort to get back on the healthy track after the holidays, I bought a big bag of apples, but as I stared at them, willing myself to snack on a crisp and juicy one, all I could think of were Grandma’s pies. Because I didn’t have the patience for crusts or waiting for hours while it baked and cooled…
I made these healthy apple pie oatmeal cookies instead! They’re really soft and chewy, and just like my grandma’s pies, they’re full of sweet fruit and cozy cinnamon. However, they’re much faster and easier to make!
Over the past few years, I’ve realized just how much you love cookies. They were your top three choices in last year’s Readers’ Favorite Recipes! So a new clean-eating recipe for “Healthy January” sounded perfect. Diets should not be about deprivation, after all!
KEY INGREDIENTS TO MAKE HEALTHY APPLE PIE OATMEAL COOKIES
Let’s go over what you’ll need to make these healthy apple oatmeal cookies!
Like my other clean eating oatmeal cookies, these ones are made with whole wheat flour and lots of instant oats. They’re also called “quick-cooking” or “one-minute” oats, and they’re sold in big canisters next to the old-fashioned oats. (They are not the ones in the little flavored packets for breakfast!)
Tip: If you’d like to make your healthy apple oatmeal cookies gluten-free, then see the Notes section of the recipe! I’ve included my top flour recommendations there. For the oats, certified gluten-free instant oats also work perfectly!
I love my oatmeal cookies to be chock-full of oats, so I actually use more oats than flour. Be sure to use the instant kind, rather than old-fashioned rolled oats! Instant oats are smaller and thinner, so they soften faster and provide a better chewy texture.
For the sweetener, you’ll use agave instead of refined granulated sugar, but honey and pure maple syrup also work equally well. Stay away from sugar-free maple syrup though! It’s often water-based, and that also makes oatmeal cookies bready and cakey. It prevents them from spreading properly while baking too.
Tip: I included even more sweetener options in the Notes section of the recipe, as well as on my Oatmeal Cookie FAQ Page!
Of course, we can’t forget the stars of this oatmeal cookie show… The apples and cinnamon! I love using red Fuji apples because they’re naturally sweet and very flavorful. They’re usually easy to find at the grocery store too!
Tip: I highly recommend using Saigon cinnamon. It’s my favorite kind, and it’s practically the only variety I now use in my baking! It’s sweeter, richer, and a bit stronger than regular cinnamon. I buy it online here, and it’s really affordable!
HOW TO MAKE HEALTHY APPLE PIE OATMEAL COOKIES
Now let’s quickly cover how to make the best apple oatmeal cookies! This recipe is simple to whip up, but I still have some tips to make sure your cookies turn out beautifully.
Measure correctly. This is incredibly important, especially for the flour and oats! Use this method (yes, for both ingredients!) or a kitchen scale (← that’s the one I own!). Too much of either ingredient will yield cookies that are much drier. This is especially true of the oats! They act like little sponges and soak up lots of moisture from the cookie dough, so too many oats will dry out your cookies and make them bready or cakey, rather than soft and chewy.
Prep the apples. Because these cookies don’t take very long to bake, it’s important to finely dice the apples. Yes, finely! I cut mine into ⅛” bits. If they’re too big or thick, the apples won’t soften while baking, so you’ll end up with slices that are still crisp and crunchy.
And because someone always asks… I leave the skin on. (Partially because I’m lazy!) You’re more than welcome to peel your apples, if you’d like though! It’s entirely up to you.
Chill the cookie dough. Because of the liquid sweetener, chilling is mandatory! If all of the ingredients were measured correctly, the cookie dough should almost look like thick muffin batter. Chilling helps stiffen the cookie dough, which then prevents the cookies from spreading into thin, flat discs on the baking sheet.
Do not overbake. This is one of my #1 tricks to the best soft and chewy oatmeal cookies! These apple cinnamon oatmeal cookies are ready to come out of the oven when the centers still feel a little bit soft and underdone. The heat from the warm baking sheet will cook those centers all the way through while you let the freshly baked cookies rest for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack… And yield lovely, beautifully, perfectly soft and chewy oatmeal cookies!
If you waited until the centers felt firm to pull them from the oven, the heat from the baking sheet would end up overbaking the cookies — thus resulting in a cakey, bready, or dry texture. Yet if you remove them a teensy bit sooner, just a minute or two earlier, you’ll be rewarded with the best apple oatmeal cookies!
Ready to bake your own? And when you do, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! 🙂 ) I’d love to see your healthy apple pie oatmeal cookies!
Healthy Apple Pie Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (100g) instant oats (gluten-free if necessary and measured like this)
- ¾ cup (90g) whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp (28g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup (120mL) agave (see Notes!)
- 1 cup (125g) finely diced red apple (about 1 medium – and see Notes!)
Instructions
- Whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil or butter, egg, and vanilla. Stir in the agave. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Fold in the apple. Chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Drop the cookie dough into 15 rounded scoops onto the prepared sheet using a spoon and spatula, and flatten slightly. Bake at 325°F for 11-14 minutes. Cool on the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
Notes
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Raspberry Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Banana Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Zucchini Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Peach Pie Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Ultimate Healthy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
♡ Apple Pie Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
♡ …and the rest of Amy’s healthy oatmeal cookie recipes!
Hi Amy! Are you kidding me?! This recipe is brilliant! We all LOVE apple pie and these cookies are a little piece of heaven! So delicious and chewy!! OMG fantastic recipe! Thanks again!
YAY!! I’m really excited you loved these cookies too! It’s always my pleasure — I’m truly touched by how many of my recipes you’ve made and enjoyed!! ♡
Hi Amy, the recipe looks great! I’m a little confused though how these cookies could be less than 100 calories each when there’s already 170 calories in just 1/4 cup of agave (since the recipe has double that amount)?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Chloe! Since there are 15 cookies, there are only 32 calories from agave in each. The full nutrition information is available beneath the recipe, and this is the nutrition calculator that I use, if you’d like to calculate the nutrition information for yourself to double check my numbers are correct. 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try these cookies!
Hi Amy, I came across your website about a year ago whilst searching for healthy recipes and am really pleased to have found you! Have tried a few of your recipes and was happy with the results in general.
The apple oatmeal cookies turned out great but was wondering what you would recommend to make them more crunchy as I prefer crunchy to chewy cookies! 🙂
I really appreciate your sweet words about my blog and recipes Christine! That means so much to me. 🙂 I’m not entirely sure whether this recipe will ever turn out perfectly crunchy. It’s possible to make them less chewy by flattening the cookie dough a little more before baking and baking the cookies longer. As a chewy cookie lover, I haven’t tried that personally and don’t know how much longer you’ll need to bake them — but I’d love to hear whether you try that and how it turns out!
I didn’t follow the recipe exactly (grated the apple rather than diced, mixed all the ingredients in one bowl, used old fashioned oats) because nap time only lasts so long. 🙂 I wasn’t expecting it to turn out exactly the same and the cookies were more cake like but really good. My kids wolfed them down and so did I! Thanks for a great recipe.
I’m so glad you and your kids enjoyed these cookies Jacque! That means a lot to me! 🙂
these look so yummy! Thanks for a great recipe.
Thanks Amy! I’d love to hear what you think if you try these cookies!
Hi! Loved them. So tasty with clean, healthy ingredients… what are the WW points per cookie? The info you posted is 2 pts with old WW and 3 with new WW points. However with the nutrition label you posted the WW calculator says 4 points per cookie.
I’m so glad you enjoyed these cookies Stephanie! 🙂 The nutrition info was calculated before Weight Watchers released their latest Smart Points, so it only includes the old original points and Points+. If your WW calculator says 4 points, then that’s the Smart Points value! 🙂
Currently waiting for these to chill in the fridge! Can I just say I absolutely loveee your page and can’t wait to try out more recipes!
You’re so kind Atikah — that means SO much to me! I’m truly honored! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these cookies — and then what you try next!
” I can’t stop eating them”
Can’t understand, why sugar addiction seems the only addiction, which is so accepted and cute. Why not leave out the additional sugar, butter and vanilla extract? All things and inspeccially in combination, which can make satiety quite difficult.
I take only 2 grated apples, 120g oatmeal (mixed fine and thick rolled) and some ground peanuts and flax and it turns out super sweet, that I take this as an treat. They are delicious, but so filling, that I am full after 1-3 pieces.
I loved this recipe; so good! <3333 Such a healthy alternative without losing great flavor =D
Thanks for sharing!
Michaila
seventytimeseven.com
I’m so glad you enjoyed these cookies Michaila! 🙂
We used the coconut oil instead of butter and agave in place of sugar. Neither kid was impressed and this is a house that doesn’t do cookies, cales, or candy, so I know it can’t be that they are comparing it to something overly sugary. I’m going to try this with the butter instead and hope for more flavor. I think it might also be the chewiness that they didn’t go for, because it wasn’t quite chewy as much as sort of the texture of naan bread. What could make them more crunchy or crispy? I was thinking crubchy peanut butter instead of butter. Do you have a suggestion for how much to use?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Heather! These cookies are supposed to be soft and chewy. I’m not quite sure what you mean by “agave in place of sugar” since this recipe calls for agave! 😉 If your cookies more bread-like or cakey than chewy, then there were probably too many oats in the cookie dough. (Or if you used sugar instead, that would do it too!) I highly recommend reviewing my Oatmeal Cookie FAQ Page, which is linked to in the Notes section underneath the Instructions. (It can be easy to miss!) I cover what causes non-chewy textures there and how to remedy that. 🙂 Unfortunately, this recipe isn’t designed to be crunchy or crispy. If you’d like to make peanut butter oatmeal cookies, I recommend using this recipe of mine instead!