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 there! These cookies look delicious! This showed up on my Pinterest feed. The images were yours, but when I clicked on it, it redirected me to the App Store. It was trying to sell me a “Detox Diet” app. Not sure if you were aware of this.
Sorry, I forgot to provide the link:
http://pinterest.com/pin/119063983875316117/
Thank you so much for letting me know Alesha! I really appreciate it. Unfortunately, I can’t control the people that “steal” my images and redirect them to other sites, but since you gave me the pin link, I’ll definitely report it to Pinterest. Thanks again! 🙂
i just made these and they were delicious! I used honey instead of agave and they turned out great! Thank you for this healthy cookie recipe!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cookies Jenna!
hi there. These look great. I noticed some sort of ‘chips’ in a bowl in the picture but not in the recipe? Have you ever add any to the recipe? I was thinking butterscotch chips might be good.
Thanks Kelly! I used cinnamon chips in the photos because I love extra cinnamon in my apple pies. Butterscotch would be great too!
Thank you for sharing this recipe. I plan on making them for my apple pie and oatmeal cookie loving dad, for Father’s Day. My question is, what are cinnamon chips? I’d like to add those too. I will let you know how they turn out, I’m sure he will love them!
You’re so sweet to bake these cookies for your dad for Father’s Day! Cinnamon chips look like chocolate chips, except they’re tan and cinnamon-flavored. You can find them on the baking aisle near the other chips (chocolate, white chocolate, butterscotch, etc.). You can kind of see what they look like in the second and final photos of this recipe. I hope you and your family enjoy the cookies Michelle!
Do you peel the apples?
It’s up to you Kasandra! I don’t because I like the peel (and it takes less time!), but you’re welcome to peel the apples if you don’t like the taste or texture of the peel. I hope you enjoy the cookies!
Hello Amy,
The apple pie oatmeal cookies sound yummy and my kids and I want to try making them.
1. The nutrition info provided, is that for basic recipe using agave but also applicable if doing the sugar/milk substitution?
2. Can I use almond milk?
3. What size scoop do you use? I’m making for diabetic and carb count is critical so want to make sure I do the correct portions?
Thank You!
Thanks Marine! The Nutrition Info is for the recipe as written. The sugar and milk substitution may slightly change the info, so if you’d like to determine what that would be, this is the nutrition calculator that I use. Almond milk would work fine! I don’t actually use a scoop. I use a spoon and spatula to drop the cookie dough onto the prepared sheet, and I eyeball the amounts to make sure they’re all about the same. I hope you and your children enjoy the cookies!
These cookies were delicious! I put a link to this page on my blog…thevikingmama.wordpress.com. I was wondering though, can I translate this recipe into Norwegian and post on my blog? I would give you all due credit of course.
Thanks Tonya! My recipes are copyright protected, so I prefer that they aren’t re-published. If you only include the ingredients and link to my blog for the instructions, that’s fine though. I really appreciate you asking! 🙂
Ok, I will do it that way then 🙂 Thanks for responding so quickly!
My pleasure Tonya! 🙂
These cookies look amazing and I look forward to making them!
I just wanted to let you know though that your site is so loaded with ads and that Verizon one was making me crazy trying to figure out which page it was that I had open that was repeatedly playing an ad. I almost just shut every page down because I was so frustrated and I would not have saved your recipe. Just a thought, perhaps not having auto play ads? Thanks for taking the time to read this, it’s only sent as constructive criticism. 🙂
I hope you enjoy the cookies Tina! I haven’t had readers complain about that particular situation before, but I’ll look into it. I really appreciate your feedback! 🙂
These cookies are soft and chewy, but I cannot see that they taste anything like apple pie,, no delicious apple pie smell when they were baking either,, what did I do wrong??
I’m sorry they didn’t taste like you expected Donna! Did you use fresh apples and include the full amount of cinnamon? The apples and cinnamon are the two main components that make the cookies taste like apple pie. If you prefer, you can use a little more of each to make the flavors more pronounced as well!
This looks great but can i replace the whole wheat flour with all purpose flour and what’s the amount you would suggest? 🙂
Yes! Use the same amount of all-purpose flour. I actually answer this question on my Oatmeal Cookies FAQ page (the link to it is in the Notes section beneath the recipe). I hope you enjoy the cookies!