During Dad’s and my visit to San Diego this past Memorial Day weekend, my grandpa starting craving cake on the second evening of our trip. Even though we had already indulged in some of the best gourmet ice cream earlier that afternoon, dessert calories don’t count on holiday weekends (right??), so I offered to drive to the store to pick up something to satisfy his sweet tooth.
As soon as I passed through the sliding glass doors, I turned left and entered their quaint bakery section, located at the very front of the store. (All of our grocery stores in my area hide their bakeries in the very back… Maybe so you burn a few extra calories walking over there?)
I stared at the display case, contemplating the different sheet cake single slice options: vanilla with vanilla frosting, chocolate with chocolate frosting, vanilla with chocolate frosting, German chocolate, red velvet, tres leches… Until I finally spotted the exact one I knew Grandpa wanted.
The biggest square of cozy spiced carrot cake, extremely moist and tender, with a thick layer of smooth cream cheese frosting. I carefully nestled it into my shopping basket, then turned to walk towards the register. But instead of heading straight there, I meandered through the rest of the bakery section—I’m always on the lookout for recipe inspiration!
I found platters of frosted cinnamon rolls, sleeves of cinnamon raisin bagels, trays of round brownie bites, two types of pound cakes, a few lingering maple bars and glazed donuts from that morning, and a plenty of layer cakes in a variety of flavors. Just before I turned to go, an apple pie, complete with a lattice crust top, caught my eye. I nearly picked it up to tuck into my basket too—it just sounded so good, especially for Memorial Day!—but knowing I’d eat way more than my fair share, I realized it’d be best to leave it behind.
But as a compromise, I baked these Apple Pie Snickerdoodles when I returned home! They’re full of the same sweet, fruity, cozy, perfectly-cinnamon-spiced flavors as that iconic dessert. However, unlike a traditional apple pie, they’re much easier and faster to make, and they have built-in portion control and just 100 calories too!
To make these cookies healthier, you’ll start with white whole wheat flour. White whole wheat flour is made by finely grinding a special type of white wheat, whereas regular whole wheat flour comes from a heartier variety of red wheat. This gives white whole wheat flour a lighter taste and texture, similar to that of all-purpose flour, but it still has the same health benefits as regular whole wheat.
Note: Whole wheat pastry flour would also work, and I’ve included my favorite gluten-free option in the Notes section, too!
Next, you’ll skip the granulated sugar and sweeten these cookies with coconut sugar instead. Coconut sugar is exactly what it sounds like—sugar that comes from coconuts. However, it does not actually taste like coconuts! It has a hint of caramel-like flavor, just like brown sugar, but it has the same pourable texture as granulated sugar. You can find it at many health-oriented grocery stores, some regular grocery stores (including Walmart and Target!), and online.
For that fruity pie flavor, you’ll use finely diced apple. I always leave the skin on mine. (I’m too lazy to peel them!) You want to slice the apple very small, no larger than the size of miniature chocolate chips, because this ensures the cookies will bake evenly.
Before mixing them into the cookie dough, you’ll sauté the apples with a little cinnamon. This softens the apples so they aren’t crisp or crunchy after baking! It also cooks out and reduces some of their juices so they don’t release those into the cookie dough while baking. It doesn’t take long to sauté them—just a few minutes!—so don’t skip this step.
And of course, you can’t have snickerdoodles without that cinnamon sugar coating! You’ll use coconut sugar again for this step. Roll the dough in the cinnamon sugar, generously coating every little bit of that dough for the best slightly-crisp-after-baking, extra caramely oh-so-irresistible-flavor finish.
Then grab a cookie—or three—along with a glass of milk and enjoy! And when you bake them, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees that I’ll see the notification from you! ?) I’d love to see your snickerdoodles and feature them in my Sunday Spotlight series!
| Apple Pie Snickerdoodles | | Print |
- for the cookies
- 2 cups (240g) finely diced apple
- 2 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
- 2 cups (240g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 tbsp (56g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tbsp (15mL) vanilla extract
- 1 cup (192g) coconut sugar
- for the coating
- 6 tbsp (72g) coconut sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- To prepare the apples, lightly coat a medium pan with nonstick cooking spray, and briefly preheat over medium heat. Add the apples and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon cinnamon. Cook, stirring frequently, for 4-6 minutes or until the apples have softened and the juice appears to have evaporated from the pan. Let the apples cool completely.
- To prepare the cookies, whisk together the flour, remaining 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, baking powder, cornstarch, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together the butter, eggs, and vanilla in a separate bowl. Stir in the coconut sugar. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Fold in the cooled apples. If too sticky to roll, chill the cookie dough for 30 minutes.
- To prepare the coating, stir together the coconut sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
- Roll the dough into 24 spheres, and place onto the prepared baking sheets. (If the dough is sticky, use a spoon and spatula to drop it into rounded scoops onto the baking sheets instead.) Working with one sphere at a time, drop it into the cinnamon mixture, and roll it around until it’s completely coated. Place the sphere back onto the baking sheet, and repeat with the remaining dough.
- Flatten each sphere to about half of its original height. Sprinkle the tops with a little more of the cinnamon mixture, if desired. Bake at 350°F for 10-13 minutes. Cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
For the gluten-free flour, use as follows: ½ cup (60g) millet flour, ½ cup (60g) tapioca flour, 6 tablespoons (42g) coconut flour, and 1 ½ teaspoons xanthan gum. Many store-bought gluten-free flour blends may also work, if measured like this.
Whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the white whole wheat flour. Regular whole wheat flour may be substituted in a pinch, but the cookies will have a more prominent “wheat-y” flavor.
The cornstarch helps keep the cookies soft and chewy.
I highly recommend using butter instead of coconut oil for the best taste!
Brown sugar may be substituted for the coconut sugar in the cookies, and granulated sugar or Truvia may be substituted for the coconut sugar in the coating. If either of these substitutions are used, the cookies will no longer be clean eating friendly.
When rolling the cookie dough in the cinnamon sugar mixture, it sometimes doesn’t stick very well. As long as you sprinkle extra on the tops of the cookies just before baking, it’ll be fine.
You’ll only use about half of the coating, which is accounted for in the Nutrition Information below.
If the cookies stick to the silicone baking mat or parchment paper, carefully slide a knife underneath each cookie to loosen.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low calorie}
View Nutrition Information
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It’s always acceptable to eat apple pie at ANY time of year! 🙂 These cookies are a dream! Also, dessert calories shouldn’t count ever 😉
YESSSSSS!!!! Please, please, PLEASE let that be true about dessert calories!! That would be heavenly! ??
YUM! These look LOADED with cinnamon- my kind of cookie! <3 <3 <3
They’re perfect for cinnamon-aholics! (I would totally know… 😉 )
I made these cookies today and they are amazing!! I used half brown sugar half coconut sugar and a small amount of regular cinnamon-sugar to roll them in. I also made the gluten free version. It definitely took some extra time to chop all those apples teeny tiny but hey it was worth it. I will definitely make these again thanks Amy!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cookies Anna!! That means so much to me that you’d make them again — thank you for sharing that with me! 🙂
These turned out to be a cakey cookie, not a regular chewy crunchy snickerdoodle cookies. Not a texture I like in a cookie. It could actually pass for a muffin top. I looked at the recipe again to see if I had missed anything and I just had to question the cup to grams equivalent. For example the 1 cup of coconut sugar has a 192 grams but when I weighed a cup of sugar, it is nowhere near 192g.
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe May! That sounds disappointing — and not like how these cookies should turn out at all! They should be chewy on the inside with a slight crunch from the sugar coating (not muffin-like!), so I’d love to work with you to figure out what happened. 🙂 When you weighed 1 cup of your coconut sugar, how much did it weigh? With my coconut sugar, 1 teaspoon = 4 grams, so 1 cup (48 teaspoons) = 192 grams. Did you measure by cups or grams? Also, did you make any modifications to the recipe, including those listed in the Notes section? How long did you chill the cookie dough? How long did you bake your cookies, and did you flatten them before baking? Once I know your answers to all of those questions, we should be able to solve the problem so your next batch has the correct texture!