These applesauce cookies are soft, tender, and lightly spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg for a cozy homemade cookie that feels simple and nostalgic. If you’re looking for cookies made with applesauce, this easy recipe turns a pantry staple into a lightly sweet dessert with a soft texture and just enough warmth.
Why You’ll Love These Applesauce Cookies
Once you make these old school cookies, they will become a family favorite. I love these cookies because they are:
- Healthier, lower in sugar and fat – Because they’re made with applesauce, they contain less fat and don’t have as much added sugar than other cookie recipes.
- Super versatile – These apple cookies can be made with homemade or store-bought applesauce.
- Perfect for fall – These cinnamon applesauce cookies are sweet and fragrant and spiced to perfection. So grab a glass of milk and enjoy your new favorite cookie.
What You’ll Need
You can easily find all of these delicious applesauce cookie ingredients at your local grocery store if you don’t already have them. A full list of ingredients with measurements for this recipe is available in the printable recipe card below.
- Applesauce – the main ingredient in this recipe. You can use either store-bought or homemade applesauce. For more fragrant cookies, I recommend using my homemade applesauce. If using store-bought applesauce, choose a variety without added sugar. You can even try using pear sauce or Cranberry Applesauce instead of applesauce.
- Unsalted butter
- Light brown sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- All purpose flour
- Fine sea salt
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Ground cinnamon
- Ground nutmeg
- White chocolate
Variations
Applesauce cookies are very versatile, so you can experiment and customize this sweet treat as desired.
- Add extra spices for a signature fall flavor: allspice, ginger, cloves or star anise.
- Extra texture with candied or dried fruit: citrus, ginger, berries, golden raisins and more.
- Nuts for days: walnut, pistachio, hazelnut or almond are only a few choices.
- Extracts can take you the extra mile: adding a bit of almond extract will make the cookies taste more Middle Eastern. A bit of citrus extract can make the applesauce cookies fresher and more summery.
- Drizzle or icing: anything from white chocolate, dark chocolate, peanut butter or salted caramel can change the flavor of your applesauce cookies.
- Deeper flavors: replace the vanilla extract in the recipe with a dash of maple syrup, golden syrup or even molasses for a richer, deeper flavor.
- Chips: add milk chocolate chips or caramel chips, anywhere from 1/2 cup to a full cup.
How to Make Applesauce Cookies (Step-by-Step)
Apart from their deliciousness, the best part of these applesauce cookies is how easy they are to make. All you need is one bowl to mix everything.
- Cream butter and sugar until fluffy, then mix in the egg and applesauce. Get things good and combined at this point. After adding the dry ingredients, you don’t want to mix more than you have to.
- Sift or whisk together the dry ingredients so they are evenly distributed. This will prevent pockets of salt or leavener in your cookies. Add the flour mixture to wet ingredients until just mixed. Overmixing makes tough cookies.
- Drop dough onto prepared baking sheet. Place small scoops of dough onto the cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and pat down.
- Bake in a preheated oven until golden brown.
- Allow to cool. Remove and allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack. Moving them too soon runs the risk that they will break. But allowing them to cool on the sheet can run the risk of overcooking.
These cookies are fuss free and they look rustic – that’s their charm! I like to decorate mine with melted white chocolate or dust with cinnamon and icing sugar.
FAQs
Applesauce can be used as a healthier alternative to some or all of the fat in cookie recipes, but more so for flavor and texture. It can result in softer, more cake-like cookies with a subtle apple flavor.
Applesauce is used in place of fats (oil, butter or shortening) and to keep baked goods soft and moist.
More Delicious Apple Desserts
Besides these yummy cookies, we have lots of other great apple recipes. Here are some of our favorites.
Applesauce Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter , softened
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 2/3 cup applesauce
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Decoration
- 1/3 cup white chocolate , melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Cream the butter with the sugar until fluffy, approximatelyt 2-3 minutes.
- Add the egg, then mix again to combine. Pour in the applesauce and mix once more to fully incorporate.
- Separately, whisk or sift the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Using a spatula, combine the dry and wet ingredients, mixing until just combined.
- Using a cookie scoop or a tablespoon, place the cookie dough onto the cookie sheet and pat down to flatten. Leave 1 or 2 inches spaces between the cookies, as they will spread when baking.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until the surface looks golden. Let cool on the sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once cooled, drizzle with melted white chocolate.
- If you've tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was in the comments or ratings!
Notes
Nutrition
what is the box grater for???? Cookies are in the oven now – very sticky dough!
That was a typo!
I can’t find how much of the ingredients for apple sauce cookies we need and how much it makes
It’s on the recipe card- there is a jump to recipe button at the top, but you probably scrolled past it to get to the comments section. 🙂
This is great. I made according to recipe for the first batch.
Because I can leave nothing alone, I made a second batch adding Toasted and slightly sugared pecans as well Increased the applesauce to 1 cup. Dusted with powdered sugar instead of chocolate. Equally good but woth nuts.
I hear ya- the hardest part of writing a blog for me is actually writing down the exact recipe and resisting the urge to eyeball it all. Thanks for the feedback!
At the top of your cookie recipe you said that baking soda kept the cookies soft and made them moist. But, my dear, you are only partially correct. Baking soda releases a carbon dioxide gas when mixed with an acid and helps leaven the dough, creating a soft, fluffy cookie. It also creates a chewy texture and helps the cookies brown.
Tried this for the first time. They did not spread much. they were soft but not moist. more like chewy. I used Namaste GF baking mix which they claim is a substitute for regular flour in any recipe cup for cup. wonder if I should use less of that flour or maybe more applesauce?
Hi Richard, I am not really an expert at GF baking and we don’t test flour alternatives, so I’m not sure how to make it better, but I’m sure someone else will chime in.
I had an amazing time making these with my daughters. The cookies were soft and delicious. Thank you!!
These cookies are perfect for when you want a sweet treat. The applesauce adds sweetness and also keeps them moist.
What a great way to use applesauce! I loved how the cookies turned out! Thank you!
These cookies turned out perfecty! Thank you for the recipe!
Applesauce cookies looks incredible, love the variations you have listed, with all those suggestions, these delightful cookies can never be boring!! Thanks for sharing!