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Celebrate the onset of fall with these soft and chewy Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies! They’re baked with fresh apples, old-fashioned rolled oats, and creamy peanut butter, then drizzled with sweet icing. All you need is 10 ingredients!
Table of Contents
We love baking cookies any time of year, but especially during the fall season when the leaves are falling and the weather begins to cool down. If you love our Classic Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, we think you’re going to love these Vegan Apple Oatmeal Cookies filled with sweet apple chunks, chewy oats, warm cinnamon, and pure maple syrup. The flavors and textures balance out quite nicely and yield the best, chewy cookie. You’ll be hooked after the first batch!
Ingredients You’ll Need for these apple cinnamon oatmeal cookies:
- Flax Egg: In order to make these cookies vegan, we opted for a flax egg instead of a real egg. To make, simply combine 1 part ground flaxseed meal with 3 parts water.
- Pure maple syrup: Adds a natural sweetness to the cookies while complimenting the flavors in the apple and cinnamon. If preferred, agave syrup is a good substitute.
- Coconut oil: Helps moisten the cookies, allows them to spread, and makes them perfectly soft. If you don’t enjoy the flavor of coconut, opt for refined coconut oil or use melted vegan butter sticks.
- Peanut butter: We love the additional rich and chewy texture peanut butter adds to the cookie dough. For best results, use a natural, runny peanut butter that’s easy to pour. If you are nut-free, opt for sunflower seed butter.
- Rolled oats: For the best chewy, oatmeal cookie, we highly recommend using rolled oats or old-fashioned oats instead of instant oats or quick oats. Instant oats, while similar, are a more processed type of oat and will not hold their texture very well.
- Flour: We have only tested these apple cinnamon oatmeal cookies using all-purpose flour. If you are gluten-free and want to experiment with this recipe, we’d recommend using a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend as a 1:1 substitution for the all-purpose flour. We regularly have good luck using Bob’s Red Mill’s gluten-free flour blends in our gluten-free recipes.
- Baking powder: The leavening agent in these cookies helps them rise and become light and fluffy in texture.
- Ground cinnamon: A classic warm, aromatic spice in apple cinnamon cookies! If desired, you can also use pumpkin pie spice or apple pie spice.
- Apple: We like to use sweet apples such as Red Delicious, Gala, or Honeycrisp apples, but any apple of choice will work. Tart apples, like granny smith apples, will give these cookies a similar flavor to Vegan Apple Pie!
Optional Glaze Ingredients
- Powdered sugar: Also known as icing sugar or confectioner’s sugar, powdered sugar is the base of the homemade glaze and a source of sweetness. To ensure your sugar is vegan, opt for organic.
- Non-dairy milk: Helps thin out the icing and create a thick, pourable consistency.
- Lemon juice: Adds a tanginess and brightness that balances out the sweetness. Without it, the flavor of the icing will fall flat.
Equipment Needed
- Mixing bowls
- Whisk
- Spatula
- Baking sheet
- Parchment paper or silicone mat
- Tablespoon-sized cookie scoop
How to Make Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies
- Prepare the flax egg. In a small bowl, whisk together the flaxseed meal and water. Set aside for 15 minutes to thicken.
- Whisk together the wet ingredients. In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the thickened flax egg, maple syrup, coconut oil, peanut butter, and vanilla extract until creamy and smooth.
- Mix in the dry ingredients. In the same large bowl with the wet ingredients, add the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Mix until well combined.
- Fold in the diced apple. This is usually easiest to do using a silicone spatula. Fold the apples in gently until just combined and evenly distributed.
- Chill the dough for 30 minutes. Cover the bowl with a clean towel or plastic wrap and place the bowl in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
- Scoop the cookie dough into 1-tablespoon balls. Once the dough is sufficiently chilled, use a tablespoon-sized scoop, scoop the cookie dough into cookie dough balls, and place them spread out on a prepared cookie sheet. We are typically able to make 12 cookies.
- Bake cookies for 15-17 minutes. Press the chopped apples into the cookie dough to ensure they don’t fall out, then bake for 15-17 minutes, or until golden.
- Allow the cookies to cool. Let the cookies cool for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Prepare the glaze. While the cookies cool, prepare the optional glaze, if desired. In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, non-dairy milk, and lemon juice. If it is too thick, add more liquid 1/2 teaspoon at a time. If it is too thin, add powdered sugar 1/2 tablespoon at a time.
- Drizzle the cookies. Once the chewy oatmeal cookies are cooled to room temperature, drizzle them liberally with the sweet glaze and enjoy!
Storage Instructions
Once baked, these healthy apple oatmeal cookies will store best in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Before stacking cookies, allow the glaze to harden completely.
These cookies will also do well in the freezer. To freeze, bake them as instructed, ice them if desired, then place them back on a baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the freezer and freeze the cookies until solid. Transfer frozen cookies to an airtight freezer-safe bag or container and freeze for up to 3 months. If freezing in a container, it can be helpful to place a sheet of parchment paper or wax paper between layers of cookies.
Cooking Baking Tips
- Don’t skip the chill time! This step helps prevent the cookies from spreading too quickly and falling flat in the oven. It also helps chill the coconut oil or vegan butter in the cookie, leading to the perfect chewy texture.
- Gently combine the dry and wet ingredients. As you may know, over-mixing cookie dough can over-activate the gluten and yield tough cookies. When combining dry ingredients and wet ingredients, it is important to gently fold the dough together until just combined.
- Use a 1-tablespoon cookie scoop. We developed this recipe and bake time to work for cookie dough balls that are 1 tablespoon in size. If you scoop these soft apple oatmeal cookies with a larger cookie scoop, the bake time will need an adjustment.
- Sift the powdered sugar. If you are making the cookie glaze, it can be helpful to sift the powdered sugar before mixing with plant-based milk and lemon juice. This will prevent lumps and make the icing as smooth as possible.
More Fall Desserts you may enjoy:
Make sure you tag us on Instagram @sweetsimplevegan and @consciouschris and hashtag #sweetsimplevegan if you recreate any of our recipes, we love to see your photos!
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Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies Recipe
- Total Time: 27 minutes
- Yield: 12 cookies
Description
Celebrate the onset of fall with these soft and chewy Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies! They’re baked with fresh apples, old-fashioned rolled oats, creamy peanut butter, then drizzled with sweet icing. All you need is 10 ingredients!
Ingredients
- 1 flax egg (1 tablespoon flaxseed meal + 3 tablespoons water)*
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup coconut oil or vegan butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter (or any nut or seed butter of choice)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cup rolled oats (gluten-free if needed)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour*
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup finely diced red apple (about 1 medium), about 1/4-inch cubes
Glaze (Optional)
- 1/2 cup organic powdered sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon unsweetened non-dairy milk
- 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice (or more almond milk)
Instructions
- Prepare the flax egg by mixing together the flaxseed meal and water in a small bowl and setting it aside for 15 minutes to thicken.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the prepared flax egg, maple syrup, coconut oil, peanut butter, and vanilla extract until smooth. Next, add in the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt and mix until well combined. Lastly, fold in the diced apple until it is evenly distributed and well incorporated. Cover the bowl with a clean towel and place it into the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a reusable silicone mat.
- Using a tablespoon sized scooper, drop the cookie dough into ~12 rounded scoops onto the prepared sheet and flatten slightly. You may need to press the apples in a bit to ensure that they do not fall out. Place the tray into the oven and bake for 15-17 minutes, or until golden. Cool the cookies for at least 10 minutes and then transfer them to a wire cooling rack.
- While the cookies cool, prepare the glaze. Whisk together the ingredients until smooth. If the glaze is too thick, add more liquid 1/2 teaspoon at a time (a little goes a LONG way). If it is too thin, add powdered sugar 1/2 tablespoon at a time. Once the cookies have cooled, drizzle them liberally with the glaze.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- We have not tested this recipe out with gluten-free flour, but we have seen a ton of 1:1 gf flour blends on the market that we think would probably work in this. If you do test it out, please let us know in the comments below.
- You may use chia seeds instead of flax seeds as well to make a chia egg.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 17 minutes
- Category: Dessert, Cookies
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition facts label provided by Nutri Fox.
Disclaimer: The nutritional information shown is an estimate provided by an online calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional’s advice. This page may contain affiliate links, which simply means that we earn a commission if you purchase through those links, but your price remains the same. Thank you for supporting Sweet Simple Vegan!
The rich taste of cinnamon in these cookies really provides an explosion of flavor that turns your day sunny side up and the CBD really provides the health factor that really makes eating these cookies an amazing experience.
Just wondering if I use sea salt instead of regular table salt would I use more than 1/4 of a teaspoon for these delicious sounding apple cinnamon oatmeal cookies?
Thank you so much. I’m really looking forward to baking these cookies.
I would just use the same amount! 🙂
Thank you so much for the content of your website. I am vegan and enjoy looking at all of your recipes and trying some. However,please please please could you use all black letters. The gray is unreadable most of the time. I cannot see what I am writing, so my apologies if there are misspellings or errors. The only way I can get through the gray type is with a magnifying glass and even then I cannot see all of it Thank you for your consideration of this request. Again, I like your website very much – what I can read/see!
Thank you so much for the feedback, Beth! We really appreciate you letting us know.