Apple Cinnamon Fall Cookie Recipe
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An Apple Cinnamon Fall Cookie recipe like this one, busting at the seams with fall flavors, might just be dubbed entirely applicious! This recipe is modified from a 1971 Betty Crocker Kitchens recipe for Old-Fashioned Apple Cookies. I hope you will enjoy as I have 🙂
This season’s pumpkin pie spice recipes began emerging in August, testimony to the sheer popularity of the stuff. But the best fall cookie recipes do not all have to begin with a can of pumpkin puree or finish with a maple glaze.
The delicious cookies I am sharing today are reminiscent of tiny apple pies…just in cookie form. Simple ingredients like brown sugar and tart apples are homogenized and morphed into a fall season delicious treat. This bake is a great way to use autumn’s riches with a cup of tea or a great cup of coffee and these marvelously chewy cookies.
Apple Cinnamon Fall Cookie Recipe
I think I have baked them all, some for better and some for worse. Remember, I am NOT a very good baker. These? These are different. They’re a cross between Country Apple Pie and Snickerdoodle Muffins with Apples…in cookie form! Not your typical cookie dough balls studded with butterscotch chips or cinnamon sugar.
These cookies are reminiscent of apple pie or fresh apple cider, their key ingredients evident upon first bite. We are talking apples, cinnamon, brown sugar, and warm vanilla all mingling to create tasty cookies, tender cookies, a seriously soft cookie.
This recipe is a spinoff of a 1971 Betty Crocker Kitchens recipe for Old-Fashioned Apple Cookies. I have modified it to incorporate my personal favorite part of an apple pie, the crust.
Do You Have What Is Needed to Bake a Batch of These Apple Cinnamon Fall Cookies? Check the List!
- refrigerated pie crust
- unsalted butter
- granulated sugar
- brown sugar, may be light or dark
- room temperature eggs
- vanilla
- all-purpose flour
- sea salt
- baking powder
- baking soda
- apple pie spice
- fresh nutmeg
- 1 large Granny Smith apple or 2 small Granny Smith apples
optional
- toasted pecans
Simple Apple Pie Cookies
There are all types of cookies to bake up for that celebratory first day of autumn, but these cookies with their intense apple flavor are among my favorite fall cookies. The bake time is minimal at only 15 minutes, and I allow them to cool directly on the cookie sheets once pulled from the oven for another 15 minutes.
Enjoy them as they are or couple them as sandwich cookies with a scoop of French vanilla in between and serve them for a festive special occasion. Last week, I baked a double batch of these and offed half to my girlfriend whose daughter had two upcoming weekend school bake sales.
Additional Classic Southern Cookie Recipes from left to right include Buttery Whipped Shortbread Cookies, Fudgy Pecan Bourbon Balls, Chocolate Ginger Molasses Tea Cookies, Sweet Southern Pecan Tassies, Christmassy Pineapple Cherry Nut Cookies, and Deeply Southern Tea Cakes.
How to Make This Fall Cookie Recipe?
Prep and Preheat
Part of the charm and individuality of this cookie is the use of fully baked pie crust in the cookie dough. Begin by preheating your oven according to the package directions on the box of refrigerated dough, or, and if you have your own homemade killer pie dough recipe, start rolling.
Line three cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll the pie crust out onto one of the sheets.
Bake the pie dough according to the directions and lift using the parchment edges to a wire rack to cool completely. When the crust is completely cooled, begin breaking into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.
While the crust is baking, core and chop the apples into a nice dice. I peel one apple and leave the other intact, but that choice is yours. Set aside.
Keep/turn your oven to 350°F and have the two remaining parchment-lined sheets at the ready.
Mix Dry Ingredients
To a small bowl, add all-purpose flour, both baking powder and baking soda, apple pie spice, freshly grated nutmeg, and some sea salt. Use a wire whisk to mix all very well. Set aside.
Cream Butter and Sugars
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the unsalted butter and both brown and granulated sugars. Beat on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes or until the mixture is very light and very fluffy.
Add two room temperature eggs and a hint of vanilla extract and beat another 2 minutes. With your mixer turned off, be sure to scrape down the sides of your bowl using a rubber spatula several times during the process.
Create a Dough
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture on low speed until both wet and dry ingredients are combined and no white flour streaks remain. Detach the bowl from the stand mixer.
Using a sturdy wooden spoon, fold in the chopped apples. Next add the broken bits of pie crust and fold in. If you are using toasted chopped pecans, add them now.
Note that it will be a somewhat stiff cookie dough and the folding process will require some muscle. I do not try to get everything incorporated perfectly, rather I portion out cookie dough balls onto my baking sheets and any loose apple or pie crust that remains in the bowl I simply poke into the cookies prior to baking.
Bake Cookies
Use a small cookie scoop to portion out 30 equally sized cookies. Should any loose apple or pie crust remain in the bowl, retrieve and press them into the tops of those dough balls that look like they may have less apple or crust than another.
These cookies will spread during the bake, however surprisingly, not to that great an extent. Therefore, I am able to space out 3 rows of 5 about 1-inch apart on my sheets.
If your sheets are smaller, you may need a third parchment-lined cookie sheet to complete the bake. I also like to rotate my sheets to alternate racks halfway through baking.
Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until the edges seem golden and set. Note that the centers will be slightly doughy, but the cookies will continue baking as they rest atop the cookie sheets on the wire cooling racks.
Allow the cookies to cool completely before enjoying. Be sure to store any leftover cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Again, I cannot praise the use of metal cookie tins enough for storing your bakes.
Apple Cinnamon Fall Cookie Recipe
Equipment
- large cookie sheets
- wire rack for cooling
- stand mixer or electric handheld mixer
- sturdy wooden spoon
Ingredients
- 1 refrigerated pie crust
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup brown sugar light or dark; packed
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 heaping tablespoon apple pie spice
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg freshly grated
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 very large or 2 small Granny Smith apples peeled or unpeeled, cored and chopped into a small dice
optional
- ½ cup pecans toasted and chopped
Instructions
- Preheat your oven according to the package directions on the box of refrigerated dough. Line three cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll the pie crust out onto one of the sheets. Bake the pie dough according to the directions. Lift using the parchment edges to a wire rack to cool completely. When the crust is completely cooled, begin breaking into bite-sized pieces. Set aside. NOTE: Keep/turn your oven to 350°F and have the two remaining parchment-lined sheets at the ready.
- In a small bowl, whisk all-purpose flour, both baking powder and baking soda, apple pie spice, fresh nutmeg, and sea salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter and both sugars. Beat on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes or until the mixture is very light and very fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla extract and beat another 2 minutes. With your mixer turned off, be sure to scrape down the sides of your bowl several times during the process.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture on low speed until both wet and dry ingredients are combined and no white flour streaks remain. Detach the bowl from the stand mixer. Use a wooden spoon to fold in the apples and pie crust. If using toasted chopped pecans, fold them in now, too. Note: this is stiff cookie dough. Portion out cookie dough balls onto baking sheets first. If there are pieces of apple or pie crust remaining in the bowl, press them into the cookies by hand prior to baking.
- Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until the edges seem golden and set. The centers will be slightly doughy. Remove the sheets from the oven and allow cookies to cool directly on the sheets for at least 15 minutes. Cookie centers will continue to bake while they cool down. Allow the cookies to cool completely before storing leftover cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
The nutrition value can vary depending on what product(s) you use. The information below is an estimate. Always use a calorie counter you are familiar with.
Please note that table salt and iodized salt are NOT substitutions for Kosher salt. Do not deviate unless otherwise specified.
Nutrition
If You Like This Recipe…
…you might also like these southern cookie recipes:
- Butter Pecan Cookies
- Pork Rind and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Brownie Mix Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Christmas Funfetti Butter Cookie Bites
These are a WINNER! They sure have an addictive power don’t they? I have to confess that I used dried apple soaked in apple juice because I was out of fresh apples. Also to save myself a little time the cookies were baked in a 24 mini muffin pan for 13 minutes. The addition of the pie crust (my Crisco crust)is stellar! I never would have done that without your creativity. WELL DONE
Penny, you’ve intrigued me – a mini muffin pan? Now I MUST try this. Talk about keeping things uniform! I love this and I am soooo glad you like the cookies. I feel like they should be on my counter during every season, not just autumn 🙂 xo
You could do peach…;)
…if there were a meme with me tapping my fingers on my cutting board deep in thought over this suggestion, I’d post it now! Peach…hmmm 🙂
Your recipes are simply amazing
Thank you, Gary! Cooked and baked with lots of love 🙂 Jenny
I love finding vintage recipes like these! They look so yummy and a perfect cookie for a cup of tea. Cannot wait to try!
Tammy, would you believe I’ve apparently been sitting on this recipe for over 30 years? My mom or grandmother must have torn it from the magazine, and it ended up in this ginormous stack of recipes and newspaper food articles that I have moved to and from now five different homes I’ve owned. The boxes are a treasure trove of fun recipes and bakes and I love going through them. It’s funniest when a torn page contains a coupon, and its expiration date reads something like June 30, 1972!
Jenny I have only just read this recipe and not yet baked them. But I want to mention that you are a genius!! The idea of pie crust in a cookie floors me. It is my favorite part of the pie as well, and I’m a Crisco woman btw. LOL I won’t be making these for a little while due to a list of other baking but I will be giving this a try. You know I’ll be in touch. 🙂
Do you know what Lady? YOU MOTIVATE ME. I’m so glad to receive your messages on here every so and so often because you truly motivate me! And knowing that you are a Crisco gal, and if you don’t mind the extra effort, avoid the store-bought pie crust and make your own. It will pay back tenfold on these. Once you’ve baked and sampled, I am anxious for your feedback because technically, I did modify a 50+ year old recipe. I know you and yours will honest and thoughtful, so looking forward 🙂 Have a Blessed Sunday, Friend.