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One bite of these cookies will make you feel like you’ve got a sweater on with crunchy leaves beneath your feet! With a strong, sweet apple flavor paired with salted caramel, this cookie is one you will want to make over and over again.
Caramel Apple Cookies
Now listen, caramel and apple belong in a cookie. Trust me, you haven’t had a cookie like this before. My neighbor (my designated taste tester 🙂 ) has been gushing about this cookie for WEEKS.. she even said it might be her favorite cookie I’ve ever made. Which, honestly, is saying something. I take her multiple cookies every week.. for like the past two years. Perks of being a food blogger’s neighbor.
Let’s get ready to rumble…preheat those ovens!
Ingredients needed to make Caramel Apple Cookies
For a full list of ingredients and amounts with numbered instructions, scroll to the bottom to the printable recipe card.
- Apple Cider– I like using freshly pressed apple cider, but any kind of apple cider will work. We will bring the cider to a boil and let the cider reduce before adding it to the cookie dough. This really helps bring that apple flavor to the cookie we want.
- Butter– I always use salted butter.
- Granulated Sugar
- Brown Sugar
- Egg– just one for this recipe!
- Vanilla Extract– Adding the vanilla extract really takes this cookie to the next level.
- All-Purpose Flour– I always fluff and scoop my flour.
- Baking soda– We use baking soda in this recipe to help get those crispy edges and a chewier cookie.
- Salt
- Apple– just one apple and we will chop it finely before adding it to the cookie dough.
- Sea Salt Caramels– Use your favorite soft caramel here, you’ll cut it into small pieces prior to putting it in the cookie dough.
- White Chocolate chips
- Cinnamon and Sugar– to roll the cookie dough in before baking!
How to Make Caramel Apple Cider Cookies
- First, simmer 2 cups of apple cider down to 1/4 cup. Depending on if you use fresh apple cider or not, this can be quite thick, like a syrup. This will take a solid 10-15 minutes, so feel free to keep an eye on it while you make the rest of your dough.
- Cream together butter and sugars until light in color and fluffy in texture. Next, add in the wet ingredients, egg and vanilla.
- Add in the dry ingredients, flour, soda and salt. The dough will be quite dry at this point, once your cider has reduced down, add it to the dough. It will have enough liquid to help bring the dough together.
- Chop your apple and caramel pieces and then add them along with the white chocolate chips to the dough and mix it together.
- Scoop your cookies out into small 1 1/2 tbsp portions, I like using a #50 cookie scoop. When rolling the cookie into a ball, try to keep the caramel pieces on the inside of the ball that way they don’t melt out of the cookie.
- Roll the cookies in cinnamon and sugar, generously, obviously.
- Bake the cookies at 350° for 9-11 minutes. The cookies will spread, puff up slightly and the center of the cookie will no longer look wet and doughy.
- Let the cookies cool for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack. Best served warm!
Why did my cookies spread too thin?
Sometimes this has to do with your elevation and climate. If your cookies spread more than you’d like, I would suggest adding up to 1/4 cup of flour until you get the thickness of cookie you desire.
Freezing leftover cookies
Believe it or not, these cookies freeze wonderfully! Just freeze the cookies on a cookie sheet for 1 hour and then you can toss them all in a freezer zip top bag without the cookies sticking to each other. Just let the cookies sit at room temp for about 45 minutes prior to serving.
More Cookie Recipes
Caramel Apple Cider Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups apple cider
- 1 cup salted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup finely cubed apple pieces
- 8 sea salt caramels, cut into pieces
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Add the apple cider In a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil. Allow the cider to simmer until the liquid has reduced down to ¼ of a cup.
- While the apple cider is simmering, cream together the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar with either a stand mixer or electric hand mixer. Mix for 2 minutes. The mixture should be light in color and fluffy in texture.
- Scrape the sides of the bowl and add in the egg and vanilla. Mix until incorporated.
- Add the flour, soda and salt to the bowl. Mix until about halfway incorporated.
- Stop the mixer and add the ¼ cup of reduced apple cider to the bowl and mix until well combined. The dough will be soft.
- Add the cubed apples, caramel pieces and white chocolate chips. Mix until distributed evenly.
- Scoop the dough out into 1 ½ tbsp portions and roll each portion into a ball. Try your best to keep the caramel on the inside of the cookie dough, as the caramel will melt out if it is on the outside.
- Roll each cookie dough ball into the cinnamon and sugar mixture and arrange on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Bake at 350° F for 9-11 minutes or until the cookies have spread, puffed up slightly and no longer look wet and glossy in the center of the cookie.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 10 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Enjoy!
I don’t even know where to start. These are AHmazing. I described them before baking them and my husband said it didn’t sound like “his thing”. When he took his first bite his eyes did that pop out of the socket thing you only see in old school cartoons and Space Jam.
The flavors combine so perfectly and the white chocolate chips lock it in to make it really taste like the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory caramel apples. Admittedly, they were a bit labor intensive (used a mixing bowl, pot, and bowl before baking) but were definitely worth it. Next time I’ll double or triple the recipe.
These cookies are like caramel apples but better. My husband thought they wouldn’t taste as good as they sound and couldn’t have been more wrong. They’re amazing.
Making them was more labor intensive than I anticipated yet so worth it. I will be making them again, but will double or triple the recipe. Also I will not mix in the caramels but stick them in the cookie dough balls as I roll them.
Cookies were a big hit. But it took me longer than 10-15 minutes to simmer the cider. I’m guessing it was more like 30-45 minutes and I was unsure if you were supposed to add the cider while it was hot or cool it first? I added about a 1/4 cup more flour as my dough seemed super wet. I was unsuccessful finding the exact caramels mentioned so i just used Kraft caramel bits. Thanks for the recipe, delicious.
How much cinnamon and how much sugar for the cinnamon sugar?
Definitely a winner. Love these cookies! Thanks for sharing!
I use about 1/2 cup of sugar to 1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon.
The most delicious fall cookie! I drizzled mine with a homemade salted caramel drizzle to take them up a notch. Huge crowd pleaser!
We absolutely love these cookies! My kids beg for me to make them.