This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
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
- Make your cinnamon/sugar mixture by combining 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Set aside.
- 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
- cinnamon + sugar mix, (1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Make the granulated sugar + cinnamon mixture by combining and set aside.
- 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 made these with Werthers Carmel apple caramels and they came out AMAZING!!
Made about 3 batches for a wedding now making another batch for my daughter’s gym team!!
I have a bride who is requesting fall flavored cookies for her wedding in October 2026. She picked the caramel apple cookies. I’ve never made a cookie like this before. So I need to do them like bakery style, so I did the recipe. I did reduce the white chips by 1/4 cup, they are so sweet alone. So then I weigh a couple sample cookies, I did the regular size, those came out to flat (even though I added another 1/2 cup of flour, it rained here so bad, I think next time I’ll adjust to 3/4 or 1 cup especially if it rains). So I got a 3 ounce cookie, is the height and size I was looking for to present as a bakery style cookie. I made this batch and my son and his wife came over for Easter. I asked if they liked them because I was recipe testing, they both said they LOVED them, so I have 9 left out of that whole batch. Thanks for the great recipes. The flavor also enhances the next day.