Apple Snickerdoodles

These apple snickerdoodles combine the cozy fall flavors of brown butter, warm cinnamon, and caramelized apples. The gooey warm apples inside a chewy, cinnamon sugar-coated snickerdoodle makes these an addicting treat to get you into the fall baking mood!

This recipe is adapted from my brown butter snickerdoodles, which happens to be one of the most popular recipes on the blog! So if you liked that one, and you like apples, you are going to love these apple snickerdoodles.

Why you’ll love these apple snickerdoodles

• Fun twist on a classic! Snickerdoodles are such an amazing cookie, and adding caramelized apples just makes them even more tasty!
• Caramelized apples. The apples are diced finely and tossed with dark brown sugar, cinnamon, a pinch of salt, and a lemon squeeze, then caramelized over the stove. They get added to the wet ingredients when making the cookie dough. There is the perfect amount of apple in every bite!
• Brown butter adds an incredible amount of flavor to these cookies! I tested this recipe with and without browning the butter, and they are much better with that toasty, nutty, almost caramelized brown butter flavor.

Ingredient notes & substitutions

See the recipe card at the end of this post for the full list of ingredients & their quantities.

• Unsalted butter: European-style butter is preferred as it adds so much more flavor to the cookies than American-style.
• Vanilla: I use vanilla bean paste when I want a very strong vanilla flavor, but good quality, pure vanilla extract works just as well in these cookies!
• Apples: I used gala and honeycrisp apples when testing this recipe and they were both delish! Granny smith would also work well in these apples. Feel free to mix & match!
• Dark brown sugar adds more moisture & flavor to the cookies, and also makes them a beautiful golden brown color.

Step by step instructions

See the recipe card at the end of this post for the full ingredient list and recipe instructions.

STEP 1: Caramelize the apples. Peel & finely dice the apples. Toss them with the dark brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and lemon juice until combined. Heat the apples on the stove and cook them down until browned & caramelized. About 10 minutes over low-medium heat. Set aside in the fridge to chill.

STEP 2: Brown the butter. Melt the butter in a pot over medium heat. Once completely melted, the butter will crack/sizzle for a few minutes. Let it do this while stirring occasionally. Once the butter stops rapidly bubbling, it will begin to foam up in the pan. Gently stir until you can see golden milk solids floating in the butter & the butter is golden brown. Remove from the heat & pour the butter into a different container. Cool in the fridge for 10 minutes.

STEP 3: Whisk dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon, salt, and cornstarch. Set aside.

STEP 4: Combine wet ingredients. Separately, whisk together the cooled brown butter, dark brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla until combined. Add the egg and egg yolk and whisk until smooth. Add the cooled caramelized apples and gently fold until evenly incorporated.

STEP 5: Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and gently fold until the flour is just mixed in and a dough forms. Tightly cover and chill the dough for 2-3 hours.

STEP 6: Scoop the dough. Once the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar and ground cinnamon for the coating. Use a cookie scoop and roll the dough in the cinnamon sugar until generously coated. I used a 1.125 oz cookie scoop, approximately 40 grams or 2 heaping tablespoons. Space the cookies 2-3 inches apart on the baking sheet.

STEP 7: Bake! Bake for 12-14 minutes until the edges are set and golden brown but the tops are puffy and slightly underdone. They will continue baking on the pan once removed from the oven. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely or enjoy slightly warm!

Expert baking tips

• Use a kitchen scale. Baking with a kitchen scale is more accurate than cup measurements, and it’s easier cleanup!
• Don’t skip the chill time! Chilling the dough gives the ingredients a chance to emulsify and develop flavor while also reducing spread.
• Finely diced apples incorporate seamlessly into the batter and allow for a good amount of apple in every bite!
• I love using a cookie scoop – it makes the process of scooping cookies much easier and cleaner!
• Cookie scoot for perfectly round cookies. Take something circular and gently scoot the cookies after they are removed from the oven. This makes the cookies the perfect circular shape. You can use a cookie cutter, mug, a glass storage container, etc.
  

Recipe FAQ

Baking in grams

I rely on gram measurements when testing recipes because they offer the highest level of accuracy (and less cleanup!). Unlike volume measurements, which can vary, grams provide a reliable and consistent standard. I carefully test all of my recipes using this kitchen scale, therefore I cannot guarantee the outcome when using volume measurements. However, volume measurements are available in the recipe card.

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