Apple Oatmeal Cookies

These apple oatmeal cookies are perfect for fall! Packed with apples, walnuts, cinnamon, and raisins, they're a healthy, cozy autumn treat.

Apple Oatmeal Cookies

Baking these soft, chewy apple oatmeal cookies allowed me to cross off #1 on my fall checklist: fall baking! Now that we’ve moved back to Chicago and are experiencing fall to its fullest, I have all sorts of fall activities I want to do. I can’t wait to go apple picking, to carve pumpkins, and more! If you’re also someone who loves fall activities and getting in the fall spirit, I highly recommend making these apple oatmeal cookies as soon as you can. Packed with oats, raisins, apples, and walnuts, they’re basically fall in a cookie. 🙂

Apple oatmeal cookie recipe ingredients

Apple Oatmeal Cookies Ingredients

To make these apple oatmeal cookies, I use a mix of unprocessed, whole foods ingredients. Here’s what makes them so good (and good for you):

  • Flax adds fiber and omega-3s, and it acts as a binder, so these cookies are egg-free.
  • Oat flour makes them delightfully soft and puffy – no gluten necessary!
  • Creamy almond butter adds moisture and richness, so only 1/4 cup coconut oil is required here!
  • Whole rolled oats fill these with fiber, nutty flavor, and chewy oatmeal cookie texture.
  • Cinnamon adds cozy, spiced fall flavor.
  • Brown sugar gives them a lovely, caramelized sweetness. You’ll only need 1/2 cup!
  • Applesauce acts as a healthy substitute for some oil and sugar.
  • Raisins dot them with little pockets of sweetness.
  • Walnuts give these some crunch and make them rich and nutty.
  • And fresh apple adds juicy apple flavor! Any variety will work, but Gala and Granny Smith apples are my favorite.

Find the complete recipe with measurements below.

Diced apples and walnuts

Finely dice the apples, and stir the flaxseed and water together in a small bowl. Set them aside for 5 minutes to thicken!

While you wait, stir together the dry ingredients – the oat flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the almond butter, coconut oil, applesauce, vanilla, and brown sugar. When the flaxseed mixture has thickened, stir it in as well.

Apple Oatmeal Cookies dough in a bowl

Then, stir the whole rolled oats, apples, walnuts, and raisins into the bowl of dry ingredients. Pour in the wet ingredients and stir until just combined.

Apple cookies on a baking sheet

Use a 1-tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop the dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Transfer the cookies to a 350-degree oven and bake until the bottoms are nicely browned.

Let them cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal Cookies

Apple Oatmeal Cookies Variations

As written, this recipe is wonderful – the perfect hybrid between an apple cinnamon muffin and an oatmeal raisin cookie. If you feel like putting your personal twist on them, though, don’t hold back! Here are some ideas to change them up:

  • Skip the raisins. Use dried tart cherries or cranberries instead!
  • Spice it up! In addition to the cinnamon, add a dash of nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, or pumpkin or apple pie spice to your dough.
  • Try another nut. Chopped pecans or almonds would be equally at home here.
  • Go full-on oatmeal raisin. Nix the apple, and up the raisin measurement to 1/2 cup.
  • Or oatmeal chocolate chip 🙂 Instead of diced apples, stir in 1/2 cup chocolate chips.

Happy baking!

Apple Oatmeal Cookies recipe

More Favorite Fall Treats

If you love these apple oatmeal cookies, try one of these fall baking recipes next:

For more vegan dessert recipes, check out this post!

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Apple Oatmeal Cookies

rate this recipe:
5 from 12 votes
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Total Time: 27 minutes
Serves 24 -28 cookies
These apple oatmeal cookies are soft - they're more similar to these Carrot Breakfast Cookies or a yummy muffin top than to a classic flat & crisp/chewy cookie. Great for an afternoon snack, dessert, or lunch box treat!

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed + 4 tablespoons warm water
  • cups oat flour, blended from 2 cups whole rolled oats
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ cup very creamy almond butter
  • ¼ cup melted coconut oil
  • ¼ cup applesauce
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup Truvia Brown Sugar Blend or regular brown sugar
  • 1 cup whole rolled oats
  • ¾ cup finely chopped apple
  • ½ cup chopped walnuts
  • ¼ cup raisins

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • In a small bowl, combine the flaxseed and water. Stir and set aside to thicken for about 5 minutes.
  • In a large bowl, stir together the oat flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
  • In a medium bowl, combine the almond butter, coconut oil, applesauce, vanilla, and brown sugar. Add the thickened flaxseed mixture and stir well.
  • Stir the whole rolled oats, apples, walnuts, and raisins into the bowl of dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir well to combine. The batter will be thick and sticky.
  • Drop rounded tablespoons onto the baking sheet and press down slightly. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the bottoms are nicely browned. (Note: do not under-bake or your cookies will be more likely to fall apart). Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before cooling completely on a wire rack.

This post is in partnership with Truvia, thank you for supporting the sponsors that keep us cooking!

54 comments

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Rate this recipe (after making it)




  1. Amber
    09.15.2023

    Can I use coconut sugar as a substitute for the brown sugar?

    • Amber
      09.15.2023

      It’s brown coconut sugar

  2. Kate
    04.17.2022

    5 stars
    Loved these! Always looking for dessert recipes that use whole foods and this seriously delivered! Highly recommend trying it out. And for reference, I subbed out turbinado sugar for the brown sugar because it’s what I had in my pantry and they turned out great.

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      04.27.2022

      I’m so glad you loved them!

  3. Emily
    01.07.2022

    5 stars
    Wow, this recipe is incredible! I’m not vegan, but making a point of eating mostly plant-based healthier foods. I had a sweet tooth and wanted to do some baking and these were the perfect fix. Even the batter tasted absolutely delicious! They’re easy and quick to make, and the texture and flavor is fantastic.

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      01.08.2022

      Hi Emily, I’m so glad you loved the cookies!

  4. Brenna
    11.25.2021

    Hello! Love this recipe! Can I substitute 2 eggs for the flax seed and water? Every store by me is out of flax seed and I’m making these for thanksgiving!
    Thanks!

    • Brenna
      11.25.2021

      Or could I use chia seeds?

    • Brenna
      11.25.2021

      5 stars
      UPDATE: I substituted chia seeds for flax seeds 1:1 and the recipe came out perfectly!!! Some family members don’t like sweets that aren’t loaded with sugar so on half I dipped the tops in a powdered sugar glaze, delicious!

  5. Liz
    09.06.2021

    Hi there, just went apple picking and can’t wait to try these! Question though-I’ve never had/used almond butter before, would using peanut butter work the same?
    Thanks for all your great recipes, I love your site!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      09.08.2021

      Hi Liz, I don’t recommend peanut butter because I think the peanut taste will overwhelm the apples.

      • Liz
        09.09.2021

        5 stars
        Got some almond butter and just baked these! They were such a great fall treat! Yum yum! And almond butter certainly is delicious!

  6. Natalie
    06.16.2021

    5 stars
    These were so delicious! I don’t often bake vegan/gluten-free but was making treats for a friend with those restrictions. Luckily this recipe was super easy and the ingredients are very accessible unlike some other vegan/gluten-free recipes I’ve come across. They’re definitely very soft and fall apart fairly easily after the day they’re made, so just be prepared for that. Wonderful balance of flavors and textures, and my friend loved them – would definitely make again!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      06.17.2021

      Hi Natalie, I’m so glad you loved them!

  7. Louisa
    01.19.2021

    Just a couple of questions: Can I replace the oat flour with almond flour? I have been trying to find recipes that use almond flour and are vegan and sugar-free at the same time(which is sort of a hard task) and this seems to be a really yummy one!
    I also saw some people were doing stevia brown sugar instead of the normal brown sugar, and right now I only have normal stevia white sugar packets and wasn’t sure if I could switch brown sugar out for something else? Looking forward to making this at some point!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      01.20.2021

      Hi Louisa, no oat flour and almond flour aren’t interchangeable. You can use Truvia’s brown sugar baking blend (which has the same texture as brown sugar), not the packets.

  8. Brendan Moser
    11.16.2020

    5 stars
    Can you use whole wheat flour instead? Will find out ……

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      11.17.2020

      I haven’t tried – oat flour is lighter so the amounts might not be the same.

  9. read
    05.27.2020

    This is extremely helpful info!! Very good work. Everything is very interesting to learn and easy to understood. Thank you for giving information.

  10. Kim
    01.15.2020

    Could you bake them in an 8×8 and cut them into bars?

  11. Mary
    11.13.2019

    5 stars
    Amazing! Soft and comforting. I made this for a gluten-free, dairy-free friend and was so grateful to have the leftovers!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      11.15.2019

      I’m so glad you loved them!

  12. Sherry
    10.04.2019

    Any idea how to sub the nut butter in these? They look amazing, but I can’t have nuts or soy. Thanks!

  13. jeny
    07.12.2019

    5 stars
    This is really good for everyone

  14. Thanks for sharing this awesome content here.

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Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.

We love to eat, travel, cook, and eat some more! We create & photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago, while our shiba pups eat the kale stems that fall on the kitchen floor.