These no bake apple spice cookies are an easy and festive for the holidays. Mix 5 main ingredients in a bowl and chill for 30 minutes to create a wonderfully spicy cookie that is soft and chewy. Dairy free, gluten free and no butter, eggs or oil.
These no bake apple spice cookies are chewy, easy to make in one bowl and ready in 15 minutes. Made with only 5 main ingredients that are wholesome and probably in your kitchen right now. I used pureed an apple instead of using apple sauce, skin and all! So these cookies are the best way to use your freshly picked fall apples.
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How Do They Taste?
Apple sweet, spicy and chewy, thanks to apple, spices and oats. The oats bind, and the pureed apple is what adds both an apple flavor and glues the oats together. It's a sweet cookie though so to reduce that sweetness, swap out the brown sugar for almond or oat flour.
Ingredients for Apple Spice Cookies
Rolled oats. Or quick oats work. To keep the cookies gluten free, be sure your brand is gluten-free certified such as Bob's Red Mill.
Almond butter. Or use any nut or seed butter.
Brown sugar. Use coconut sugar to keep the sweetener refined sugar free or ordinary brown sugar. Or use almond or oat flour instead since the apple provides a level of sweetness as well.
Apples. Blend 2 apples into a puree, and chop another into tiny pieces. Gala, Honeycrisp, any of the crunchy juicy types work well.
Flavorings: Molasses, vanilla, spices (pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, ginger). These flavorings are customizable depending on what you have in your pantry.
See the recipe card at the bottom for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Steps to Make Spice Cookies
For more detail, visit the complete and printable recipe at the bottom of this post, but here are general steps.
Step 1: Blend 2 unpeeled apples into a puree and add to a bowl. Chop another unpeeled apple in small chunks, toss in lemon juice and cinnamon and set aside.
Step 2: Add all the ingredients to a bowl.
Expert Tip: If you want to reduce the sweet flavor, add almond or oat flour instead of brown sugar.
Step 3: Stir the mixture into a batter.
Step 4: Fold in small chopped apple bits.
Step 5: Scoop 12-13 scoops of batter using a 2 tablespoon scooper or a tablespoon filled twice and create rows of cookie mounds on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
Step 6: Press down the cookies with a spoon and shape if needed so the sides are round. Freeze for 30 minutes.
Step 7: Mix up powdered sugar and water and drizzle a glaze on solid cookies. Store refrigerated, in a single layer if glazed.
Storage
Store cookies in a freezer - they soften very quickly refrigerated. Keep them frozen for about 3 months.
How to Serve at a Party
Drizzled or as is these cookies soften quickly outside of the freezer. To be able to serve them on a buffet table, dip them in chocolate chips melted for 1 minute in a microwave so that the base of the cookie is submerged. Put the dipped cookie chocolate-side down onto parchment paper or wax paper and refrigerate until the chocolate shell is hard. Now the cookies can be set out on a dish on a buffet table and can keep for a few hours at room temperature.
Recipe Tips
- Keep the skin on the apples for added fiber.
- You can use just pumpkin pie spice or just cinnamon and ginger. Taste the batter to be sure it is spicy enough.
- You can drizzle on the glaze, or dip the cookies in white icing or melted chocolate so that one side is glazed.
FAQS
You can, but it isn't always available in the spice area of a store, so if not use my pumpkin pie spice mix recipe here which probably uses spices you have already.
Yes, you can reduce is significantly by using oat flour or almond flour instead of the brown sugar. The texture might be a bit dryer.
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📖 Recipe
No Bake Apple Spice Cookies
Equipment
- 1 blender used to puree apples
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup rolled oats
- ½ cup almond butter or any nut or seed butter
- ½ cup brown sugar or coconut sugar
- ½ cup pureed apples, 2 small ones, with peel on
- ¼ cup chopped apple, with peel on
Flavorings (adjustable)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ginger
Glaze (optional)
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 teaspoon milk
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Instructions
- Blend 2 unpeeled apples into a puree and add to a bowl. Chop another unpeeled apple in small chunks, toss in lemon juice and cinnamon and set aside.
- Add all the ingredients to a bowl.1 ¼ cup rolled oats, ½ cup almond butter, ½ cup brown sugar or coconut sugar, ½ cup pureed apples, 2 small ones, with peel on, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ginger
- Stir the mixture into a batter.
- Fold in small chopped apple bits.¼ cup chopped apple, with peel on
- Scoop 12-13 scoops using a 2 tablespoon scooper or a tablespoon filled twice.
- Press down the cookies with a spoon and shape if needed so the sides are round. Freeze for 30 minutes.
- Mix up powdered sugar and water and drizzle a glaze on solid cookies. Store frozen, in a single layer if glazed.½ cup powdered sugar, 1-2 teaspoon milk
Dee Dine
These chewy apple spice cookies are perfect for the holidays and quick to make in under 30 minutes.