Salted Caramel Apple Cookies

My salted caramel apple cookies are a celebration of fall! They are filled with hearty oats, fresh shredded apple, biscoff cookie crumbles, and homemade caramel sauce.

Overview

• Skill Level: Beginner
• Techniques Used: How to Brown Butter, How to Make Caramel Sauce

Everyone needs an apple cookie recipe in their arsenal when fall weather rolls in and apples are at their peak. This is the one for me!

My apple cookie dough is made with hearty oat flour, fresh shredded apples, biscoff cookie crumbles, and plenty of warming spices. After scooping the dough, they are filled in the center with salted caramel sauce. For this recipe I’m making my homemade caramel sauce but to keep it simple you can use store-bought.

Why you’ll love this fall recipe

• The flavor! So much fresh apple, warming spices, and salty caramel goes into this recipe.
• The texture! The caramel is silky smooth while the biscoff cookie crumbles give a contrasting crunch and chew.
• These cookies are thick! I love a thick, hearty cookie that warms me up. These cookies are almost like a baked oatmeal treat.

How to Make Salted Caramel Apple Cookies

There are a few steps to complete before making the cookie dough. Let’s get into it!

Make the Caramel Sauce

The salted caramel sauce will be spooned into the cookie dough before baking. You can keep it easy by using a store-bought sauce or make your own! My homemade caramel sauce can be made in about 15 minutes. Add the extra salt from the notes section.

Let it cool down as you continue with the rest of the recipe. I also like to chill it in the fridge to thicken making it easier to spoon into the dough.

Brown the Butter

If you are not familiar with how to brown butter, heat butter over medium heat in a saucepan and continue cooking until the milk fats fall to the bottom of the pan and begin browning. 

You will start to smell the butter when it is getting close to browning. It will smell nutty and then turn an amber color. You want it to be a fairly deep amber color but watch it closely because it can burn quickly. This whole process takes about 15 minutes.

After the butter is brown, remove it from the heat and let it cool at room temperature while you continue with the other steps. I like to throw in an ice cube to cool it down more quickly and to replace the liquid that was lost while browning. The butter does not need to re-solidify before using it.

Shred the Apples & Crumble the Cookies

Peel and shred the apples using a box grater. I’m using Honeycrisp apples for this recipe but you can use your favorite variety. I recommend choosing one that is slightly tart to offset the sweetness of the caramel.

Place the biscoff cookies into a zipper bag and beat with a rolling pin until roughly broken. I like to keep the pieces fairly large as they will break up more as they mix into the dough. Alternatively, you can use a food processor but only pulse it a few times. Stop before you have small crumbs.

Mix the Cookie Dough

Now it’s time to make the cookie dough! Combine the browned butter, brown sugar, and instant apple cider mix in a bowl. The butter does not need to be fully cooled or solidified, it can still be warm. I like to use a stand mixer but since we aren’t creaming the two together it’s not essential. You can also use a hand mixer, large wooden spoon, or whisk.

Add the wet ingredients which include the egg and vanilla extract and combine. Next, add all of the dry ingredients. This includes the instant apple pie spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix together until incorporated. Add the flour, oat flour, and biscoff cookie pieces and continue to mix together stopping as soon as you no longer see streaks of white.

The dough will be very sticky at this point. Chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes. This will make it easier to scoop.

Bake

For these cookies, I like to scoop a medium sized mound that’s about 2-3 tablespoons in size. I don’t recommend using a larger scoop. Coat the outside of the dough mound in additional biscoff cookie crumbs. This step is optional but I like the additional texture.

Only place 8 cookies per sheet pan. Too many cookies will not allow them to bake evenly and will cause the cookies to spread out more when they are baking.

Make a well in the center of each cookie with a small spoon or with your fingers. Spoon (or use a piping bag or zipper bag with the end snipped off) salted caramel sauce into each well. Do not over-fill. The caramel should not run out over the edges.

Bake for 14-16 minutes until the edges are set. Some of the caramel sauce might have spilled over the sides of the cookie. This is normal. After baking, gently scoop it back into the cookie. Sprinkle coarse salt over the top of the caramel sauce. Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the sheet pans before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Storage

Baked Cookies: Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Unbaked Cookies: After scooping the cookie dough and adding the caramel sauce, place the sheet pan in the freezer to freeze until rock solid. Move the dough balls into a zipper bag in a single layer and freeze for up to 3 months. Bake directly from frozen adding 2-3 minutes to the baking time.

MORE RECIPES FROM BAKER BETTIE!

If you loved this recipe, you might like to try these other delicious cookie recipes!

• Banoffee Pie Cookies
• Soft and Chewy Monster Cookies
• White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Be sure to checkout my tutorial on How to Make Caramel Apples!