These cinnamon sugar apple butter cookies are soft, chewy, and taste like fall with every bite! They're most similar to a chewy snickerdoodle cookie, but they're extra soft and flavorful from the addition of apple butter.
You might also like these apple butter macarons!
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Ingredient Notes
You just need a few ingredients to make these apple butter spice cookies!
Butter - For even more fall flavor, you can substitute the butter with brown butter!
Apple Butter - I'll always prefer using either homemade apple butter or fresh apple butter from the farmers market in these cookies. However, store-bought apple butter will work just as well!
Cinnamon - Instead of just cinnamon you could also substitute your favorite fall spice blend like apple pie spice or chai spice!
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
How to Make Apple Butter Cookies
Using a stand or hand mixer, cream together the softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until smooth and creamy.
Add in the egg and vanilla and beat until the texture is light and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes, it should look much paler than before). Then beat in the apple butter.
Add in the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt and mix until thoroughly combined. The dough should be wet and sticky.
In a small bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar and cinnamon for the topping.
Scoop a generous 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into balls. I use a size 30 cookie scoop. Then gently roll the cookie dough balls in the cinnamon sugar mixture.
Cover the dough balls and chill in the fridge overnight for best results. If you absolutely can't wait, just chill it for at least 2 hours.
Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a light colored baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place dough balls at least 2-3 inches apart on the baking sheet (they will spread, I usually only do 6 cookies on a half sheet pan). Place the rest of the cookie dough balls back in the fridge while the first batch cooks.
Bake the cinnamon apple butter cookies for on the center rack of the oven for 9-11 minute or until the edges are set and the centers are still soft.
Remove from the oven and let rest on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.
Why do I have to chill the dough?
Chilling the dough is super important for a few reasons!
First, letting the dough rest gives the flour time to hydrate. Eggs and apple butter are the only liquid in these apple butter cookies and it takes flour a long time to absorb that moisture. When the flour is hydrated it helps contain the spread of the cookie so that you get a nice set edge and soft, chewy center.
Similarly, the butter needs to be as cold as possible before baking so that the cookies don't spread too much.
But don't we want the cookies to spread? Yes, we do and they will. We just don't want them to spread too much because then you get a flat, crispy cookie instead of one with a soft, chewy center.
Tips for Perfect Cookies
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, crumbly cookies that don't spread.
Make sure your oven is the proper temperature! Use an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is exactly 350°F. If the oven is too cold, the cookies will spread too much and if it's too hot they centers won't bake all the way through. For example, my oven is about 20 degrees off. So I have to set the oven to 370°F in order to get it to bake at 350°F.
Use a lightweight, light colored baking sheet for best results! Believe it or not, a lighter pan makes the cookies bake more slowly than a dark pan, which helps keep them from spreading too much. My favorite pans for baking cookies are:
You also want to use either parchment paper or silicone mats on your cookie sheet to help keep the cookies from spreading.
Bake the cookies one sheet at a time, on the center rack. This will ensure all your cookies cook evenly and the bottoms don't burn. Then let the cookie sheet cool completely between batches. This ensures the cookies cook evenly and don't spread too much by being put on a hot pan.
Always under-bake the cookies! If you slightly under-bake the cookies (so the centers are still soft when you remove them from the oven), they'll stay soft and chewy for days!
Do the cookie scoot! In order to get perfectly round cookies, use a large cookie cutter to gently scoot them around as soon as they come out of the oven!
Cookie Baking Tools
Recipe FAQ's
Store the baked apple butter cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Yes! Freeze the pre-rolled apple butter cookie dough balls on a baking sheet, once frozen transfer to an airtight container and freeze for up to 6 weeks. The frozen cookie dough can go straight from the freezer to the oven, just add 2-3 minutes to the cooking time. I recommend freezing the dough before rolling in the cinnamon sugar; save that for right before baking.
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
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Recipe Card
Apple Butter Cookies
Special Equipment
Ingredients
Cookies
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- ½ cup apple butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon, substitute apple pie spice
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
For Rolling
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
- Using a stand or hand mixer, cream together the softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until smooth and creamy.
- Add in the egg and vanilla and beat until the texture is light and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes, it should look much paler than before). Then beat in the apple butter.
- Add in the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt and mix until thoroughly combined. The dough should be wet and sticky.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar and cinnamon for the topping.
- Scoop a generous 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into balls. I use a size 30 cookie scoop. Then gently roll the cookie dough balls in the cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Cover the dough balls and chill in the fridge overnight for best results. If you absolutely can't wait, just chill it for at least 2 hours.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a light colored baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place dough balls at least 2-3 inches apart on the baking sheet (they will spread, I usually only do 6 cookies on a half sheet pan). Place the rest of the cookie dough balls back in the fridge while the first batch cooks.
- Bake the cinnamon apple butter cookies for on the center rack of the oven for 9-11 minute or until the edges are set and the centers are still soft.
- Remove from the oven and let rest on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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