These vegan apple oatmeal cookies are a HUGE hit for vegans and non-vegans alike. Who would’ve thought that tiny chunks of apples in oatmeal cookies would be such a big win? They are sweet, perfectly chewy, and require NO chill time (quick and easy).
How to Make Vegan Apple Oatmeal Cookies
Thankfully, this recipe is SUPER easy put together. Not a baker? Not a vegan baker? I promise you can do this. Here’s the gist.
The Dry Ingredients:
- First, go ahead and preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Now, you’re going to want to get a medium-sized mixing bowl and stir together your quick oats, flour, sugar, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. (See pictures 1 and 2 below.) Need a refresher course on how to measure flour? Just scoop the flour with your measuring cup, and without tapping or shaking the measuring cup, level off the top with a butter knife. Check out this video, if you’re still not sure.
The Wet Ingredients:
Next, you’re going to want to chop 1/3-1/2 of an apple into 1/4 inch pieces (enough to fill 1/3 cup of the chopped apple. (I ended up using only about 1/2 of a medium-sized Gala apple). (See picture 3 below.) Go ahead and place those apple pieces right into the bowl with your dry ingredients. (See picture 4 below.)
- Measure 1/4 cup of oil and 1/4 cup of nondairy milk. I measured both of them in one 1/2 cup measuring container to minimize dirty dishes. (See picture 5 below.) If you find your dough is too dry, go ahead and add 1-3 teaspoons of nondairy milk.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or use a silicone liner like this one. Then, scoop out heaping tablespoon-sized mounds of dough, and place 12 of them on your lined cookie sheet. (See picture 8 below.)
Baking Your Cookies:
- Now you’re ready to smash your cookies down a bit. You can skip this step if you like taller cookies. I like mine a littler more level. Use your fingers to gently pat down the mounds of cookie dough until the dough is about 1/2 inch tall. (See pictures 9 and 10 below.)
- Bake cookies at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15-16 minutes, or until the edges are just starting to turn golden brown. If you are making smaller cookies (say, you want 14-16 smaller cookies instead of the 12 larger ones), you will only need to bake them for 12-13 minutes. (See picture 11 below to see the baked cookies.)
- Allow the cookies to cool 5 minutes before transferring them from cookie sheet to a cooling rack (optional), where you can drizzle some icing over them, if you wish. Allow the icing to set for a few hours before attempting to store cookies in an airtight container. (See picture 12 below.)
And there you have it! Perfect vegan apple oatmeal cookies to devour by yourself, or share with family and friends.
Note: Aluminum-free Baking Powder
I like to use aluminum-free baking powder for this recipe, because it doesn’t have the metallic aftertaste that conventional baking powders can sometimes have. Aluminum can also have a negative impact on health overall, so I always just try to use the aluminum-free baking powder. It’s easy to find aluminum-free baking powder right next to your conventional baking powders in the grocery store (just look for Rumford brand). You can also order it online.
Vegan Baked Goods
Looking for more recipes for vegan baked goods and sweet treats? Here’s some great ideas to get you started.
- Vegan Avocado Brownies (!!!)
- Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
- Healthy Vegan Carob (or Chocolate) Chip Cookies
- Perfect Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Perfect Vegan Pumpkin Cookies
- Vegan Orange Almond Cookies
- The Best Vegan Lemon Cake
- Vegan Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake
Vegan Apple Oatmeal Cookies
Equipment
- mixing bowl
- cookie sheet
Ingredients
For the Cookie:
- 1 cup quick oats (or rolled oats if necessary)
- 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (Whole wheat flour also works fine.)
- 2/3 cups brown sugar (or evaporated cane juice crystals)
- 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/2 tablespoon aluminum-free baking powder (Substitute with 1/2 teaspoon regular baking powder, if necessary.)
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup finely chopped fresh apple
- 1/4 cup neutral oil or vegan butter (Neutral oils include safflower, vegetable, canola, and melted coconut oil.)
- 1/4 cup nondairy milk (Add 1-2 teaspoons extra if dough seems too dry.)
For the Icing:
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 3 teaspoons nondairy milk (Add 1/2 – 1 teaspoon until desired consistency reached if necessary.)
Instructions
For the Cookie:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a mixing bowl, combine quick oats, flour, sugar (or cane juice crystals), cornstarch, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
- Chop about 1/2 of a medium apple into 1/4 inch pieces. Measure 1/3 cup of finely chopped apple, and add apple pieces to mixing bowl.
- Mix oil and nondairy milk together in a measuring cup, then pour into mixing bowl with dry ingredients. Stir until well combined.
- Drop 12 heaping tablespoon-sized mounds onto a parchment-lined (or silicon-lined) cookie sheet. If you prefer smaller cookies, you can level off your tablespoons of dough, and make about 15 cookies.
- Bake for 15-16 minutes, or until edges of cookies are slightly browned. (If you're making 15 smaller cookies, bake for 12-13 minutes.)
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.
For the Icing:
- Place powdered sugar and nondairy milk in a small bowl. Stir slowly at first, then quickly with a fork until glaze is completely smooth.
- Drizzle icing on apple oatmeal cookies once they have cooled completely. Allow glaze to harden on cookies for an hour or two before storing cookies in an air-tight container at room temperature.
Notes
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- These cookies are fairly sweet, if you are looking for a healthier cookie, use less sugar than is recommended in recipe.
- When divided into 12 equal mounds of dough, this recipe makes cookies that are about 3.5 inches in diameter. If you are wanting a smaller cookie, measure exact tablespoon-sized mounds of dough, and bake for only 12-13 minutes (makes 14-15 cookies).
I screwed up and just threw everything together, instead of mixing the dry ingredients, then the oil and soy milk separately, and then adding that, but the cookies still turned out pretty good. I’ll see what my Amnesty group thinks tomorrow. :)
These cookies are JUST what I was looking for! I also forgot to split the butter and milk out and they still came out soooo good.
I tend to get pretty bad headaches and have a hard time concentrating for about an hour after eating anything sweet, but I’ve just eaten several of these and have been able to study afterwards! The oats and apple seem to have overridden the sugar.
I am just so pleased about these, I will be using these any time I need to bring a food contribution in the future. Thank you so much :-)
http://lapivoinedepaname.weebly.com
These cookies are amazing! I made two batches last night. I used plain unsweetened coconut milk instead of soy, melted coconut oil for the oil, and added some freshly ground nutmeg, ground ginger, and chopped pecans for a bit more fall flavor. These cookies are seriously delicious, and so easy to make – I am obsessed!
Also, they taste really great with a bit of honey drizzled on them…just FYI! :)
Is the first ingredient 1 cup of COOKED oatmeal? Or just 1 cup of uncooked oats? Thanks :-)
I had the same question but tried regular oats and they came out right. Thick, sticky dough. I expand in my comment below but that were delicious!
These cookies were very yummy, thank you! It was confusing to see “1 c oatmeal” but i used regular thick oats and they came out perfectly!
I used extra virgin olive oil. Also used potato starch as I had no corn starch around. Also used golden sugar in place of brown sugar.
I made a double recipe and it made 35 cookies. So about 17 per recipe as posted when doing tablespoon sized scoops on the pan. The cookies do spread out a bit.
The dough is THICK and sticky. I baked them about 18 minutes till the edges were a little crispy and they were very yummy. If you take them out a little earlier they would probably be a softer cookies overall (but i was afraid to take them out too soon! I’ll try it as she says next time to compare.
The kids even loved them!
Thanks for a great easy recipe!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/97e565e7b61d917e48536c2c8d5bcc398f5dbc351c0106710229df479cb05a10.jpg
How long does the prep take? I saw that you can bake the cookies for about 18 minutes and they looked good but I did not see a prep time.
DELICIOUS!! This recipe is amazing! The texture of the cookies are nice and chewy, and not too sweet. Everyone loved them!
Yay! So glad you liked them, Sylvia!
So I tried these out but did them gluten free and I grated 1 and 1/2 Apple, squeezing some the juices out, worked out brilliantly! I only managed to make 9 but within a day there’s only one left thanks to my housemates! Will do these again.
I love this recipe! Discoverd online as I was looking for an eggless recipe, simply because I ran out of eggs! I also wanted apples and oat cookie – since the honey crisps are in season. I baked them in my little air fryer (bake setting- lower temp). Scrumptuous! Used coconut sugar, coconut oil and a blend of organic rye flour, coconut flour, almond meal and tapioca starch (as I try to stay clear of white flour). Made them again using an organic frozen berry mix – and, a very generous amount of fruit btw. They are crispy, perfectly sweet and moist. Perfect breakfast cookie or healthy after dinner snack with your tea. My husband says these are the kind of cookies you’d find at a fancy artisan cafe.
Jackie, I LOVE all your adaptations. Adding organic frozen berries to the mix sounds amazing! :)