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    Bless This Mess > Recipes > Desserts > Cookies

    Healthy Applesauce Cookies

    Published: May 15, 2017 · Modified: Apr 4, 2023 by Melissa · 63 Comments

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    A dozen applesauce cookies with oats and chocolate chips on a white baking sheet

    This Healthy Applesauce Cookie recipe is delicious & easy! Your kids can help you make & devour the cookies! They're great for a busy morning breakfast too.

    I've created a lot of healthy cookies recipes. Check these ones out:Healthy Vegan Breakfast Cookies, Healthy Coconut No-Bake Cookies and Healthy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.

    This Healthy Applesauce Cookie recipe is delicious & easy! Your kids can help you make & devour the cookies! They're great for a busy morning breakfast too.

    Healthy Applesauce Cookie

    My children and I have spent many a messy morning in the kitchen baking, creating, cooking, and just enjoying being together. I often have a helper when I make whole wheat bread for the week, when I'm making a batch of our forever favorite oatmeal balls, or when I'm peeling potatoes or carrots for a meal. I love being in the kitchen with my little people. The kitchen is my happy place and I'm more than excited to encourage that same love in my kids.

    Applesauce Cookies Recipe

    I have a few recipes that I let the kids make on a regular basis and these simple and healthy applesauce cookies are one of those. The recipe is delicious and very forgiving, and I always have everything they need on hand. My applesauce cookies are made with whole grains, natural sweetener (honey), and it's also dairy-free! So I don't even feel bad when they have a few for breakfast on Saturday morning if I'm trying to stay in bed a little later. Long live the healthy, satisfying, and delicious applesauce cookie.

    Does the chilling time really matter in a recipe?

    This step is very important. Don't skip the chilling time, the whole grains in this recipe need some time for absorb the liquids before being baked.

    Can I make this cookie recipe gluten free?

    I think if you were to replace the whole wheat flour with oat flour it would still work and then you could make this recipe gluten free (with compliant chocolate chips) if that is a need for your family.

    Applesauce Cookies Recipe
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    Applesauce Cookies Recipe

    Healthy Applesauce Cookies


    ★★★★★

    4.6 from 19 reviews

    • Author: Melissa Griffiths - Bless this Mess
    • Total Time: 21 minutes
    • Yield: 2 dozen cookies 1x
    Print Recipe
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    Description

    This Healthy Applesauce Cookie recipe is delicious & easy! Your kids can help you make & devour the cookies! They're great for a busy morning breakfast too.


    Ingredients

    Scale
    • 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
    • ¼ cup melted coconut oil
    • 1 large egg
    • ⅓ cup honey
    • 1 cup uncooked oats
    • 1 cup whole wheat flour
    • ½ teaspoon baking soda
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
    • 1-2 cups chocolate chips

    Instructions

    1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, add the applesauce, coconut oil, egg, and honey, and mix to combine well.
    2. Add the oats, whole wheat flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Stir to combine well. Add the chocolate chips and stir to combine.
    3. Refrigerate the dough for 10 minutes (this give the oats a little time to absorb some of the liquid).
    4. Use a cookie scoop or two spoons to place a rounded tablespoon of dough on a parchment or baking mat lined cookie sheet.
    5. Bake for 11-13 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are lightly browned and the center is set.
    6. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the sheet for 5 minutes.

    Notes

    • Don't skip the chilling time, the whole grains in this recipe need some time for absorb the liquids before being baked.
    • If you have cinnamon chips, they are really good in this recipe.
    • I think if you were to replace the whole wheat flour with oat flour it would still work and then you could make this recipe gluten free (with compliant chocolate chips) if that is a need for your family.
    • I have tried this with gluten free flour and  it worked well with a 1 to 1 gluten free baking blend.
    • Prep Time: 10 mins
    • Cook Time: 11 mins
    • Category: Dessert
    • Method: Oven
    • Cuisine: American

    Keywords: applesauce cookies recipe, healthy cookies recipe, baking with applesauce, applesauce dessert recipe

    Did you make this recipe?

    Tag @blessthismessblog on Instagram and hashtag it #blessthismess

    Check out these yummy cookie recipes too:

    • Homemade Mint Oreo Cookies
    • Easy Peanut Butter Cookies
    • Super Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies (Makes 6 Cookies!)
    • Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Zucchini Cookies
    • Extra Buttery Spritz Cookies
    • Easy Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies
    • Giant M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies
    • Old Fashioned Iced Oatmeal Cookies
    • Extra Soft Snickerdoodle Cookies
    • Easy Mexican Wedding Cookies
    • Soft and Puffy Greek Yogurt Sugar Cookies
    • Homemade Girl Scout Cookies: Thin Mints

    This Healthy Applesauce Cookie recipe is delicious, easy and I know you will enjoy them.

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    About Melissa

    Melissa is dedicated to helping parents figure out the nightly questions, "What's for Dinner?!" with her no-fuss approach to cooking. Read more...

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      Recipe Rating




    1. Leslie

      December 19, 2020 at 4:25 pm

      I made this with oat flour instead of wheat flour 1:1 and monkfruit sweetener 1:1 and they turned out awesome! My recipe made 30 cookies using a cookie scoop. Same baking time and I’m at 5,000 ft. I did chill for 10 minutes and chilled dough between baking sheets. Delicious!!!

      ★★★★★

      Reply
    2. Joolie

      April 05, 2020 at 5:04 pm

      Made this recipe with baby food (apple, pumpkin, and carrot) and withheld the chocolate chips. It came out so good and perfect for my little toddler!!

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • Melissa

        April 06, 2020 at 5:41 pm

        Such a great idea! Thank you for sharing what worked!

    3. Joolie

      April 05, 2020 at 5:02 pm

      Made this recipe with baby food (apple, pumpkin, and carrot) and withheld the chocolate chips. It came out so good and perfect for my little toddler!!

      ★★★★★

      Reply
    4. Jessica

      March 30, 2020 at 3:37 pm

      Followed the recipe except replaced chocolate chips with walnuts, cranberries, and candied ginger. The taste was good but found the texture a little odd. Seemed wetter than usual even though I baked them for almost 30 minutes.

      ★★★

      Reply
      • Melissa

        March 30, 2020 at 3:40 pm

        Boo, I'm so sorry. Did you use whole wheat flour? The dough is still about the consistency of normal cookie dough...

    5. Lilley

      February 19, 2020 at 11:20 am

      Easy to make and really tasty!

      Is your calorie amount calculated with 1 or 2 cups of chocolate chips?

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • Melissa

        February 19, 2020 at 1:48 pm

        With 1.5 (not sure why I picked that...) lol

    6. Carlota

      January 23, 2020 at 8:04 am

      Just made these but used spelt and a bit of buckwheat flour instead of wheat flour, a mix of whole grains instead of oats and sunflower oil instead of coconut oil which I didn't have. Thankfully there are kids in the house that will eat these fast or it would be a problem x)

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • Melissa

        January 23, 2020 at 3:15 pm

        That sounds SO good! Thank you for coming back to let us know what worked for you, that's so helpful.

    7. Raphael

      October 12, 2019 at 12:50 pm

      I made these today and I have to hold myself back from eating the whole batch lol. I did make several changes; I used an extra egg (long story), omitted the coconut oil (too much sat. fat), and since I didn't have premade applesauce I made my own with some plain simmered apples. My applesauce was mashed instead of pureed so it left some apple chunks, they tasted great in the finished cookie! I added pumpkin pie spice, chocolate and butterscotch chips, and flax seeds. Overall they were very soft and chewy but held together well, had a great light apple sweetness, and were super easy to make! Currently very happy and full : -)

      ★★★★

      Reply
      • Melissa

        October 14, 2019 at 9:30 am

        Those changes sound AMAZING! I'm totally going to try it with chunky homemade applesauce, that's such a great idea. Thank you for sharing the tips and tricks with us.

    8. Kerri Wojciechowski

      April 12, 2019 at 10:16 am

      I love all the healthy ingredients that this recipe called for. I made these cookies with granola though. They were delicious, but I would have liked them crunchy. Is there anyway I could have done that? I will definitely use this recipe again ....hopefully crunchy though!!

      ★★★★

      Reply
      • Melissa

        April 12, 2019 at 10:40 am

        Without much oil or butter in this, the crunch is going to be hard to get. You might want to lower the cooking temperature by 25 degrees and then bake them for a longer time to see if they'll crisp up for you.

    9. Katerina

      February 14, 2019 at 1:23 am

      Will almond meal or flour work ok instead of wheat flour? Thanks for sharing the recipe.

      Reply
      • Melissa

        February 14, 2019 at 1:28 pm

        I'm not positive but I think that it would. I'd definitely say it was worth trying!

    10. Katherine Finlay

      December 10, 2018 at 9:48 am

      Do you think you could freeze batches of these?

      Reply
      • Melissa

        December 10, 2018 at 2:44 pm

        I only do if they are on a single layer, if you put them in the freezer with layers of parchment in between, or if you freeze them individually and then place them frozen into a zipper topped baggie for storage. You just don't want them to stick together when freezing, they'd be so annoying to get apart!

    11. Aliyah

      November 07, 2018 at 7:56 pm

      Love this recipe. Oat flour works well - and I use 1 cup of dark chocolate chips plus 1/2 cup of pecans. Delicious.

      Reply
      • Melissa

        November 08, 2018 at 1:17 pm

        That sounds so good and thank you for letting us know about the oat flour! That's a great and easy way to make these gluten free!

    12. cyn

      September 19, 2018 at 11:27 pm

      this recipe is a keeper 🙂

      I made the following tweaks:
      -pure maple syrup for honey
      -chunky applesauce
      -butter instead of coconut oil
      -an additional 1/4 cup flour (I used banana for the extra)
      -1 cup of 'salted caramel' flavor chips
      -increased baking time to about 25 minutes

      these are absolutely *delightful*! they're like mini apple cakes, and I love that they aren't too sweet! I definitely plan to make them again, with walnuts instead of chips, or possibly pieces of crystallized ginger. SO. GOOD!

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • Melissa

        September 20, 2018 at 9:13 am

        This sounds AMAZING!!! I'm going to try your version asap! Thank you for sharing it friend, and I know what salted caramel chips you speak of, SO GOOD!

    13. Mel

      September 01, 2018 at 11:26 am

      Hello!
      Love this recipe. I was curious if you have a tentative calorie count for these by chance?

      Reply
      • Melissa

        September 04, 2018 at 1:29 pm

        Nope, but I'll add it ASAP! Thank you for asking!

    14. Anne

      August 22, 2018 at 7:22 pm

      Great recipe! Are they supposed to be bread consistency when they finish baking or should they have more of a cookie texture?

      ★★★★★

      Reply
    15. Ashley

      August 12, 2018 at 11:36 am

      I just made these today! Instead of whole wheat flour I used I cup oat flour! I also put 1/2 cup of choc chips and 1/2 raisins and the whole family loved them! They were so soft almost like a cookie cake!

      Reply
      • Melissa

        August 13, 2018 at 7:15 am

        Sounds absolutely delicious! Thanks for sharing your tips and tricks with us.

    16. ab

      May 03, 2018 at 10:27 pm

      Delicious cookies. I didn't have wheat flour, so I substituted about half white and half powdered (ground up in a coffee grinder) oatmeal. I also didn't have coconut oil, so I substituted about half oil and half butter. I reduced the chocolate chips to 1 handful and added raisins too. My husband will be eating these as fishing trip lunch/snacks. Thanks for the recipe! Love it! My husband did too!

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • Melissa

        May 05, 2018 at 3:04 pm

        Ohhh, love all of you changes and substitutions. Thank you for sharing what worked, the raisins sound delicious.

    17. Anonymous

      April 15, 2018 at 8:14 pm

      I'm still learning from you, as I'm trying to reach my goals. I definitely enjoy reading everything that is written on your blog.Keep the tips coming. I loved it!

      Reply
    18. Alison

      March 03, 2018 at 6:16 pm

      These have good flavor but did not spread out at all for me. Any suggestions?

      Reply
      • Melissa

        March 16, 2018 at 1:53 pm

        I'd try adding less oats next time. Yours were probably just a little thick, maybe your applesauce was less runny than mine.

    19. Stephanie Hum

      February 25, 2018 at 10:58 am

      My husband and 1 son loves these cookies! My husband needs to go on a low fat diet, while my stomach issues prevent me from eating fatty, sugary foods. This was perfect. My oldest son thought they were too chewy so not his type, lol. I substituted with gluten free flour and was still good. I do want to know what is the shelf life and should I refrigerate the cookies or just air tight container will do? Thank you. You are a God send. 🙂

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • Melissa

        February 27, 2018 at 9:05 am

        I'm so glad you love them! I think, because these are really moist, that they are better off in the fridge. A day or two out, but any longer than that I'd stick them in the fridge. So glad you can use GF flour too!

    20. Krista

      February 24, 2018 at 6:35 pm

      Since these are healthy, is it okay that I ate 4? Sooo good.

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • Melissa

        February 24, 2018 at 9:58 pm

        Definitely ok friend!

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