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These oatmeal applesauce cookies are soft, chewy, and super easy to make. Packed with raisins, then sweetened with brown sugar and applesauce, they’re a simple treat for any time of day.
I love easy recipes that are low on effort but big on rewards. That’s these oatmeal raisin cookies. The cookie dough comes together in 5 minutes and everyone loves them.
This recipe makes about a dozen cookies, but they rarely last more than a couple of days because my family is grabbing them for morning treats, lunchboxes, and afternoon snacks. Every time they say “Thank you for making these cookies, they’re so good!” I can honestly say, “Oh you’re welcome, it was nothing.” Because even though I delight in seeing people gobble up my baked goodies, these ones, in particular, required practically zero effort.
These oatmeal cookies are sweetened with applesauce and brown sugar. I used the applesauce to cut the amount of butter in traditional oatmeal raisin cookies without impacting the texture of the cookies, and it works wonderfully. They are soft and chewy with crisp edges and a perfectly round, classic cookie shape. Brown sugar adds additional chewiness as well as a delightfully subtle caramel flavor. A dash of cinnamon finishes the flavors off, resulting in one darn good cookie.
Feel free to sub the raisins with dried cranberries, dried currants, golden raisins, or chopped dry cherries. I even have a friend who makes these cookies with Raisinets, which adds a bit of chocolate to these cookies for good measure!
Technically no. However, I do chill my cookie dough for two reasons:
- The dough is quite sticky and chilling it makes it easier to shape into balls for baking.
- Chilling the dough prevents the cookies from spreading too much during baking. As a result, the chilling results in a thicker, chewier cookie.
So the bottom line is: if you don’t want your cookies to spread much and want a thicker, softer oatmeal cookie then I would recommend chilling the dough.
How to Store
Let your cookies cool to room temperature, then store them in an airtight container or cookie jar on the counter for up to 4 days. (I usually store them in the fridge because I send them as lunchbox treats and they will last 6-7 days in an airtight container in the fridge.)
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup applesauce
- 1 ½ cups old fashioned rolled oats
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup raisins
Instructions
- Combine wet ingredients. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the butter and brown sugar. Mix until just combined, then add the egg and applesauce. Mix until combined.
- Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine the oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon.
- Mix wet and dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to your stand mixer bowl and mix until combined. Add the raisins and mix until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure there aren't any dry bits of batter.
- Chill the dough in the fridge for 1 hour. You can chill it overnight if that's easier, just cover with saran wrap if it will be in the fridge for more than an hour.
- Prep your tools. Preheat your oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Shape cookies. For each cookie roll about 2 tablespoons of dough into a ball, then place on the baking sheet. Space each ball of dough at least 2 inches apart. (I bake these cookies in 2 batches.)
- Bake the cookies. Bake for 14-15 minutes until the cookies are light golden and just set. Let the cookies rest for 5 minutes to finish cooking and firm up. Don't try and move them until this time has elapsed or they will break.