Caramel Apple Cookies

These caramel apple cookies have a hidden, chewy surprise and a delicious cinnamon sugar top.


Fall is all about freshly picked apples and delicious warm spices that add a comforting depth of flavor to almost anything that you add it to, especially desserts. The online world is usually chock full of pumpkin pie spice and caramel apple desserts this time of the year and why not? Although you can surely enjoy them perfectly well even in the Spring and Summer months, there is an added magic when they form part of your life in the month of October. Would you wear your graduation cape and hat on your wedding day? Now, you get the picture.

In the gamut of apple recipes that are already floating on the Internet, I decided to add one of my own – caramel apple cookies.


These caramel apple cookies by themselves look nothing special. Just a plain cookie dusted with cinnamon sugar. Of course it is a plain cookie and I’ve made it using the recipe and tutorial I taught you on Monday where you learned how to make cookie dough.

Surely there must be a mistake; I can hear you saying to yourself. If this is a plain cookie, where in the world are the caramel and the apple? You are likely to get the answer to this question once you bite into the cookie.

This is a great way to surprise your guests or family. The cookie itself looks deceptively plain and something that no one would ever suspect of being filled with such a delicious caramel apple surprise, hence caramel apple cookies.

While these caramel apple cookies look like an insane amount of effort may have gone into making it, you’ll realize that you are probably mistaken as the actual amount of work involved in making these is less than 30 minutes. This includes preparing the cookie dough and the caramel apple filling. Also, the caramel has been prepared from scratch.



You do not need to shudder at the thought of making your own caramel for these caramel apple cookies. It is a lot easier than it looks and I will also be putting up a detailed tutorial of making your own homemade caramel sauce very soon. In my opinion, the trick to getting a good caramel is alertness. You need to be very alert and watch over your saucepan like a hawk. The minute it changes from a slight golden to amber, you must take the saucepan off the heat as it will continue to cook. Immediately adding cold butter and cream soothes the caramel and it will start bubbling furiously. You do not need to be scared but at the same time, you must keep your face as far back as you can. There is nothing more unforgiving than hot, boiling sugar.

I like to keep my caramel sauce a little bitter as it beautifully offsets the sweetness from the cookie dough and the cinnamon-sugared tops. However, if a slightly bitter caramel puts you off, you can take the saucepan off the heat the minute it starts to turn golden. That way it will still retain its sweetness. The apples are then added and the saucepan is put back on the stove to cook the mix on low flame for about 3-4 minutes. At this stage, the apples will go really soft. I like to keep a few chunky pieces of apples so the cookie gets a good mix of textures. I also use a fork to smash some pieces of apples to a pulp.



To make these caramel apple cookies, I would recommend preparing the dough as well as the caramel apple filling one day before or overnight as it will give both the dough and the filling enough time to chill and cool down and this, in turn, will make it incredibly easy for you to handle the stuffing and shaping of the cookies and when they make contact with the hot oven, firstly, the cookies will spread less so you’ll have a chewier cookie instead of potato crisp like ones; secondly, the cold, set caramel will only just thaw and melt and become all ooey – gooey instead of cooking further and tasting burnt.

I hope you make these caramel apple cookies; your home will smell so beautiful with all the cinnamon sugar and caramel that has gone into making these caramel apple cookies.


Caramel Apple Cookies


    For the Cookies:
  1. 100 grams butter, room temperature
  2. 100 grams caster sugar
  4. ½ teaspoon Vanilla extract
  5. 1 teaspoon Baking soda
  6. 200 grams all purpose flour
  7. For Caramel Apple Filling:
  8. 270 grams chopped and peeled apples
  9. 200 grams caster sugar
  10. 2 tablespoons water
  11. 1 tablespoon butter, room temperature
  12. 2 tablespoons heavy cream
  13. 1/4th teaspoon sea salt
  14. For Cinnamon Sugar:
  15. 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
  16. 2 teaspoons caster sugar


  1. In a bowl, combine butter and sugar and cream till light and pale.
  2. Add the egg and vanilla extract.
  3. Sift in the flour + baking soda mix and make a smooth dough. Add extra egg whites to make dough pliable. When you flatten it, no cracks should appear.
  4. Wrap in cling film and chill.
  7. Take off the heat add the butter and cream and mix.
  10. Use a fork to squash a few pieces of apples while keeping some whole for texture.
  11. Once it comes down to room temperature, put into the fridge to chill.
  12. Take a tablespoon of cookie dough and flatten it slightly.
  13. Add 1-2 teaspoon of hardened caramel apple mix in the centre. Take another larger piece of dough and cover and seal the filling and make into a ball.
  14. Repeat for the rest of the cookies and refrigerate.
  15. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
  16. Take the cookies out and sprinkle the tops with cinnamon sugar.
  17. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the tops turn golden brown.

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  1. These are so awesome Samina!! I love that all the caramel-appleness is hidden inside, just waiting for you to take a bite. And I love your caramel making tips – caramel is one thing that my friends who try my recipes with caramel really struggle with – I think it is the whole boiling sugar thing that can be pretty intimidating if you have never done it before. If you do a tutorial I will definitely be recommending it to them – I think step-by-step pictures could really help, more than any amount of descriptive writing! <3

    1. Thank you so much Claudia! Yes, exactly, my friends are extremely intimidated by caramel, it gets so violent when adding the butter and cream! It freaks me out too sometimes, hehehe! That is so sweet of you, thank you!!!! And yes, I absolutely agree too – I think for things like caramel, choux pastry etc., a step – by – step photo or video or something that is more visual is so important to get a clear picture.

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