Moist  spice cookies with applesauce,  oats, raisins,  apple bits,  and walnuts.

Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies

By  Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime

September has arrived and for this month’s #FilltheCookieJar, I am sharing something that captures the spirit of Fall for me- with apples, raisins, nuts and spices.

This has a moist old-fashioned spice flavor, reminiscent of oatmeal cookies mixed with Hermit cookies, both of which are favorites for me. It’s the first time  I have tried mixing applesauce and apple bits together in one cookie,  and the results are very good. It’s a moist chewy cookie,  not crisp like a sugar cookie.   But that also helps it stay fresh  a little longer.

I’d  worried that using the apples with the applesauce might make it too wet,   but a careful balancing with the amount of oats got me to the consistency of dough I was looking for. I don’t know how to describe it really- it has that certain  thickness and chunkiness that makes a good oatmeal spice cookie. I know it when I see it–it’s a sight drilled into my brain since I have been making cookies of this general type since I was a kid.

My guinea pigs all loved them–they have been inquiring wildly when I will be on a baking jag again. (My guinea pigs are those who eat the excess desserts I have- Bill and I most certainly eat all of these!) It helps that I get occasional baking   products mailed to me.

And my guinea pigs should be quite happy because with the cooler weather upon us, that means there will be a LOT more baking, especially with the Blogger weeks of #AppleWeek and #PumpkinWeek fast approaching, with holiday cookies hard on their heels.

And as a blogger, I have to be thinking a bit ahead for these holidays that are coming up. Things in the kitchen move way too fast! If you can imagine it,   I am already planning things I will be  making in January of 2018.

But for now, I hope these fill  that  empty spot that happens around 3 o’clock in the afternoon, when the schoolkids are piling in after a hard day of studying.  And  these should certainly take them through the afternoon hours of homework  until dinner is served.

Until next time- same bat time, same bat channel…

~Sue

Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies

• Servings: 56
• Time: 1hr
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter,  softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4  teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup chopped  walnuts
• 1 cup golden raisins
• 1 cup chopped dried apples

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Cream together softened butter and sugars in a mixing bowl.
3. Add egg,  applesauce and vanilla, mixing until blended.
4. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, stirring in the oats to mix.
5. Add flour mixture to the wet mixture and stir until mixed.
6. Fold in the walnuts, raisins and apple pieces.
7. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls  or a cookie scoop onto parchment lined baking sheets.
8. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden and lightly firm.
9. Cool on wire racks, then store in a cookie jar or airtight container.

From the kitchen of palatablepastime.com

Fill the Cookie Jar!

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