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Caramel apple snickerdoodles – a fall twist on snickerdoodle cookies! These actually taste like caramel apple and remind me of those green caramel apple suckers
These just came out of the oven! House smells amazing. They came out so delicious. I’m going to make another batch for Thanksgiving.
-Lynn
A few weeks ago I shared a recipe for turtle cookies (they are so delicious!) and in that post I vowed to share more cookie recipes. So I’m keeping good on my word!
Growing up I loved snickerdoodles – what kid doesn’t like any kind of cookie though?! But it’s been years since I’ve had one.
The mixture of cinnamon sugar that the cookie is rolled in is spot on and irresistible. Plus one of the draws to snickerdoodle cookies is the tanginess from the cream of tartar. The cream of tartar reacts with the baking soda to leaven the cookies and it also gives snickerdoodles their chewy texture.
I decided to take the traditional snickerdoodle recipe and give it a fall twist with 2 iconic flavors – caramel and apple!
So I got to work and baked and baked and baked. I baked 6 batches of caramel apple snickerdoodles to find the best recipe! I tried apple juice, apple cider and powdered apple cider drink mix to add apple flavor to the cookies.
The verdict?
The apple juice and apple cider didn’t really provide any apple flavor to the cookies after I baked them.
Apple Cider Drink Mix in Cookies
But the apple cider drink mix added nice apple flavor to the cookies! I also added caramel bits (the tiny caramel balls that Kraft makes for baking and melting for caramel apples) to the dough making these cookies truly caramel apple snickerdoodles!
The cookies actually remind me of those caramel apple suckers – the green ones that are dipped in caramel – mmmmm!! The cookies have a sweet and sour taste and I think they smell like sour apple candy!
Why Chill Cookie Dough
I also experimented with chilling the dough in the bowl, chilling the dough in balls and not chilling the dough. Not chilling the dough at all produced cookies that spread out more.
But I couldn’t really see a significant difference between chilling the dough in the bowl versus chilling the dough in balls. The dough chilled in balls maybe seemed to produce a slightly taller cookie – but again, nothing that made a significant difference.
I chilled the dough for 30 minutes in the fridge before scooping them into balls and baking them.
These little fall cookies are irresistible.
Total Time Required
- 5 minutes to prep the dough
- 30 minutes to chill the dough
- 10 minutes to bake
- 10 minutes to cool
Tips
- Properly measure the all purpose flour using the spoon and sweep method.
- Use room temperature butter for easier creaming of the butter and sugar.
- Refrigerate the cookie dough for 30 minutes.
- Use a cookie scoop to form cookie dough balls.
- Bake cookies on a silicone baking mat.
More Fall Recipes
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Caramel Apple Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 ½ cups (300g) all purpose flour
- 2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 packets apple cider drink mix, .74 oz each (make sure you see the . ◀️ it's .74)
- 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, softened, 2 sticks
- 1 ½ cups (297g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup (78g) caramel bits, like Kraft brand
Topping
- ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp cinnamon
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt and apple cider drink mix. Set aside.2 1/2 cups (300g) all purpose flour, 2 tsp cream of tartar, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 packets apple cider drink mix
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs. Mix in the caramel bits with a spatula. Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, mixing until the flour is just combined.1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, softened, 1 1/2 cups (297g) granulated sugar, 2 large eggs, 1/2 cup (78g) caramel bits
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- In a small bowl, mix together the cinnamon sugar topping.1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar, 1 Tbsp cinnamon
- Remove the dough from the fridge. Using a small cookie dough scoop, scoop dough and roll it into a ball. Roll the ball into the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place them on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until the tops become a little crackly. Allow the cookies to cool for 5-10 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack or eating them!
74 oz of apple cider drink mix…that’s a lot of drink mix.
Please correct me if I’m wrong.
There’s a point before the 7… so .74 oz :)
These look amazingly delicious. After reading the comments here. Many people said that the cookies fell flat after removing from oven. Any reason why? Snickerdoodle cookies look puffed after taking from the oven.
I too would love to make there. Would just like them not flat. Any ideas? TIA
I just made these, unfortunately I didn’t notice that I should use 1/2 cup of caramels, I used the entire bag! They are good & I don’t care that the flatten.
What a fun cookie flavor! I am a cottage baker and take these to markets in the fall, and everybody always loves them! They’re so easy to make and usually sell out.
I haven’t made these yet because I can’t figure out if the amount of apple cider drink mix is correct. Is it really 148 ounces or should this be grams? You’d have buy a lot of boxes to equal 148 ounces!
Hi Tiffany! The ingredients call for “2 packets apple cider drink mix – .74 oz each (make sure you see the . ◀️ it’s .74)