Name: Whole Wheat Applesauce Cookies
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 10 min
Ingredients: 1 cup white flour; 2¾ cup whole wheat flour; 1½ tsp cinnamon; ½ tsp allspice; ½ tsp cloves; ½ tsp nutmeg; 2 tsp baking powder; 2 tsp baking soda; ½ cup butter, softened; 3 eggs; 1 tbsp vanilla; 1¼ cup packed brown sugar; 2 cups applesauce; 12 oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

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With whole wheat flour and applesauce, can we call these cookies healthy? I hope so because they taste AMAZING! Perfectly spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, these applesauce cookies are great for an autumn afternoon. Or anytime for that matter!

a stack of 6 applesauce cookies. The top one has a bite out of it. A few chocolate chips are sprinkled around. The words "Whole Wheat Applesauce Cookies" are written across the top.

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📖 Instructions
✨ Top Tips
💪 Nutrition
🥣 Storage
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Serving Size
🍪 More Cookie Recipes
🍽️ Equipment
📖 Recipe
💬 Reviews

These healthy applesauce cookies are addictive! Mixed into whole wheat flour is a perfect blend of warm spices--cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. Adding in applesauce makes the cookies super moist. Oh and there's chocolate, I can't forget to mention the chocolate.

Biting into these soft applesauce cookies reminds me of coming home from school on a lovely autumn afternoon. Ok, it's probably because my mom use to make these all the time when I was growing up.

You should be able to find 75% of the ingredients in these applesauce cookies in the bulk section of the grocery store! In addition to the flour and sugar, you can buy spices there too. Spices are one of the best things you can buy in the bulk section because they are so much less expensive! For example, a .5 oz jar of Parsley on the shelves costs $2.84. Buying that same amount in the bulk bins is just 21 cents! (see all my price comparisons here).

📖 Instructions

Start by preheating the oven to 375 and preparing your cookie sheets by lining them with a baking mat, parchment paper, or grease them.

Next, combine the wet ingredients. In your mixer (or a large bowl), combine the butter, eggs, vanilla, and brown sugar (see recipe card below for ingredient measurements). Mix for 2-3 minutes. Set aside.

Then combine the dry ingredients. In a separate large bowl, combine both flours, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, baking powder, nutmeg, baking soda, and baking powder.

Next, add everything together! Alternate adding 1 cup of the flour mixture and 1 cup of applesauce to your butter/sugar mixture, until everything is completely combined. Mix in chocolate chips. The dough will be very wet, unlike most cookie dough. It will be more like the consistency of brownie batter.

Finally, bake your healthier applesauce cookies! Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough onto your prepared cookie sheet, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. These cookies expand as they bake. Bake cookies at 370° for 10 mins.

Your finished applesauce cookies should be soft and slightly browned along the edges.

a cookie with a bite taken out of it. A stack of cookies and a glass of milk are in the background.

✨ Top Tips

These are called whole wheat applesauce cookies, so why add 1 cup of all-purpose flour? The short answer is that whole wheat flour doesn't have very much gluten in it. Gluten is what helps create structure and volume in baking. Without it, these cookies would be very small bricks. All-purpose flour does have gluten in it, which is why we add it. We want them to become soft and fluffy.

If you want to learn more about gluten's magical powers, check out "What is Vital Wheat Gluten?" It will help you make the best, fluffiest bread (and cookies) ever!

The original recipe calls for regular applesauce, but it will be ok if you want to use "no sugar added applesauce" instead. I haven't tried cinnamon applesauce before, but I think it would also be delicious.

The finished cookie dough will be unlike most cookie dough. It will be much wetter, more similar to brownie batter. Don't worry! This is how it is supposed to look!

💪 Nutrition

I'm always skeptical when people call any kind of cookie healthy. I mean, they always still have a lot of sugar and a high-calorie content for their size. So instead, I'll call these healthier cookies. This is because they are made mostly of whole wheat flour, and they have applesauce in them. Also, comparing their nutrition values to a chocolate chip cookie, they have about 50 fewer calories per cookie, half the fat, and more vitamins, potassium, and iron. We can call them healthier! I used Very Well Fit's recipe analyzer to create this nutrition label.

🥣 Storage

These cookies need to be stored in an airtight container and will last 3 days. Because these cookies are so soft and moist, they can begin to stick together in storage. You can prevent this by storing them in the refrigerator, but it isn't necessary.

Applesauce cookies also freeze up fantastically. You can store them in the freezer for up to six months in a freezer-friendly storage container. Cookies can be thawed slowly on the countertop, or by individually cooking them for about 45 seconds in the microwave.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Serving Size

This recipe makes 36 delicious and soft applesauce cookies.

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🍽️ Equipment

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I hope you love these healthier applesauce cookies as much as I do!

✌️Ems

📖 Recipe