Recipe Box: Oatmeal Applesauce Cookies with Maple Drizzle

Sometimes you just need a bit of warm, sweet comfort food. These cookies are perfect for when the wind is cold and howling outside your window. Not only do they warm up the house with the scent of cinnamon and oatmeal, but once made, these cookies stay soft for days.

Give these a try if you crave something sweet that isn’t too sugar-laden. The first time I made these cookies, I missed a step in the recipe. It turns out that I never added sugar to the batter! No one noticed at all and they were plenty sweet with the maple drizzle on top.

This recipe uses flour so it is not gluten-free. If you need an awesome GF cookie recipe, try these: Gluten-Free Tahini Cookies.

Oatmeal Applesauce Cookies with Maple Drizzle

Ingredients

Maple Drizzle

• 1 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (I’ve provided a base measurement, but adjust this step to your taste.
• Optional: add ground cloves and nutmeg if you wish

Cookies

• 2 cups flour (You can use white, wheat, or both, as you prefer.)
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter (I use salted butter, if you use unsalted butter you may wish to add a pinch of salt to the mix.)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (almond extract would be quite nice, too!)
• 1 cup applesauce (unsweetened applesauce is my preference.)

(Optional)

• 1 tablespoon Molasses (Add this for depth and flavor)
• 1 cup Brown Sugar (This was in the original recipe, but I forgot to write it down and didn’t put it in. They were still tasty, so I consider this optional!)

Directions

Cookies

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease cookie sheets and set them aside.
• Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and set aside.
• Cream the butter (and optional sugar), and blend in the egg and vanilla extract. Mix well.
• Stir in the dry ingredients bit by bit, alternating with the applesauce. Stir until just blended together, don’t overmix.
• Drop by spoonfuls onto the greased cookie sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes.
• When done, set the cookies on a rack to cool for a few minutes before adding the drizzle.

Maple Drizzle

• While the cookies are baking, whisk together the milk and confectioner’s sugar in a small dish.
• Add the maple syrup and mix well.
• Drizzle over the cooling cookies and let them set.