As we continue sharing cookies in our Great Statewide Cookie Exchange this month, this time we turn to a bakery owner who shared her secret for the yummiest, chewiest oatmeal cookies you ever tasted. Our new favorite!

Courtesy of Sandy Selby

Apple–Oatmeal Cookies
Contributed by Jamie Launius, Desloge (St. Francois County)

Jamie says, “I have been a baker/cake decorator for eight years now. I followed my dream and opened a store (Lou Lou’s Cakes) in November 2021. What is a storefront bakery without the very best selection of cookies out there? My favorite cookie is an oatmeal raisin, or at least it was. Not a lot of people care for raisins, but I knew I had to have some kind of oatmeal cookie in my store. I wanted to make something different and thought, ‘What about apples?’ After some trial and error, I came up with this lovely cookie recipe. It is the yummiest and chewiest oatmeal cookie you have ever had. Turns out it was the ‘no-bake look’ that draws people in, even though this is a baked cookie.”

Ingredients:

1 apple, shredded
½ cup butter (1 stick), plus 1 tablespoon for cooking apple
½ cup applesauce
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups old-fashioned oats
3/4 cup flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:
Cook apple in a tablespoon of butter until soft. In a mixing bowl, mix butter, applesauce, sugar, and vanilla. In a separate mixing bowl, mix all dry ingredients together. Mix the dry ingredients in with the wet ingredients until well combined. Fold in the apples. Cover the batter and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scoop 3-ounce balls onto a cookie sheet and bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool.

Makes approximately 2 dozen.

Visit Lou Lou’s cakes at Desloge on Facebook.
You can download our entire Great State Cookie Exchange Recipes booklet here.