Vegan Apple Pie Cinnamon Sugar Cookies Ready in 20 Minutes

A quick vegan bake built around real apple

The appeal here is practical: these cookies put apple pie flavors into a vegan sugar cookie, and the recipe takes 20 minutes from start to finish. Each batch makes about 20. Cooked Honeycrisp apple and cinnamon are folded into the dough, so the fruit runs through the cookie rather than sitting on top. That gives the recipe a more direct apple flavor than a cookie that relies on spice alone, though the small amount of fruit means it’s a supporting ingredient, not the whole show. A vanilla icing drizzle adds sweetness, though it’s easy to skip. If you prefer a less sweet finish, leaving off the icing also keeps the cinnamon and apple more prominent.

The method keeps the apple preparation separate from the dough: the chopped fruit cooks with cinnamon for five minutes, then gets folded in once the dough is mixed. That extra step is short, but it matters to the texture and distribution of the fruit. Small pieces are more likely to spread through the batch than a large topping would, and cooking them first gives the cinnamon time to coat them. The recipe doesn’t specify how finely to chop the apple, so aim for pieces that can be folded through the dough without breaking it up. Here's the thing: a quick recipe still depends on a little care at the mixing stage.

If you’re baking for someone who avoids gluten, the recipe allows regular or gluten-free all-purpose flour; Jillian Glenn recommends King Arthur Measure for Measure. Oat flour is also suggested as an option in the accompanying recipe introduction, though it isn’t listed in the recipe’s measured ingredients. Those flour choices shouldn’t be treated as automatically interchangeable: different flours can absorb moisture differently, and this recipe doesn’t give separate measurements or adjustments for oat flour. If you’re working in this space, that’s the practical detail to check before you start. The cookies suit a coffee break or a casual dessert, but the numbers are modest: the recipe has a rating of 1 from two votes, too little feedback to say much about how it performs for other bakers. This is more significant than it looks; a recipe with limited feedback leaves basic questions about consistency unanswered.

For another fall-friendly cookie, try Spiced Pecan Sugar Cookies. It offers another route to a spiced cookie when apple isn’t the flavor you want. A separate recipe, and a useful comparison for anyone planning a baking session.

Apple pie cinnamon sugar cookies

Makes: about 20 cookies
Total time: 20 minutes

The quantities below divide the work into three parts: cinnamon apples, cookie dough and icing. The flaxseed meal and warm water are mixed first and left to gel, giving the dough its egg-free binder. The icing is optional in the serving step, so you can make the cookies without it if you’d rather keep the finish simple. And this is the part most people overlook: the recipe gives a short total time, but it still asks you to prepare the apple, make the dough and mix the icing. Having the ingredients measured before you begin makes that sequence easier to follow.

Ingredients

Cinnamon apples

• 1 tbsp vegan butter, or nonstick spray for the saucepan
• ⅓ cup peeled, cored, chopped Honeycrisp apple
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon

Sugar cookie dough

• 2 tbsp flaxseed meal
• ¼ cup warm water
• ½ cup melted vegan butter
• 1 cup cane sugar
• 1 tbsp unsweetened almond milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1¼ cups all-purpose flour, regular or gluten-free. For gluten-free baking, Glenn recommends King Arthur Gluten Free Measure for Measure.

Vanilla icing

• ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tbsp unsweetened almond milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Preparing the tray first means it’s ready when the dough is mixed, so the cookies can go into the oven without an extra pause.
2. Warm the vegan butter or nonstick spray in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the apple and cinnamon, then cook for five minutes, stirring often. Take the pan off the heat. Stirring helps coat the apple pieces, while removing the pan from the heat stops the cooking before they’re folded into the dough.
3. Stir the flaxseed meal and warm water together in a small bowl. Let the mixture sit for two minutes until it gels. In a medium bowl, combine the melted vegan butter, cane sugar, flax mixture, almond milk, vanilla, baking powder and salt. Add the flour and mix into a dough, then fold in the cinnamon apples. The recipe puts the dry ingredients into the wet mixture in one go; mix only until the flour is incorporated, then fold gently so the fruit stays distributed through the dough.
4. Roll roughly 1 tablespoon (20 g) of dough into each ball. Arrange on the baking sheet with about 1½ inches (4 cm) between them; the batch should yield around 20. Keeping the portions similar in size helps them bake at roughly the same pace. If the dough is sticking to your hands, a lightly damp hand can make shaping easier without adding another ingredient.
5. Bake for 9–11 minutes, until the edges turn golden and the cookies lift easily from the parchment. The time is a range, so use the stated color and release cues alongside the clock. That said, ovens and baking sheets can affect how quickly cookies finish; check the tray near the earlier end of the range.
6. While they bake, whisk or beat the confectioners’ sugar, almond milk and vanilla until smooth. Adding the milk to the sugar gradually can help you control the consistency, though the ingredient list gives a fixed amount rather than a range. The icing should be smooth enough to drizzle once the cookies have cooled.
7. Let the cookies cool, then drizzle with icing before serving. Leave out both the apples and icing for a plain sugar cookie variation. Cooling gives the cookies time to set and makes the icing less likely to run straight off the surface.

What the recipe offers—and what to watch

The recipe’s appeal is its recognizable format: a sugar cookie with apple and cinnamon folded in, plus an optional vanilla finish. There’s no complicated shaping or unusual equipment in the instructions, and the short bake gives you a clear point to check for doneness. Still, the stated 20 minutes leaves little room for surprises. If you’re new to baking, allow extra time for measuring, chopping the apple and letting the cookies cool before icing them.

The small batch and straightforward ingredient list make this a reasonable choice for a casual bake, while the limited rating means readers have little shared experience to draw on. The recipe also names a preferred gluten-free flour but doesn’t explain how oat flour should be measured or substituted. That’s a gap for anyone relying on that option. A first attempt can tell you whether the texture and sweetness suit your taste; until more feedback is available, results may vary with flour choice and how the dough is handled. A modest recipe, then, with a few details worth watching.

Reprinted with permission from Light & Easy Vegan Baking by Jillian Glenn. Page Street Publishing, 2022. Photo credit: Jillian Glenn.

PBN runs sponsored content. To ask about being featured, email [email protected] or visit everkinddigital.com.

This article was written by Jillian Glenn on the PBN Website.