In these bite-size cookies, oatmeal is laced with chunks of fresh apple and butterscotch chips and topped with a sweet bourbon glaze.
Sometimes all you need is a second chance. That’s all I needed to make these wonderfully perfect Butterscotch Apple Oatmeal Cookies with Bourbon Glaze at least.
You see, I first made these little bites of deliciousness when I was up at my parents’ house last weekend and, even though they disappeared in less than 24 hours, they weren’t exactly what I had been hoping for. They bordered on “breakfast biscuit”…They weren’t overly sweet (save for the butterscotch chips), and all I could think about was wanting to dunk them in some sort of hot beverage.
For me, if I want to eat a cookie, I want it in all its glory – sweet, buttery and indulgent – so I decided the recipe needed a few tweaks, a second chance. That’s both the up- and downside of being a food blogger. The upside is that you have the freedom to make and retest a recipe as much as you’d like – there’s no one standing over you with tight deadlines or hungry guests sitting at a dining table. The downside is that you can put soooo much work into a recipe, with the highest hopes for its success, only to have it completely fail on you.
Lucky for you, I’m here to do all the testing, so that you don’t need to worry about the recipes that you try from this blog falling flat on you (and if it does, I really hope you’ll tell me so I can fix it!) That’s one of the main purposes of CaliGirl Cooking, after all, to make EVERYONE feel confident in the kitchen, no matter your culinary history or skill set.
Speaking of recipe testing, I’ve certainly been doing my fair share of it over the past week or so. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you’ll have seen that tomorrow I’m hosting a Feed Supper at one of our local hotels. I’m extremely excited and honored to have this opportunity, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous!
This situation is quite different from my usual day-to-day recipe production (only cooking for myself and my husband and maybe a couple of friends) and let’s just say I’ve been feeling the heat. There’s a lot more pressure when cooking in a public place, for people you don’t necessarily know, than when I’m just tinkering around at home and have room for a tiny adjustment or two.
BUT, I’m happy to say that all of the recipes I tested were great successes, and as long as I can get everything prepped and ready before they shut off our power for routine maintenance tomorrow, I’ll be good to go and ready to party for a great cause.
Alas, I digress. Let’s talk about these Butterscotch Apple Oatmeal Cookies with Bourbon Glaze because they definitely deserve their fair amount of attention.
A few weeks ago I realized I had not ONE cookie recipe up on the site…the horrors! With the holidays just around the corner, I figured I needed to right that wrong ASAP. My recipe wheels started turning and I started dreaming up what I thought would be the perfect fall cookie: tiny chunks of apple tucked into a brown butter-y, brown sugar-y oatmeal cookie, laced with butterscotch chips (caramel apple flavor, anyone?)
That’s where I started in my first round of testing, and I’ve already explained how these didn’t quite fit the bill of what I was looking for in THE debut cookie recipe from CaliGirl Cooking. Plus, these were only Butterscotch Apple Oatmeal Cookies…can you see we were missing an integral part of the puzzle? That’s right folks, no bourbon glaze 🙁
So here’s how I decided to spruce things up the next time around: As I mentioned, the original cookies were cakelike and not too sweet. I wanted them sweeter and more moist, decadent was the word I was looking for. For the second batch, I added another egg and upped the amount of brown sugar, and this did the trick!
But I still wanted something more, because I’m a food blogger and just can’t leave things be. Enter: bourbon glaze! I threw some powdered sugar, vanilla almond milk and bourbon into my stand mixer, and quickly whipped up the perfectly consistent drizzle. If you want to keep these cookies “kid-friendly” you can just double the amount of almond milk and omit the bourbon, no biggie! But if you’re just feeding “big kids” (over 21 that is) I highly recommend you leave the bourbon in.
I used a piping bag with just the tip cut off to generously drizzle the glaze over the already-delicious cookies and, voila! Butterscotch Apple Oatmeal Cookies with Bourbon Glaze were born, tastier than ever.
These cookies are literally the taste of fall in one bite. The sweetness of the butterscotch and apples is balanced perfectly by the heartiness of the rolled oats, while the bourbon glaze adds the perfect kick. We’re still experiencing 70-80 degree weather here in Santa Barbara, but right now all I want to do is make a batch of Butterscotch Apple Oatmeal Cookies with Bourbon Glaze and a warm mug of coffee and head to my nearest pumpkin patch. Who’s with me?

Butterscotch Apple Oatmeal Cookies with Bourbon Glaze
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup chopped Fuji apple about ½ of a medium apple
- ½ cup butterscotch chips
For the glaze:
- 2 cups powdered sugar sifted
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened vanilla almond milk or regular milk
- 2 tablespoons bourbon
Instructions
- Place butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Let sit on heat until butter has melted and browned slightly, releasing a nutty aroma. Transfer to a heat and freezer safe container and let cool slightly, then place in freezer for 30-45 minutes.
- Remove butter from freezer and let soften ever so slightly (you just want it to be able to mix well with the sugar.) I microwaved it for about 30 seconds to help it soften up.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine brown butter and brown sugar. Mix at medium speed until the two ingredients are well incorporated, then mix in the eggs and vanilla. Add the dry ingredient mixture and beat until just combined. Remove bowl from stand and stir in apples and butterscotch chips using a wooden spoon or spatula.
- Using a small cookie scoop (or a tablespoon measure,) scoop dough onto prepared cookie sheets, leaving only about an inch and a half of space in between each scoop. Flatten dough slightly with hands before baking.
- Bake in 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes, or until cookies are a light golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool on cookie sheet about 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.
- While cookies are cooling, make the bourbon glaze. Combine powdered sugar, almond milk (or regular milk) and bourbon (or more milk if making this recipe for kids) and mix using a stand mixer, hand mixer or whisk until a glaze has formed. Scoop glaze into a piping back or gallon-size resealable plastic bag. Cut off the tip of the bag and drizzle glaze generously over the cookies. Let dry about 15 minutes before serving.
- These cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week.
Notes
- To make the glaze nonalcoholic, substitute vanilla extract for the bourbon.
- Use a piping bag or Ziploc with the tip cut off to drizzle the glaze over the cookies.
- These cookies can be frozen for up to three months.
Nutrition
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All the goods.
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