Spiced Caramel Apple Cookie Cups

There’s always been a debate over which fall flavor reigns supreme — apple or pumpkin. If you’re anything like me, you probably have a whole lot of love for both! Spiced apples always make me feel so warm and cozy this time of year. What makes them even better, though, is caramel of course! This caramel apple cookie recipe highlights the delicious fall flavors of fresh apples, warming spices, caramel, and a cream cheese based whipped caramel frosting. The flavor palate doesn’t stop there, though. The cookie cups themselves that serve as the base of this recipe are soft and chewy homemade gingerbread cookies. The gingerbread with just a bit of molasses has a delightful sweet warmth to it that perfectly compliments the caramel apple filling.

And long past the fall, gingerbread is just wintery enough to really tie fall and winter together without totally overpowering that signature fall flavor from the spiced caramel apple filling. Every bite of these cookie cups is perfect from bottom to top. Between the homemade gingerbread cookies, the sweet and spiced caramel apple filling, and the fluffy whipped cream cheese caramel frosting on top, there’s a whole lot to love about Caramel Apple Gingerbread Cookie Cups. The various components of the cookies including the gingerbread cookies, apple filling, and icing are all so easy to make with simple and inexpensive ingredients. Whether you want to make these caramel apple cookie cups as a fall treat, as a festive dessert on your Thanksgiving table, or start ringing in the Christmas baking season thanks to the gingerbread, this fast and easy dessert has you covered.

To make the caramel apple gingerbread cookie cups, you’ll need some basic fridge and pantry ingredients. You likely already have most, if not all, of these inexpensive ingredients in your kitchen right now! Get out the following items: Gingerbread cookie cups

Unsalted butter Brown sugar Egg Molasses All purpose flour Baking soda Ground ginger Cinnamon Nutmeg Ground cloves Salt Granulated sugar, for rolling

Caramel apple filling

Unsalted butter Apples Light brown sugar Lemon juice Cinnamon Ground nutmeg Ground cloves Ground ginger Kosher salt Caramel tidbits or caramel candies

Frosting

Cream cheese Caramel ice cream sundae topping Whipped topping

Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.

These perfectly portioned caramel apple spice cookie cups come together in no time at all. We’re going to be baking those cookie cups, making the apple filling, creating the fluffy caramel whipped frosting, and assembling. If you follow these super simple steps, you should only need about 30 minutes of prep time from start to finish. Now that’s a quick dessert recipe! Step 1: Prepare your kitchen. Preheat the oven to 350°F and spray a mini muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray. Step 2: Make the gingerbread cookie dough. Combine the softened butter and brown sugar in a stand mixer and beat until creamy. You can use an electric handheld mixer for this step if you’d prefer. Beat in the molasses and egg until combined.

Step 3: Mix the dry ingredients. In a separate small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, cinnamon, ground cloves, ground nutmeg, and then add it to the wet dough and mix until just combined.

Step 4: Form the cookie dough balls. Use a medium cookie scoop to roll the cookie dough into evenly sized balls, roll them in sugar, place them in the muffin pan, and repeat.

Step 5: Press the cookie dough cups. Using a spoon, scoop, or your fingers, form cookie dough cups with the dough.

Press it all the way up the sides of each cavity of your muffin pan.

Step 6: Bake the cookie cups. Bake the cookie cups for 10 minutes.

Note that they will puff up during baking. Use the back side of a spoon to push the puffy parts back down to create cookie cups with nice open centers that you can fill with apple filling.

Step 7: Make the caramel apple filling. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the apples, lemon juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground cloves, salt, and stir. Cook the apples until they’re fork tender, which should only take about 5 minutes.

Step 8: Add the caramel tidbits. Stir and allow them it to melt into the apples.

Step 9: Make the whipped frosting. Use a stand mixer (or electric handheld mixer) to whip the room temperature cream cheese until it’s fluffy before stirring in the caramel ice cream topping and then folding in whipped topping.

Step 10: Assembling the cookie cups. Evenly divide the caramel apple filling between all of the baked gingerbread cookie cups.

Step 11: Frosting. Pipe or spoon the whipped frosting onto the apple filling. Top off your cookie cups with a sprinkle of cinnamon or a drizzle of caramel and enjoy!

What Kind of Apples Should I Use to Make the Filling?

This is an easy, flexible recipe — you can use almost whatever type apples you prefer including Gala, Fuji, Honeycrisp, and more if you like sweeter apples. With that being said, I used Granny Smith apples. They have a natural tartness that helps balance out all of the sugary sweet ingredients in this dessert recipe. Braeburn is another tart apple that works well. Whatever you’d use for an apple pie will work great here. Peel them and keep them diced quite small, about 1/2-inch cubes.

What Kind Of Muffin Pan Do I Need?

Use a mini muffin pan for this easy cookie cup recipe. These caramel apple gingerbread bites are meant to be eaten in just about two bites — or less, for those of us who just can’t help ourselves! A regular sized muffin pan technically could be used however it’ll truly be a mouthful of a dessert. If you do use a regular sized muffin pan, you’ll yield about 10 to 12 cookie cups and the baking time will extend to likely 15 to 18 minutes, but this will vary so keep an eye on things.

What Kind of Caramel Should I Use?

Caramel is used in both the apple filling to create a tasty caramel apple mixture. And then again in the caramel cream cheese whipped frosting. Optionally, you can also drizzle more over the top for serving. In the apple filling mixture, I used Kraft Caramel Bits. I chose them because they don’t melt quite all the way and give a chewy texture to the apple filling. However, if you prefer a smoother and creamier texture, use Kraft Baking Caramels or your favorite caramel candies. Unwrap and dice them into pieces for easier melting. You’ll want a heaping 1/2 cup after you’ve diced them. For the frosting, I used caramel ice cream topping sauce. I used ice cream topping sauce, or sundae sauce, because it’s thinner and creates great frosting consistency and texture. As much as I love thick salted caramel sauce, it’ll be too heavy for the frosting, which is counterproductive to a whipped frosting. But feel free to drizzle it on afterwards! Plus, it’ll be more difficult to pipe if you using a piping bag and tip. Bottom line is to use ice cream sundae topping for this easy whipped frosting recipe.

Why Is My Whipped Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting Flat?

If your frosting is a little flat and lifeless, that’s likely because you weren’t gentle when folding the whipped cream into the caramel and cream cheese mixture. When you’re combining that final ingredient with the others, try to do so carefully. If you’re too quick or stir it in too much, your frosting will likely fall a little flat. The goal of the whipped cream is to make the frosting fluffy. Don’t take away from that element by over-mixing.

Do I Have to Pipe the Frosting?

No, you don’t need to pipe on your whipped cream cheese caramel frosting and can instead simply dollop it on with a spoon. I only used a piping bag and star tip because it looks more festive for the photos but if I was just making these for my family, I wouldn’t bother.

Serving Suggestions

I think the best way to enjoy these caramel apple cookie bites is to grab one in each hand and just dig in. Kidding… Kind of! If you want to add a little sweet and salty topping to these treats, you need to make The Best Salted Caramel Sauce! A little drizzle of that homemade sauce atop each of your Caramel Apple Gingerbread Cookie Cups is a surefire way to make them even more mouthwatering. Otherwise vanilla ice cream or your favorite flavor, or just some Cool Whip, are great. Oh, and if you want to sneak one of these little treats into your morning routine, pair it with a Copycat Pumpkin Spice Latte! That way, you won’t have to decide between pumpkin and apple – you can have the best of both worlds to kickstart your lovely fall morning.

How to Store Leftovers

In an airtight container in the fridge, any cookie cups that don’t get gobbled up immediately will stay fresh for up to 5 days. I don’t recommend freezing these Caramel Apple Gingerbread Cookie Cups. These caramel apple cookies are best enjoyed when they’re slightly warmed. Tip: Pop a cold cookie cup into the microwave for 10 to 15 seconds before enjoying for the best taste!

Here are just a few tips and tricks I’ve noted to make sure that you have the very best caramel apple cookies, every single time! Butter and Cream Cheese: Both of these ingredients need to be softened to room temperature prior to usage. Do NOT try to whip either of them if they’re still cold from the refrigerator. To play it safe, I recommend leaving both the butter and cream cheese on your kitchen counter about an hour before you know you’ll be using them. Use brick-style cream cheese in a block. Do nut use any type of lite, whipped, or “spreadable” cream cheese product. Use a good ‘ole fashioned block. Molasses: I use Grandma’s Unsulphered Molasses. This is an easy-to-find molasses that gives great results. I don’t recommend blackstrap molasses because it’s too strong-tasting for me in most dessert recipes.

Sugar: The white granulated sugar in the cookie recipe is used to roll the cookie dough around in. There’s nothing better than a crunchy coating of sugar on the outside of a perfectly baked gingerbread cookie, You can use a coarse sugar instead of plain white granulated sugar for even more of a crunch if you’d like. Or mix in a couple teaspoons of cinnamon for a cinnamon-and-sugar vibe. Apples: Make sure they’re peeled. You don’t want to be chewing on tough apple peels when you enjoy these cookies. Also, when dicing them into small cubes, make sure all of the cubes are relatively the same size, about 1/2-inch cubes. Also, if the apples dry out while cooking, stir in a teaspoon of water as needed. Caramel Bits: These don’t melt all the way, so they give the filling a delicious gooey added texture. If you want the caramels to be more melted in the caramel apple filling, use soft caramels instead of caramel tidbits.

Flour: To measure the flour, be sure to use a spoon to fill the measuring cup. If the measuring cup is overfilled, just run the back of a butter knife across the top of the measuring cup to brush off any extra. Keep in mind that if you scoop your measuring cup directly into the flour bag, this can actually cause the flour to pack. Packed flour means too much flour. Robustly Flavored: If you’re like me and really love the flavor of intensely flavored desserts, feel free to double the amounts of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. I wouldn’t double the nutmeg though because 2 teaspoons would be a lot.

Baking The Cookie Cups: When you’ve got the dough made, rolled into balls and dredged through granulated sugar, make sure to press it well into each cavity of your mini muffin pan, including up the sides. I like to make a little lip at the top that extends onto the flat surface of the pan so the dough can “grab” onto something as it bakes. After baking it will have puffed up and so don’t be shy about using the back side of a spoon to mold the recently baked and warm cookie cups but pressing them down and creating a nice open space in the center of each to fill with the caramel apple filling. Cool Whip: The frosting uses Cool Whip and while you could whip your own heavy cream, the stabilizers in it will help it stay fuller and fluffier longer than real homemade whipped cream. Whipped topping is the way to go here.

More Easy Caramel Apple Recipes:

Caramel Apple Bar — It’s caramel apple season and this caramel apple bar is a FUN and festive quintessential fall treat! EASY to prep and it’s a wonderful family family-friendly activity for kids and adults alike! Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes!

Caramel Apple Blondies – Super soft, moist, chewy and all the flavor of caramel apples minus the stick! You’re going to love these apple blondies!

Caramel Apple Muffins – Soft, fluffy, springy, loaded with chunks of apples, and so much CARAMEL flavor!! EASY, no mixer needed, and you’d never guess they’re accidentally vegan!

Campfire Apple Crisp Foil Packets – EASY, zero cleanup, made on the grill (or oven) in record time, and tastes amazing!! Juicy apples, chewy crumble topping, and luscious salted caramel…SO irresistible!

Salted Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars – These bars are full of the flavors of fall! The soft yet dense apple cheesecake layer tops a crisp, brown sugar-graham cracker crust, while gooey, salted caramel drenches the top. Yum!!

Caramel Apple Crumble Pie – Apple pie meets apple crumble in this easy caramel apple crumble pie recipe. This apple pie is dense, rich, and is packed with caramel apple flavor!

Baked Apple Fritters – Love the taste of apple fritters but don’t want the calories or hassle that comes with frying them? Then these FAST and EASY baked apple fritters made with just four main ingredients are PERFECT!

Caramel Apple Sheet Pan Pancakes – Craving pancakes but not the work of standing at the stove flipping them? Make these EASY sheet pan pancakes!! Perfect for a weekend brunch or as a weekday breakfast because they’re ready in 10 minutes!

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