Apple Cinnamon Instant Oatmeal Cookies + Video
Yes, you can use instant oatmeal in your cookies! Instant flavor upgrade, and no chilling required. Try these super easy apple cinnamon instant oatmeal cookies today!
{scroll down for video tutorial}
I have to admit, I’m not a huge oatmeal fan. If I have to, I’ll eat it, but it’ll never be my first choice for breakfast, for cookies, for anything… Well, except in buttery crumb toppings in pies, bars and crisps.
My husband, on other hand, loves it!
I remember when he went to Mongolia for a month back in the day, he made sure to pack some of those instant oatmeal packets, for a little taste of home. It’s sure convenient, tasty breakfast on the go, especially when you’re away from home.
So as you can imagine, when Garrat brought home a giant box of assorted instant oatmeal packets, I wasn’t thrilled. It took some time for us to go through it all. To speed up the consumption and free up some pantry space, I started experimenting with them. Garrat suggested I make cookies. First, I thought, you can’t use instant oatmeal in cookies. That’s a no-no! But then on second thought, why not? Because I’ll miss the real oat flavor? I can live with that!
What makes these cookies so good?
After 5 (FIVE!) revisions, I finally landed on perfectly dense, chewy and full of flavor oatmeal cookies. Since the instant oatmeal packets are already sweet enough, we’re adding just a little bit of sugar for chewy texture and added moisture. Without additional sugar, the cookies were just lackluster.
Since perfecting the recipe, I’ve made these cookies many, many times. No one ever complained about lack of real oat flavor. My guess is that additional flavors have something to do with that! My favorite was apple & cinnamon, but you could use any flavors you like, or even mix n’ match. Maple & brown sugar was super good too.
I’m sure you have some instant oatmeal packets laying around. Go get them and start baking, because you’re gonna love them. Oh, and they smell amazing too!!
Are you an oatmeal person? Even if you’re not, I know you’ll love these cookies!
Thanks for reading.
Apple Cinnamon Instant Oatmeal Cookies
Yes, you can use instant oatmeal in your cookies! Instant flavor upgrade, and no chilling required. Try these super easy apple cinnamon instant oatmeal cookies today!
Yield: about 2.5 dozen cookies (2-inch mini cookies)
Ingredients:
- ½ cup (115gr) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/3 cup (65gr) brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons (40gr) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 5 packets apple & cinnamon instant oatmeal
- 1 cup (125gr) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ cups add-ins, like M&Ms, chocolate chips, nuts
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).
- In a mixing bowl with paddle attachment, place butter and sugars. Beat on medium speed until nice and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
- Add egg and vanilla extract and mix another minute or so.
- Add instant oatmeal, flour, baking soda and salt. Mix until just incorporated.
- Stir in add-ins of your choice. I used 1 cup of M&Ms and ½ cup of chopped pecans here.
- Using a medium cookie scoop (about 1 tablespoon of dough), shape the dough into 1-inch balls and place 8 cookies per baking sheet. Flatten the cookies slightly.
- Bake the cookies for 8 minutes, or until the edges are set, one sheet at a time. The cookies will look a bit under-baked, but they’ll set nicely once cooled.
- Cool the cookies on the sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Store in airtight container for up to 5 days (if they last that long!)
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I used snickerdoodle oatmeal packets left over from the holidays and added a cup and a half of raisins. They’re we’re tasty, although a 1/2 teaspoon of allspice and another 1/4 cup of sugar would’ve made them perfect for us!
Thank you for your feedback, Laila!! Sounds like a great flavor combo!!
SO GOOD!! I made mine with the 1.5 cups of add-ins as fresh honey crisp apples and raisins. I literally cannot stop eating them 😂
These cookies are the best! I totally can’t stop making them for all my friends and neighbors. “Instant oatmeal packets” yummy! Their amazed how delicious they are.
Hi-Could I use almond flour vs flour?
Hi, Kim. I haven’t tested this recipe with almond flour, so I’m not certain.
This recipe is amazing!! I looked at various instant oatmeal packet recipes on the internet and decided to go with this one. I used maple and brown sugar packets instead of apple cinnamon and added white chocolate chips and walnuts! Everyone in the family loved them. I will probably cut back on the sugar next time considering all the sweet addins I’m including. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Thank you, Dena, for choosing my recipe. So glad you enjoyed them!!!
So easy! And the men in my house loved them. Appreciate finding a way to use up packets of instant oatmeal now that one son has moved on from his health kick.
So happy you tried and loved the cookies, Martha!! Thank you for your feedback!
What a great recipe. This whole quarantine thing is having me reconsider which food we use up in our pantry. For example, the packets of instant oatmeal that are about to expire. We used whole wheat flour and did not use any add in. They turned out great and everyone devoured them! Thanks for a fantastic recipe.
So glad you tried and loved the recipe, Donna. Thank you for your review!!! Stay safe!
We had some apple cinnamon oatmeal packets, and didn’t know what to do with them because nobody would eat them! I looked up this recipe and I decided I would try it out. One of my favorite cookies. Sooooo delicious. Thank you, and this was very useful and yummy!
Awesome!!! So happy you were able to put those oatmeal packets to a good use. 😉 Thank you for your feedback, Kate!
I tried your recipe, using maple and brown sugar Oatmeal and chocolate covered raisins. Turned out great will definitely be making these again
Delicious. Instead of using candy I used shredded apples. Very tasty. God way to use instant oatmeal
Oh, I love that idea, Joan. Thanks for sharing!!
I was looking for a recipe that I could turn into protein oatmeal cookies. I substituted half a cup of flour with half a cup of my chocolate protein powder. They turned out amazing! Now instead of night snacking on garbage I’ll at least be having something packed with protein.
That’s fantastic, Stephanie. Thank you for sharing your tweak!!!
Hi about to make these yummy cookies with plain instant oatmeal. Do I need to add more sugar than what’s in the recipe?
Hey, Ava. I don’t think I’ve tried plain instant oatmeal. Is it sweet? If it’s unsweetened, you may need to add a little more sugar.
I was looking for an easy recipe to make with my kids. I used maple and brown sugar oatmeal instead of apples and cinnamon because that’s always the last to go out of the variety box. :DThese cookies were easy to make and absolutely amazing. I accidentally added a little too much salt to my batch and also left out the chocolate chips thinking that it would be too sweet. Not at all. I look forward to trying this recipe again but with the correct measurement of salt and with chocolate chips and walnut or pecans next time! Thanks for sharing this recipe! Adding it to my box <3
Yay, so happy you tried and loved the recipe, Tiffani. Thank you for sharing your feedback!
I had 10 packets of cinnamon spice oatmeal that nobody would eat. These cookies were amazing thank you!!
Yay, glad you found a good use to those oatmeal packets. Thank you for your feedback, Amy!
Hi! I’m planning on making these tomorrow but I don’t eat eggs and don’t want to buy a carton just for this recipe.
You think I could sub it with a flax egg??
Thank you! Excited to try them out
So I did make it with a flax egg and plain instant oatmeal adding pumpkin pie spices and kind of eye balled the flour cause the dough did seem pretty dry.
Greeeaaaat and easy recipe tho, they were a big hit!
Great to hear, Auguste. I’ve never baked with flax egg, so I had no idea. But I’m glad it worked. Thank you for letting me know.
I’m not much of a cook, I lack the skill of knowing ones seasonings- how much, what goes well, etc. I would like to make this, but keep it simple, enjoying the flavor of the fruit- strawberry or peaches and cream & not add a chocolate to mess w/the flavor. I understand it helps w/the sweetness tho. Will this recipe or the oatmeal have enough sweetness to stand alone? Or do I need to adjust the sugar amount or get a simple sweet topping that won’t fight these flavors? & What might enhance them then? I appreciate your insight.
Hi, Beata! Yep, if you’re using the flavored instant oatmeal packets, you’ll be fine without added chocolate. Just skip the additional chocolate. The cookies will still be sweet.
Hello, in the recipe you asked for 5 packets so I used five packets whereas in the video you only used one? My batter was dry so I had to add water. My batter did npt turn out like yours but the cookies were still good.
Hi, Enz! I only showed one packet in the video to make it short, but if you watch closely the amount of oatmeal had increased when you add flour. Glad your cookies turned out good despite the dry batter.
Delicous! Made as a treat for coworkers, and someone who taste tested them said they weren’t going to work :). I used chocolate chips this time as that’s all I had, but I can see mixing in some peanut butter to the batter too!
So happy you and your coworkers enjoyed these cookies. Thank you for your feedback, Amanda!
Made these with only white chocolate chips added and they were delicious! My boyfriend who doesn’t eat many cookies are 4 normal ice cream scoop sized cookies the first night. Making another batch with triple morsels since I had them to use. And my next batch will be adding in raisins!
That’s so great to hear, Jennifer!! Glad you guys are enjoying the cookies. Thank you for your feedback.
Super easy to make, using all on-hand ingredients, and the best part is that the cookies are delicious. No changes or modifications were needed. Thank you so much for a wonderful oatmeal cookie recipe.
Yay, Ruth, so happy you’ve enjoyed these cookies!! I’m going to make some today too. Thank you for your feedback.
Help! I have a 9.3 oz (264g) bag/packet of Instant Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal (not Quaker). What is the standard size of an apple & cinnamon instant oatmeal packet??
A measurement in cups, ounces, grams, or anything beyond just “packet” would be helpful to a novice cook like myself. Thanks.
Hi, John! 1 packet contains 43gr of oatmeal, so total you need 215gr of instant oatmeal. Hope this helps! Let us know how they turn uot, if you give it a try. Thanks!
Tried the recipe, concerned might be too dry. Think there’s probably a difference as used “organic” generic plain instant oatmeal versus Quaker Oats brand with flavoring. Still good with coffee, and if I made again would add applesauce or some more moisture with this brand oatmeal. Thanks!
Alora, thank you for sharing your experience and your feedback. The flavored oatmeal packets add nice flavor that I so love. But glad to hear it worked with plain instant oatmeal as well. Applesauce sounds like a great addition.
I added in 1 cup of Cinnamon Raisin Granola and 1/2 cup of pecans, plus 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. The cookies were moist & delicious. Thank you for the recipe.
Belinda, thank you for trying my recipe and for your feedback. So happy you enjoyed those cookies.
So easy to make and delicious too! Thank you for this recipe.
Thank you for your feedback, Francine. So glad you enjoyed the cookies!