Caramel Apple Oatmeal Cookies

Caramel Apple Oatmeal Cookies – (caramel apple oatmeal cookies recipe and instructions follow) – So, here it is, Christmas time again – yay! I don’t know if you are anything like me, but if you are then when it comes to Christmas you are in the kitchen baking cookies. I love, love, love to bake cookies. So, the other day I was at the store stocking up on all of my cookie baking needs, and what did I find?  I’ll tell you what I found, some caramel  chips. Not like chip chips, but like little spheres of caramel. Now, I don’t know if those existed last year and everybody just managed to buy them before me, or if they are a new thing on the market this year. But, what I do know is that I am super duper crazy excited because –  ? I’m going to make caramel apple oatmeal cookies ? and they are going to be the bomb. I have to say here though, that of course, I’ve had apple cookies, even apple oatmeal I think. But there is always one flaw in those cookies. Dry apples. It just always seems like the apples start to dehydrate a little while they’re baking. Does anyone else notice this? Don’t get me wrong, they’re still delicious and I wouldn’t turn one down. I don’t think I’ve ever met a cookie that I didn’t like. I just think that I have a good solution to the problem. If you’d call it a problem. Do you want to hear it? Well here it goes….. I’m going to saute the apples in butter before I add them in, maybe some sugar too. Mmmmmm, doesn’t that sound good? I mean really, butter is always a welcome addition. And, I think it will make the apples less like dehydrated apples and more like apple pie apples. Hmmm, should we alter the name to caramel apple pie oatmeal cookies? Too long maybe, I don’t know. OK, you can call them that if you like it. It can be our little secret :). Shhhh! So, anyway,  today, my 2 year old, my 4 year old and I are going to put on our aprons and go into the kitchen and start playing with this recipe. It’s always so much fun to bake with them in the kitchen. I’m so excited! Plus as an added bonus, my husband just happens to love caramel. So, I know that when he gets home from work today he will have a smile on his face when I tell him what I baked and I will get extra special awesome wife points. Yay! That is always a good thing. Happy cooking everyone!

**Note – I highly recommend using a Silpat or other silicone baking mat to bake these on. They stick to the pan, and they stick to parchment/wax paper. If you do not use a Silpat, you will have a serious issue getting these cookies off the pan/paper and you will end up hating me and this recipe. So what I’m trying to say here is – if you don’t have a Silpat or silicone baking sheet, get one before you make these cookies! Or, proceed at your own risk :), I did get one batch to come off of my parchment, but in all of my test batches, the Silpat was the winner by far! Also, you have to pull these cookies out a tiny bit earlier then you pull out most cookies or the caramel melts into liquid and they’re not as pretty.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups apples, small dice (1/4 inch dice)
I used 1 Granny Smith and 1 Jonagold
1 Tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon sugar

dry ingredients
1 1/2 cups AP flour
3 cups oatmeal
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 sticks butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 cups caramel bits (I used Kraft)

Special Equipment
Silpat or silicone baking mat – these cookies stick to the pan and to parchment. I really highly recommend only making these if you have a Silpat or other silicone baking mat. There is a link at the bottom to where you can purchase one (no, I’m not the seller).

If you’re new to making cookies, I’d like to invite you to read my article and watch a short video “The Cookie Method – How to Properly Mix Your Dough :D! ”

Instructions
1. Bring all of your ingredients to room temperature. At the very least, make sure your butter is soft. This helps with the mixing process.
2. Melt the one Tablespoon of butter in a saute pan. Add your diced apples. Sprinkle them with the teaspoon of sugar. Saute them for about two minutes – until you see liquid coming out of them and they are beginning to get soft. Don’t over cook them or they will lose their shape and you will end up with something closer to applesauce. Set the apples to the side to cool off.
3. In a small bowl, combine all of your dry ingredients – the flour, oatmeal, baking soda and salt.
4. In a large bowl, cream your butter with your brown sugar and white sugar. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula, make sure that you get the sides and the bottom. We want to make sure that there are no chunks of butter hiding that didn’t get mixed in.

5. Add the eggs into the butter mixture and mix to combine.
6. Add in the vanilla and mix. Scrape the bowl again, and again, make sure to get the bottom and the sides.
7. Add in your dry ingredients half at a time and mix in between additions. Only mix it until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Over-mixing your dough will give you tough cookies.
8. Once you have all of the dry ingredients mixed in, add in your cooled apples and the caramel bits. *see note* Stir them with a rubber spatula. It takes a few minutes and a little arm strength to get them all mixed in, but be patient and try to get the caramel and apples mixed in as evenly as possible.
9. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to six hours. If you want to store it raw longer, freeze it.
10. Pre-heat your oven to 325°F.
11. Drop the cookies by Tablespoons onto your Silpat. Make them as round as possible. This will make your cookies come out more round.
12. Bake at 325°F for 8-9 minutes. Pull the cookies out while they still look a little raw on top. They will finish cooking outside of the oven. If you over-bake them, they will be a mess of melted caramel and not pretty, so watch them close in the oven.
13. Remove the cookies from the oven. Transfer your Silpat to a cooling rack. Let the cookies cool completely before you attempt to move them or they will fall apart. The caramel is like liquid magma until it sets back up, so just wait until they are cool.
14. Finally, enjoy your caramel apple oatmeal cookies. Mmmmm, so good!
**note on step 8 – – I have also found that instead of mixing the caramel and apple bits in, you can make them the center of the cookie. So, what I did to do this is – I made a flat cookie, then I put a couple of the caramel bits in the center along with some of the apples and then I folded the cookie around the filling so that it would be in the center. After you bake them you end up with a caramel apple filled oatmeal cookie. – Yum!