Apple Cider Caramel Cookies Recipe
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- 77 Comments
I have been on a caramel kick lately. I thought that these would be the perfect fall cookie, and boy were they good! They taste just like a caramel apple!
1 cup unsalted butter, nearly melted
1 cup granulated sugar
1 (7.4 ounce) box Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Instant Original Drink Mix *Not sugar free*
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 (14 ounce) bag Kraft Caramels
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. It has to be parchment this time.
2. In a stand mixer, cream together butter, sugar, salt, and all 10 packets of apple cider mix until smooth and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract, then mix in the baking soda and baking powder. Add the flour and mix until just combined.
3. With a standard (size 50) cookie scoop, scoop the dough scrapping off the excess as you go up the bowl. Flatten the dough slightly in your hand and place a caramel in the center. Work the dough around the caramel sealing well. Place the cookies two inches apart on the sheets.
4. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. After baking, carefully slide the parchment with the cookies onto the counter. Let cool until they are no longer soft but still slightly warm. Twist gently to remove, and cool the rest of the way upside down on the parchment or on a cooling rack.
Notes: If cookies get too cool before you twist them off, freeze the whole sheet for a few minutes and they’ll come right off.
What a fun little surprise to bite into that! Thanks for sharing!
These Cookies look so good! YUM!
Hello! Just wanted to let you know I’m passing on the Versatile Blogger Award to you, check out my latest post for more information. Have fun!!
Yum! These are such beautiful cookies and they sound delicious.
These are sooo good!
These look amazing! I’m going to have to try them this week! Visiting from Tatertots and Jello
Boy do I love caramel. These look so YUM! I made caramel apple bites this year and couldn’t leave them alone. This recipe is a keeper for sure!
These look yummy! Can’t wait to make them! I have 4 sisters and we live all of the country. Your blog made me smile and think of my sisters!
Sisters rock!
I can’t wait to have these at thanksgiving. Thanks for all of the wonderful ideas!
Going to make these right now…
i made these yesterday and they turned out great!
i was a little worried initially because the cookie flattened out but the caramel didn’t melt, but it eventually did. on my second batch i flattened the caramels first and it spread the caramel a little more evenly throughout the cookie.
yum! thanks! =)
Thanks for this – I made them yesterday too and had the same problem with the caramel – also, I found that the dough was really runny???
I just found this site and I LOVE it!! Fun recipes!
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I made these yesterday for Thanksgiving. So delicious! They remind me of those green apple suckers that are dipped in caramel. Yum! Thanks for the great recipe!
Made these cookies tonight for a holiday cookie exchange. Turned out great!
Love em! Love em! (Did I mention I love them?)
How many Cookies does this recipie make? Looks Delish, thanks for sharing!
Merry Christmas!
We are making these today as part of our 25 Days of Christmas Cookies. Can’t wait!
http://25daysofyum.blogspot.com/
@Eme,
This recipe makes about 50 cookies!
For me, it only made 30 and I had to add 1/4 cup of milk, the batter dried up as I added the flour.
The Ellis’ Thanks So much! I need to make 4 doz cookies for the Stake Christmas Concert this weekend! I think I’m going to make these! They look so delish!
Merry Christmas!
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I’d like to make these tonight. Do you think they will keep alright until Christmas? Any tips on storing them?
@Anonymous,
I think these would keep just fine. After they are completely cool, I would store them in an air tight container and freeze them. Just be sure to get them out a day before or so, so the caramel inside has time to thaw.
These are amazing cookies. I made 2 batches tonight for friends and family for the holidays. So good and very easy to make!
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I just made these for a cookie exchange! I already had some Kraft unwrapped caramel bits, so I just folded those in to the mix and it turned out great! Probably not as fun as one big caramel surprise in the middle
, but just wanted to share that it worked!
Thanks so much for the recipe! I found y’all through Pinterest and I’ll DEFINITELY be back!
Do you remember how many caramel bits you used?
Let me just say: these were AMAZING!! I will definitely be putting this blog high on my list of favorites.
I did make a couple modifications to my second batch because I didn’t like the way the caramel was all in the center and bubbling through the top and squeezing out the bottom. To overcome that problem, I cut the caramels into four smaller pieces which really turned out well. Just for kicks, I also did a little extra apple cider powder (I bought the big container instead of the packets) and did 2.5 cups of flour so they’d be just a teensy bit gooier and a little more tart. Finally, I liked putting a little granulated sugar on top just to give them a little more pop!
Thank you so much for this amazing recipe!! They will definitely be a keeper!
Great suggestions! I had the same issue with the caramel leaking out. I might try using the caramel bits that someone suggested in an earlier post.
These cookies turned out GREAT!! I would definitely recommend 1/2 cup less flour, squished caramel, and sprinkling sugar on top.. They’re EVEN BETTER that way, thanks for the tip Elizabeth! These are, as stated, a keeper!
I tried this recipe a few days ago, and they were amazing!! The cookies came out delicious, and my husband and roomies were giving me hugs for making the house smell so good!
They also taste much better the next couple of days, if you reheat them for about 4 minutes at 200 degrees. Just enough to melt the caramel without drying the cookie or turning the caramel into molten lava.
I do like the idea of these cookies, but wasn’t crazy about the fact that the caramel hardened back up once the cookies were cool and made it very chewy and difficult to eat. Next time I will just make them without the caramel until I can find a different kind of caramel that will be creamy rather than chewy.
These cookies were a hit! I made them for a party and only had a couple left! One thing I would like to say is that i’m going to try a different method of shaping them. I’m going to roll out the dough and the caramels, and cut out the dough with a cutter and make them like a sandwich, because there was too big of a glob of caramel in the middle instead of being spread out like I thought they would. Otherwise…. YUMMY!
Lots to say, lots to say – I tried making these last night. First of all, I didn’t use butter because all I had was “butter” (aka vegetable based nastiness that never does well in baking). The batter was very runny, (I’m attributing that to the fake butter), and I couldn’t form it around the caramels. I tried to bake them – they really didn’t turn out, but the “cookie-like” thing that came out TASTED great, (did I mention I had no parchment paper either?) I decided to put the batter in the fridge and go drink beer with my husband – thankfully I didn’t drink too much beer, so this morning I was feeling good and ready to have at it again – my batter became WAY more workable from the time-out I gave it in the fridge. I chopped the little caramels into four piece, (per advice above), and OH – EM – GEE….these are AWESOME! So worth all the extra labor I had to go through…sort of like my daughter. Thanks for the very cool (gooey/delicious) recipe
what happens if you use the sugar free cider mix?
Hi,
I am not sure! I have never tried it. You’ll have to let us know how it goes!
These look wonderful! What a great cookie to kick off fall!
Do you know if these cookies are good enough to ship overseas?
Hey Shenay!
They are so good! I am sure anyone overseas would just love them.
If it took more than 5 days I would say no. They would be pretty stale by then. Hope this helps!
I’ve never heard of Alpine Spice Apple Cider so I did an internet search. Anyone know why it costs $30 to $50 a box??? I was expecting a price along the lines of Nestle hot cocoa. Yeah, like $5.00. Especially if they don’t turn out well. I’m very curious.
that is probably a bulk package – I got mine from Wal-mart for $2.00
I got the apple cider mix at a grocery store for less than 3.00. It’s with the hot chocolate/tea section
Great idea of stuffing the caramel inside the cookie, I can’t wait to try!
I made these for a bake sale table this past weekend and they went like wildfire! Of course I had to try one so I could let people know how awesomely good they were!
SO good! I think next time I’m going to try the sugar free apple cider mix and use a little less granulated sugar. The cookie and caramel combo was just a little too sweet for me. But that hasn’t stopped me from devouring them =)
Saw these on Pinterest and being the first week of fall I had to make them. YUM! Although I made my first batch too big, is it possible to have too big a cookie?
I made the second batch smaller. Very tasty cookies, thank you for sharing.
amazing! love them. I also used less flour and it will not make 50 cookies. Impossible to stick to a tablespoon and all of that caramel. I also cut my caramel up, but I am not sure that helped anything since I didn’t try them another way.
Con: These take a little extra time than an average cookie.
I made these today and they were *so* yummy. I’ve never tasted a cookie like them before (and I’ve eaten a *lot* of cookies). The dough needed to be refrigerated for a while because it was too soft to form around the caramels, but other than that the recipe worked great. I think next time I’d roll them in sugar before baking to make them a little sparkly. But definitely a wonderful autumn treat!
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Made these for our Supper Club tonight. Theme was apples and the cookies were a huge hit. One member deemed them “best cookies EVER!”
I did not have the runny dough issue, nor did I find them to be all that time intensive. The dough itself is super fast to make and it really doesn’t take that long to unwrap the caramels then wrap them in dough. No cookie scoop here so I just grabbed about a walnut size of dough and smushed it around the caramel.
NOTE: I did flatten the caramel on about half and not on the other half. The flattened caramel cookies were definitely preferred. It was easy, I just flattened between my palms before grabbing dough.
This made 32 large cookies for me.
Hi, I made these cookies today after seeing the post on Pinterest by my niece. Here are my comments. First, they are yummy and everyone who has tasted them so far has agreed that this is one fine cookie. Second, I made them exactly as the recipe stated, with no changes to the ingredients. I found the Alpine Cider mix at my local Food Lion for about $2.50 for the box of 10 packages. Third, chilling the dough for about 30 minutes makes it easier to wrap it around the caramels, and fourth, flouring your hands prevents the cookies from sticking to them. I used a #70 cookie scoop and then added just a little more dough. Once I got the dough around the caramel I rolled them between my palms to smooth them out and spread the dough out evenly around the caramel. No need to flatten the caramels…by the time they come out of the oven they are melted and nice and flat. My yield was about 60 cookies…good thing I bought 2 packages of caramels! Would recommend these to anyone.
Hi, I made these cookies today after seeing the post on Pinterest by my niece. Here are my comments. First, they are yummy and everyone who has tasted them so far has agreed that this is one fine cookie. Second, I made them exactly as the recipe stated, with no changes to the ingredients. I found the Alpine Cider mix at my local Food Lion for about $2.50 for the box of 10 packages. Third, chilling the dough for about 30 minutes makes it easier to wrap it around the caramels, and fourth, flouring your hands prevents the cookies from sticking to them. I used a #70 cookie scoop and then added just a little more dough. Once I got the dough around the caramel I rolled them between my palms to smooth them out and spread the dough out evenly around the caramel. No need to flatten the caramels…by the time they come out of the oven they are melted and nice and flat. My yield was about 60 cookies…good thing I bought 2 packages of caramels! Would recommend these to anyone.
I am new to baking and had a couple of technical difficulties. I’m hoping someone here can help!
I made the cookies according to the recipe. I did flatten the caramels as i had seen mentioned in some of the comments. The taste of the cookies is great! However, the bottoms of my cookies burned to black before the top/edges looked golden. On some the cookies, they weren’t even done all the way and the bottoms were still burnt. I don’t think it’s the recipe at all; it’s me being a novice in the kitchen. I’d love to learn how to improve if anyone has any ideas/suggestions about where I went wrong. Thanks!
Hello- I would first try moving your rack up in the oven. Sometimes the heat is stronger on the bottom. Also, you can lower the temp of the oven a little- maybe 25 to 50 degrees and bake a little longer. Everyone’s oven is different.
I also made the cookies, and they burned on the bottom. I think it was just that they did not need to be in my oven as long as its recommended in the recipe here.
Good luck with your baking
Loved these cookies
I accidently bought the sugar free packets… which also weigh a lot less than the 7.4 ounces recommended (probably because they have no sugar). However, I used 20 packets which was only about 3 ounces and added 1/2 cup of sugar.It came out perfectly! Strong flavor and sweet!
I stumbled upon this recipe via another blog and just had to check it out. My DH is a ginormous cookie lover. His nickname, Cookie Monster. I’m gonna have to give these a try this fall. Now following!
Cathy Kennedy’s Blog
I think I am going to try to make these for a bake sale next week. I am going to also make another batch using cinnamon chips I bought at the grocery store – instead of the caramel. I love apple and cinnamon together as well. Curious which will be better. I will have to let you know.
Ils sont terriblement gourmands
Bonne journée
Valérie
I made these and they turned out great! The only thing I did differently was used caramel bits (you can find them in the baking aisle with the choc. chips and such)..so much easier than unwrapping caramels and flattening them. I just put about 5-6 little “bits” in each dough ball.
what is meant by “nearly melted” butter. Softened to room temperature? If softer than that, how do you accomplish this??
Hi!
I usually just put my butter in a bowl and microwave for about 30-40 seconds, or until the butter is almost all melted but has a little bit in the middle that isn’t completely melted. I hope that makes sense!
Help! I am dying to make these for a party tomorrow but I can’t find the apple cider mix anywhere! I’ve tried 3 stores and no luck. Any suggestions for a substitute? Could I somehow use apple sauce???
Hi Jenny!
I found the apple cider mix next to the hot chocolate! I haven’t tried substituting it with anything. Sorry I’m not more help!
If there is a Kroger near you, I found it next to the tea. Go to product website: http://www.alpinecider.com/ and there is a “where to buy” link at the top.
I pinned this recipe awhile back and have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to make them. I finally did for a Halloween party last night. I think I may have died and gone to cookie heaven!!! These may be the best and most unique cookies I have made. They belong in a gourmet bakery! Thank you so much for the recipe!
They were amazing–thank you for posting this. I’m off to The Cookie Photographer to comment.
ps Thank you for giving the original poster credit!
These are amazing! I just made them and am bringing them to my staff for a job well done.. I think I am going to make another batch for thanksgiving tomorrow. Something that is different and still feels special! We will see if this batch makes it to my staff though. I have already eaten 6 of them!
My cookies turned out heavy and the caramels didn’t melt all that great and they didnt flatten out. They were still big and round. What did I do wrong? Please help, I would like to fix the problem to take them to a cookie exchange at church.
I had the same issue! I only made one tray – so I’m thinking I might add some milk to the dough and give another tray a try (a suggestion in one comment above). To me it seems there is too much flour….
For those looking for the apple cider mix: If there is a Kroger near you, I found it next to the tea. Go to product website: http://www.alpinecider.com/ and there is a “where to buy” link at the top.
Perfect! Thanks so much for the info! -The Six Sisters
These cookies are DELICIOUS! They’re pretty easy to make and turn out great. One thing I found while making them is if you put the caramels in the microwave for about 15 seconds and sort of flatten them before you fold the dough around them helps a lot. I didn’t have any bumps or anything. Thanks for the great recipe!!
These cookies were a big hit in our house. I made them with all of ingredients you used and microwaved the caramels first to soften and then flatten them. It made 48 cookies. My daughter told me not to lose this recipe. It’s been saved and I printed a hard copy as well. Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe!