Caramel Stuffed Sugar Cookies
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Caramel Stuffed Sugar Cookies are thick, buttery cookies stuffed with ooey, gooey caramel makes the perfect snack!
Filled with gooey caramel, Caramel Stuffed Sugar Cookies are buttery with pillowy soft centers and crispy edges.
I enjoy making homemade treats for friends and neighbors for the holidays. Planning ahead is key for me during the busy season. Caramel Stuffed Sugar Cookie dough freezes well so you can make it ahead and bake them when you have time.
A local grocery store makes an out-of-this-world iced sugar cookie. It was my intention when thinking of a recipe for a Christmas Cookie Swap party to make my version of those cookies. Then, Halloween candy went on sale and I had a bag of caramels to use which ultimately led to these Caramel Stuffed Sugar Cookies.
I used brown sugar as well as confectioners sugar in this recipe. Brown sugar gives these cookies more depth of flavor. However, they don’t contain a lot of brown sugar and won’t brown like chocolate chips cookies, for example, when baking. Therefore, be diligent about not overcooking them. They are done when the edges turn light brown the top centers with only ‘tan’ lightly.
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Caramel Stuffed Sugar Cookies tips
- Allow time to refrigerate the dough at least 30 minutes before baking. I typically make them a day or so beforehand.
- Cool the cookies 2 minutes on the baking pan before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
- I recommend using a silicone mat when baking cooking.
- This dough is thick. It will not spread much when baking.
- Use a spring release scoop to measure each cookie evenly, then spray the bottom of a glass with non-stick spray and flatten the cookie to approximately 1/4 inch thick. The scoop I used was approximately 5 cm and I baked the cookies for 14 minutes.
- Slightly flatten the caramels (see video). Soften the caramels in the microwave 10 to 20 seconds first, this will make them easier to flatten.
- The caramel centers stay hot much longer than the cookies do. Please be very careful when giving them to small children. Test the centers first.
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Caramel stuffed sugar cookies
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 and ¼ cup brown sugar packed
- 1 cup powdered sugar (aka confectioners)
- 1 cup salted butter at room temperature
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 6 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 36 Kraft caramels
Instructions
- Combine sugars, butter, oil, vanilla, and water in a mixer. Mix until smooth.
- Add eggs and mix until just combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar.
- Gradually blend dry ingredients into wet ingredients.
- Refrigerate the dough at least 30 minutes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- On a parchment or silicone lined cookie sheet, drop golf ball size balls of dough. Press to 1/8 inch with a flat-bottom glass.
- Unwrap caramels and microwave 15 to 20 seconds to soften.
- Flatten caramels slightly and place on top of half of the cookies.
- Top the caramels with the other half of the cookies you have pressed flat.
- Slightly press edges to seal.
- Bake at 350 degrees F 15 to 16 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and cookies are set.
- Allow cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely. **Note – caramel center gets extremely hot and stays hot longer than the actual cookie. Be careful feeding warm cookies to kids
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are important to you, I recommend calculating them yourself.
Taste is amazing BUT the cookie gets so hard once cooled down.
Really? Mine didn’t, they stayed soft.
Trying to get the instructions straight – it’s actually two cookies put together to make one? You smash one flat, put the caramel on and top with a second cookie?? Or is it one smashed flat and then folded over the caramel?
Yes, there’s a video of me making these in the top right
Is that correct- “6 cups of flour” and powdered sugar?
Yes. that’s correct
These didn’t work for me. I’m not sure if it was the combination of brown sugar and powdered sugar or vanilla extract with cream of tartar, but the flavor wasn’t what I expected. The cookies also got very hard to form after chilling the dough. I’m sure I must have gone wrong somewhere.
Hi Paula – very interesting cookie. I’m sitting here thinking how to make a salted caramel version. 🙂
Quick question – does the caramel stay soft once the cookie has cooled completely or does it harden to it’s original consistency?
Thanks,
Sheila
It firms up a little but not as hard as it is originally
Maybe a drizzle of chocolate topped with a tad of salt?