The Goal is Scrumptious: Salted Caramel Oatmeal Cookies

The last couple weeks have been up and down for me in terms of my health.  I thought I had the flu, but it rapidly morphed into something much more ominous, painful, and odd.  I spent most of a week in pain that made it difficult to eat, hard to get up for any reason, and almost impossible to sleep.  I still don’t know what exactly I had, but I went through multiple doctor visits, prescriptions, and tests.  The good news is that I’m nearly back to normal and feeling 100% most of the time. 🙂

It’s never fun being sick, but as a mom, I dread it even more.

Nobody wants to get up when they’re sick, but if you’re mommy, you rarely have a choice.  If you have little kids at home while you are sick, they still need food to eat, something to drink, and their diapers changed.

They still need someone to keep them out of trouble.  I confess, I did not always get up in time to fulfill this one…  I remember crawling up the stairs after a few minutes of suspicious silence to find my boys sitting quietly on the floor, happily squeezing glittery blue toothpaste in blobs all over our carpet.

It was rough.

Thankfully, I had a night last week where I was feeling a little better, so I took that opportunity to bake with my kids.  It was therapeutic for all of us.

I love (lightly) salted caramel sauce, and I thought these salted caramel chips might make a fun baking experiment.  I have also been wanting to make some oatmeal cookies lately, so this fit the bill nicely.  🙂

This recipe is adapted from the Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe (see HERE).  Thanks to my best friend (and an inordinate amount of college cookie dough making/baking/consumption with her), I’ve got this recipe memorized.  That makes it the perfect starting point recipe for my “chip” cookie adaptations.

This adaptation resulted in a sweet and crunchy cookie with a chewy center.  These cookies spread quite a bit, and I worried that they were burning on the bottom before they cooked in the middle, but they turned out wonderfully.  The bottoms almost caramelized while baking.  We all thought they were delicious, especially dipped in milk.

Salted Caramel Oatmeal Cookies (makes about 4 dozen)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 c. oats
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 c. butter (1 stick), softened (not melted)
• 1/2 c. shortening
• 1 1/2 c. brown sugar (or combo of brown and white) *
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup (roughly 6 oz) salted caramel chips *

*I cannot now remember whether I went with all brown sugar or 3/4 c. white and 3/4 c. brown.  I was contemplating all brown, so I’m fairly certain that’s what I did.  Either way, the cookies will turn out yummy, just with slightly different textures depending on the sugar.  🙂

*Feel free to use more chips if you like.  Many people use a 12 oz bag (or roughly 2 cups) for this size of recipe.  I just love the cookie flavor, so fewer chips is perfect for me.  🙂

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil.
2. Mix flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.  Set aside.
3. Cream together butter and shortening.
4. Add in sugar and cream again until relatively smooth.
5. Add in eggs and vanilla.  Mix again.
6. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in small batches (I usually pour in about a third of the dry mixture at a time, mixing after each addition).
7. Fold in the salted caramel chips.
8. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.  Bake 9-11 minutes.
9. For best results let cool at least 4-5 minutes before removing from pan.  Cool completely on a wire rack before storing.
10. Store in an airtight plastic container for up to a week.

I hope your week is scrumptious!  (And free from sickness!)

~Katie