Caramel Apple Cider Cookies

Fall is here y’all! #finallyfall 🙌🏻

No shade to summer (you know you have our hearts) but each season has its place and special place for specific seasonal bakes. 😉 That means, bring out all the spiced cake, cinnamon infused treats, and apple and pumpkin sweets!

Now, we know everyone is talking about pumpkin… 🙃 Okay, this will be controversial…but…we feel fall should kick off by giving a full moment to all things apple…and cinnamon spice. Then, of course…bring on all the pumpkin recipes!

What are we suggesting you get into, you ask? 😏 So glad you inquired…we’ve already started sipping on cups of our Easy Homemade Apple Cider, which is a perfect prep item to then use in our Apple Cider Donut Mini Bundt Cakes. Our Baked Cinnamon Apple Chips are pure fall perfection when it comes to a snack, and seriously…these Cinnamon Apple Hand Pies… 🤤 See what we mean?! There are so many apple 🍎 recipes on deck that need to be fully embraced before we embark on the just as important pumpkin season! That’s what October is for… 😉

Jump to Recipe

Okay, back to apple and cinnamon spices….today we bring you a beyond brilliant recipe to perfectly celebrate our entrance into fall.

POV: Say you love classic caramel apples, but with a cookie.

Well, we did, and we are sharing it with y’all! These cookies are brilliant in every single way. They are infused with apple cider mix (a note on that in a minute), stuffed with caramel candies for ooey gooey centers, then rolled in the sweet combination of sugar and cinnamon to bring home fall cookie perfection.

Trust us…these are well worth the bake and so easy to make! Your house will smell amazing, too. 🥰 A few notes below, and off you go for dough prepping! 👩🏼‍🍳

Notes: 📝

Apple Cider Drink Mix: This recipe uses premixed apple cider powder mix that goes straight into the dough. We really struggled on this one, really wanting to mix in our Easy Homemade Apple Cider. With that said…we wanted this recipe to come together quickly and not require a whole other recipe to prep in order to make it. Hence, why we decided the user friendly option is to grab this from the store, throw it into the dough and you are off the races! Your welcome! 😘

Caramel Candies: Each cookie is stuffed with a full caramel candy, but we want to remind you when you select your candy make sure it’s the soft caramels, not the hard. This ensures they melt down with the dough for perfect gooey centers. We also suggest you squish them down a bit flat (more of a flat rectangle) before placing in the dough so it isn’t a tall square. (Just wait for that pull when out of the oven!). If all else fails and they do still bake up and are not flat or fully melted…wait until the cookie cools and microwave it for 15 seconds. Then, let it cool again. It will be melted and perfectly gooey.

Chill Your Dough: I know chilling dough is time consuming, but it’s worth while for this particular dough to mix and mingle in the fridge for a bit (IYKYK). If you can wait for an overnight chill, awesome. Otherwise, a couple of hours will do the trick.

That’s it, you are ready! Let’s go make some Caramel Apple Cider Cookies! 🍪

Ingredients:

For the dough

• 2½ cups All Purpose Flour (spooned and leveled) — 330 grams

• Apple Cider Mix Powder (8 Pouches)

• 1 tsp baking soda

• ½ tsp baking powder

• ½ tsp salt

• 1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)

• ½ cup granulated sugar

• ¾ cup light brown sugar (lightly packed)

• 1 large egg (room temperature)

• 1 large egg yolk (room temperature)

• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

• 24 unwrapped soft caramel candies

For the Cinnamon Sugar Coating

• ¼ cup granulated sugar

• 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

Step by Step:

⁃ In a medium bowl, whisk to combine all purpose flour, apple cider powder mix pouches, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

⁃ In a small bowl or ramekin, mix together the additional granulated sugar and cinnamon, then set aside.

• Using a hand or standing mixer with large bowl attachment, cream the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar (about 2 minutes until light in color and fluffy).

• Add in the egg, egg yolk, vanilla extract and beat until combined.

• Slowly pour in the combined dry ingredients and beat just until combined (do not over mix).  

• Using a medium cookie scoop (we used 2 Tbsp cookie scoop) scoop a ball of cookie dough and take one of the unwrapped caramel candies and gently push into the center of the cookie dough (while still in the scoop).

• Release the dough from the scoop and gently seal the opening and roll between your hands into a uniformed ball until caramel is fully sealed into the dough.

• Roll the cookie dough into the cinnamon sugar mixture and place into an airtight container to then chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. If you have the time, let it sit overnight.

• Once chilled, remove the dough for 1 hour to come to room temp. Important: this gives time for the caramels to come to room temp and will melt fully.

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

• Place cookie dough balls on the baking sheets at least 2 inches apart.

• Bake the cookies for 10 minutes. The cookies are done when the edges are slightly golden and puffy. 

• Remove the cookies from the oven and let them sit on the baking sheet for 5 minutes to continue to bake a bit before transferring to a cooling rack. Enjoy!

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