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Sinking your teeth into one of these salted caramel oatmeal cookies is pure joy. The cookie itself is a large oatmeal cookie with a slight crisp edge and a ridiculously chewy center. The oats balance out the sweet topping of caramel along with a dusting of flakey sea salt. Cinnamon and molasses are added to the cookie base to create wonderful depth of flavor. While you can use homemade caramels for this recipe, an easy alternative available to most would be Werther’s soft or chewy caramels. Don’t use hard caramels for this recipe as they won’t melt.
The dough is extremely sticky once it comes together. Chilling in the fridge for at least 40 minutes is necessary to handle the dough. Using a traditional ice cream scoop to form the cookies is preferred. If you don’t have an ice cream scoop with a swiper, measure out 3 tablespoons of dough and form a ball. Bake on large sheet pans covered in parchment paper to ensure the cookies don’t stick to the pan. Baking cookies one sheet pan at a time in the center rack ensures a perfect cook. Overcrowding the oven throws off cook time. The cookies won’t look done at the 13-minute mark. Trust me, they are. The texture and color develop as they cool.
Be sure to check out my salted heath chip cookies while you’re here! They’re my most popular cookie recipe to date!
Salted Caramel Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 c salted butter (2 sticks) softened
- 1 c light brown sugar packed
- 1/2 c granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp molasses
- 1 1/2 c flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 3 c old fashioned oats
- 40 soft Werther's caramels
Instructions
- Cream together softened butter and sugars on medium speed until creamy. About 2 minutes.
- Add eggs, vanilla and molasses to the bowl and continue beating until everything is fully combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
- In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat on low until everything is incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
- Add oats one cup at a time and stop mixing as soon as the dough comes together. It will be very sticky.
- Refrigerate for 40 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Using a traditional size ice cream scoop, scoop cookie dough out and place on the sheet pans. If you don't have an ice cream scoop, measure out 3 tablespoons per cookie, form in a ball and place on the cookie sheets.
- Unwrap 40 Werther's sot caramels and press 2 in the center of each cookie.
- Bake in rounds with only one pan in the oven at a time on the middle rack for 13 minutes.
- Remove and immediately top each cookie with a sprinkle of flakey sea salt.
- Allow to cool and set for 30 minutes on the counter.