Chewy White Chocolate Caramel Cookies

When I hosted Easter dinner a couple weeks ago, I needed to clean off one of the counters in the kitchen, as I needed to put the slow cooker on that counter. I have this relatively narrow cupboard next to the refrigerator, and unfortunately, it becomes the holding place for all the extra baking ingredients, cupcake liners, and that sort of thing that I collect from different places.

Cleaning off that counter, and trying to store everything away, I realize that I have lots and lots of partial bags of different types of chips: cinnamon, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate butterscotch, toffee, toffee with chocolate, caramel. I really have a lot that I need to use up! Sometimes I can find recipes that use up several different types of chips. These cookies use up two items: caramel bits and white chocolate chips.

This cookie dough is made a bit differently, with hot melted butter as the starting point. I have made cookies with melted butter with great success, but usually you cool the butter first. It seemed to work, although the dough is not as thick as I am used to. The first batch looked beautiful, but the second and third batches spread a little more. I wondered if the dough got warm, but it was warm because of the melted butter. I’m not sure of the cause and would need to do some experimentation to figure it out. Never the less, these have a lovely sweet butter flavor from the white chocolate and caramel.

Chewy White Chocolate Caramel Cookies

1 3/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, melted
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup caramel bits

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Place the brown sugar in a large mixer bowl. Add the melted butter (still hot) and beat on medium until smooth. Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla and beat again on medium to combine. Add the flour, oats, baking soda, and salt and stir on low until incorporated. Add the white chocolate chips and caramel bits and stir with a spatula to mix.

Scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet, using about 1-1/2 tablespoons of dough for each cookie. Bake for 13-15 minutes, until set. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Barefeet in the Kitchen