I was in the mood for an oatmeal cookie with a lot of filling added to the cookie dough. I tried the caramel bits, but they really didn't work for this cookie. With adding a cup of the caramel bits, they stuck to the parchment paper and didn't give the cookie a strong enough structure.
I came across Lieber's Real Caramel Chips on Amazon. So, I purchased them and tried them in this cookie. They are a little different in taste but good. One noticeable difference is they are mini in size.
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Ingredients
- Butter unsalted
- Light brown sugar
- Sugar white
- Eggs
- Vanilla Extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Kosher Salt
- Ground cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- Old fashion oats
- Caramel chips - Lieber's Real Caramel Chips Certified Kosher
- Pecans
Baking Caramel and Oats Cookies
The tricky part with baking oatmeal cookies is that they tend to dry out. This is because oats will absorb all the moisture from your cookies if you are not careful.
Prep Work
Weigh or measure the white and light brown sugars into a bowl and set it aside. Next, weigh or measure the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt into a large bowl. Run a whisk through the dry ingredients to blend.
Grab a cutting board, take a handful of pecans, and do a rough chop until you have a cup of cut-up pecans. The bigger the pieces the more height you will have for your baked cookies but don't leave them whole you want pieces throughout the cookie.
Mixing Your Cookie Dough
Butter needs to be a room temperature so that it will mix with the sugar. To make sure it is not too cold I start by adding just the butter to my mixer bowl. Gradually increase the mixer speed to you are on the medium setting.
Chunks of butter seems to just sit in the paddle and not mix. I usually have to stop the mixer and get the butter between the paddle spokes. After the second time of stopping the mixer all the butter gets creamed.
Now add the sugars and turn the mixer to a medium speed for 3 minutes. It should look like a light brown color, and you should have peaks on the side of the bowl.
Next, break one egg into a small bowl to ensure there are no eggshells and add it to the butter-sugar mixture. Repeat with the second egg. Follow this with the vanilla extract and blend until incorporated.
Scrape the sides of the bowl down and, on a low mixer speed, gradually add the flour mixture. Only mix until the flour is mixed into the wet dough, about 30 seconds or less, after the last of the flour is added.
I scrape down the bowl again and add the oats, caramel chips, and pecans. Even with my Kitchen aide, this is a packed cookie, so it only took about 10 seconds to mix all of these together.
Depending on your mixer, it may struggle a little for this last part; you can always take a spatula and finish mixing by hand. You want the pecans and caramel chips evenly distributed throughout the cookie dough.
Cover loosely and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Baking Your Oats Cookies
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C or 180°C) and prepare two cookie sheet pans with parchment paper. I used a medium cookie scooper for these cookies.
Line 12 cookie mounds onto one of the prepared cookie sheet pans. Bake for 11-13 minutes. They will be very soft on top when you take them out of the oven. You only want them a light brown on top and just a little golden around the bottom edges.
Leave them on the cookie sheet pan for a good 5 minutes after taking them out of the oven. They will firm up as they cool. Then move them to a cooling rack.
FAQ's
Oats absorb moisture in your cookies, which can make them hard the next day. There are a couple of tricks you can do to help soften the cookies. One is to stick a piece of bread in the airtight container with the cookies. The second is to stick a couple of marshmallows in the container. You do not want either the bread or marshmallows to touch the cookies. They will become too soft.
Yes, you can freeze them in an airtight container or freezer bag. Label them with the date and use them within three months. Thaw them before serving.
Yes, you can substitute with almonds or walnuts.
You can but you need to be aware that the texture will be different so you will not get the same results.
Of course, but you may want to exclude the salt in the recipe or decrease the amount you add.
More Oatmeal Cookies
Recipe
Caramel and Oats Cookies with Pecans - Revised
Barbara HallWould you like to save this recipe?
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Ingredients
- 1 cup (227 g) Butter unsalted room temperature
- ⅔ cup (146.67 g) Light brown sugar
- ½ cup (100 g) Sugar white
- 2 (2) Eggs room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoon (1.5 teaspoon) Vanilla Extract
- 1 ½ cups (187.5 g) All-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) Kosher Salt
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) Ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) Nutmeg
- 2 cups (162 g) Old fashion oats
- 1 cup (236.59 g) Caramel chips
- 1 cup (99 g) Pecans rough chopped
Instructions
Cookie Dough
- Weigh or measure the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt into a bowl, running a whisk through to blend. In a separate bowl, weigh or measure the white and light brown sugars and set that aside. Weigh or measure the oats and set them aside.
- Cream the butter in a stand or hand-held mixer before adding the sugars. Then mix on a medium mixer speed for 3 to 4 minutes. Then, add one egg at a time and incorporate it. Next, add the vanilla extract and mix until blended. Now, turn the mixer speed down to a low setting and add the flour mixture; blend until the flour is incorporated. Don't over-mix the flour.
- I scrape down the sides and across the bottom. Add the oats, caramel chips, and chopped pecans. The batter will be very thick, but you want to get as much mixed as you can with the mixer. You may have to incorporate some by hand if it is too much for your mixer. Cover lightly and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven and line two cookie sheet pans with parchment paper setting them aside. Taking a medium-sized cookie scooper, add 12 scoops to a cookie sheet pan. Do not flatten; you need this mound—Bake at 350°F (175°C or 180°C) for 11-13 minutes. At 11 minutes, I check the cookies; if you touch the top of the cookies, they will be very soft, and if they are a light golden brown around the bottom edges, pull them out of the oven. Leave them on the cookie pans for 5 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.
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Notes
NUTRITION DISCLAIMER
I am not a certified Dietitian or Nutritionist. The nutrition amounts given below are provided through a program and are only a guideline.
Lanita says
Great recipe!
It's a keeper.
I did find though, that my oats (old fashion) were not cooked enough.
Would it hurt to soak them awhile first?
Barbara says
Hi Lanita, I am very glad you liked the cookies. As far as the oats go you could try using the quick oats. They are smaller in size and cook faster. If you do try and soak the old fashion oats to soften them I would try to extract as much water as you can before adding them to the cookie batter. Since I have never tried to soak my oats I am unsure of the results. I hope this helps! - Barbara