What's Cookin' Wednesday - Caramel Apple Cider Cookies

Now, it is no surprise to my friends that I love chocolate. And, for a non-chocolate cookie to be at the top of my favorite cookies list, that is quite a feat!
But, last week, I cooked the best cookies for fall ... ever!
I found the recipe online, here.
The pictures accompanying the recipe on this blog made me really want to try these cookies!
So, I went on a hunt for the ingredients, and it turns out that the Alpine apple cider drink mix was a little harder to find than I anticipated. We ended up finding it at World Market (thank you, Sydney!).
My husband picked up the wrong type of caramels, he got chips instead of the big, honkin' caramel squares the recipe called for, but I decided to try them anyway.

First, whisk the dry ingredients together.

Then, cream the butter and sugar and drink mix, and add eggs, one at a time.


Add the vanilla.

Add the flour mixture, slowly, a little at a time.

The result is a fluffy cookie dough.

Darn it! The beater thieves strike again!

I opened the caramel chips and they are more like little balls than chips.

I scooped out a bit of dough, and wrapped it around 4 or 5 of the caramel chips. I don't think this gave me a result that was a caramel-y as the original recipe, but they were darn good!

Here are the cookies on the parchment paper, ready to go into the oven.


Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of the cookies fresh from the oven, but trust me, they were pretty!


Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, nearly melted
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (7.4 ounce) box Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Instant Original Drink Mix *Not sugar free*
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 (14 ounce) bag Kraft Caramels

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line rimless cookie sheets with parchment paper. It has to be parchment this time.

2. In a stand mixer, cream together butter, sugar, salt, and all 10 packets of apple cider mix until smooth and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract, then mix in the baking soda and baking powder. Add the flour and mix until just combined.

3. With a standard (size 50) cookie scoop, scoop the dough scrapping off the excess as you go up the bowl. Flatten the dough slightly in your hand and place a caramel in the center. Work the dough around the caramel sealing well. Place the cookies two inches apart on the sheets.

4. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. After baking, carefully slide the parchment with the cookies onto the counter. Let cool until they are no longer soft but still slightly warm. Twist gently to remove, and cool the rest of the way upside down on the parchment or on a cooling rack.