Caramel Apple Cider Cookies

I found this recipe on Pinterest, and it looks delicious and a great way to use fall flavors as the season changes. More than that, I actually had a box of Alpine Apple Cider drink mix sitting in my cabinet that needed to be used.

Halloween Caramel Apple Cider Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened     
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 (7.4 oz) box Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Instant Original Drink Mix (10 packets - found next to hot chocolate mix)
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 bag of chewy caramels

You'll notice my instructions vary slightly from the original. Mostly because I didn't have parchment paper.

Lexie's Directions:

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees F. (I'm slow at making cookies, so I waited to preheat my oven until I was almost ready to form the cookies.)
   
   
2. In small mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. (aka dry mix ingredients)
   
   
   
3. In large mixing bowl combine butter (already softened), sugar, salt and 10 packets of cider mix. Using an electric mixer whip until smooth. (wet mixture)
   
   
   
4. Add eggs and vanilla to wet mixture, continuing whipping with electric mixer.
   
   
5. Slowly add dry mixture to the wet mixture and continue to mix with electric mixer. 
   
    
6. At this point the cookie dough is finished. Before forming the cookies I put my dough in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to make it easier to handle. When ready to form the cookies, take 2 tablespoons of mixture, and roll into a ball. I flattened the ball into a cookie shape and placed an unwrapped caramel in the middle. Then reroll the ball of dough around the cookie.

   

   My assembly line; (right to left) Dough, Caramel, Cookie sheet

   

   Flatten the dough, add the caramel, and re-roll so that the dough surrounds the caramel

At this point, if you have parchment paper you may want to try the original directions. Below is what I did without parchment paper.

7. Place the cookies on a cookie sheet which has been greased with butter.
   
   
8. Bake the cookies for 15-20 minutes. (I found that I had to bake my cookie for longer than the original recipe called for), until edges start to brown.
   
   
9. Remove the baking sheets from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the sheet for 5 minutes.

   

   I added some sprinkles for Halloween before baking this tray

   
   
10. Using a spachula carefully remove the cookies from the cookie sheet.
    
    
11. Place cookies UPSIDE DOWN on a cookie rack to cool.

    

    Upside down cookies cooling; you can see the caramels

A few notes: My first batch was undercooked and not cooled enough before I tried to remove them from the tray. And this is what happened.

A failed cookie which fell through the cooking tray

Besides cooking the cookies longer than the original recipe's 10-14 minute cooking time, I also covered my cooling racks with aluminum foil so that if they were soft they wouldn't fail through. I may have over compensated by cooking the second tray of cookies too long.

 You can also see how the caramels start to come through the bottom of the cookies while baking.

Summary:

This wasn't the easiest recipe ever, getting the cookies completely cooked and removing them from the cookie sheets was a delicate process. However, for their unique flavor and chewy caramel center it was definitely worth it. They received lots of positive comments at a recent party I took them to.