2015 is here!  Happy New Year to all of our friends and followers!  We hope you had a wonderful holiday season and that a great year lies ahead.

We had some time this past weekend to bake cookies, using ingredients that we just so happened to have on hand.  These Apple Cider Caramel cookies are a great wintertime recipe.  (As an aside, you could totally omit the caramel and they’d still be delicious.)  I still have a ton of caramel cubes sitting around so don’t be surprised if they pop up again in a future post!

Apple Cider Caramel Cookies
Adapted from: The Cooking Photographer

1 c unsalted butter, slightly softer than room temperature
1 c sugar
½ t salt
1 (7.4 oz) box Spiced Apple Cider drink mix (Original, not sugar free!)
2 eggs
1 t vanilla extract
1 t baking soda
½ t baking powder
3 c all-purpose flour
1 bag Kraft Caramels

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or slipat.
• In a mixer, cream together butter, sugar, salt, and all 10 packets of apple cider mix until smooth and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, vanilla, baking soda, and baking powder.
• Add flour and mix until just combined.
• Chill in refrigerator.
• Meanwhile, unwrap caramels.  Decide if you want jumbo or regular sized cookies.  If you want jumbo, just slightly flatten the caramels – a pinch will do.  If you want smaller cookies, cut the caramels in half to make them thinner.
• Scoop out cookie dough and form balls with your hands.  Push a caramel into the center and work the dough around the caramel, sealing it well and slightly flattening the dough balls.  (A full caramel for the jumbo size, a half caramel for the smaller ones.)
• Place dough on the prepared cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart.  Return to refrigerator for approximately 10 minutes.
• Bake 12-14 minutes for smaller cookies, 14-16 minutes for the larger ones, or until golden brown around the edges.
• Once done, let cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes.  Then remove and place upside down on a cooling rack (this keeps the caramel from working its way to the bottom).  If the cookies seem stuck to the tray, you may need to twist them with your hands rather than a spatula.

Note: the original author suggested setting the cookies over a warm drink for a few minutes to soften the caramel back up.  Sounds good to me!  (A 10 second zap in the microwave may do the trick, too!)