Caramel Apple Oatmeal Cookies Recipe (2024)

May try measuring flour next time since the batter was dry. I had to squeeze the cookie dough together so they wouldn't crumble everywhere. The cookies were delicious though. I highly recommend Ghirardelli caramel melts - like chocolate chips and they melt perfectly and are delicious. I wouldn't use anything else. I saw other comments about adding egg white or milk. Will try that next time. They are tasty enough to try again.

I'm not the best baker in the world, but these turned out pretty well! They are very sweet, so I suppose you could cut down on the sugar a bit, because the apples and caramel are sweet. I searched until I found "caramel bits," which are little round caramel balls in a package. I think if I used the big caramel candies and tried to chop them it would have been more difficult. I only had one or two cookies where the caramel melted out the side and onto the baking pan. And unlike others, I had no problems chopping up the dried apples. Took me about 2 minutes with a heavy butchers knife; I didn't try for consistent shape, just made them relatively small. The consistency of the dough is not mushy like other cookies. You do your best to make a little ball, and yes they're a little crumbly, but during baking they seemed to melt and hold together pretty well. One hint, definitely leave the 2 inches between cookies, because some of mine did kind of grow together.

I really don't know why everyone is raving. First, they don't come out like the photo. The caramels melt and run all over the cookie pan. Then they get hard when the cookie cools. I broke them off. Finely chopping the dried apples is a nightmare. You can't chop as you would onion or celery or such. The apples stick to the knife. So you carefully have to slice them into thin strips and then cut them into small pieces. The dough is difficult to handle because it is VERY dry. The resulting cookie is tasty but not worth all the effort. I definitely won't be making this recipe again.

Mine came out a little crumbly as well so I added an egg white and that seemed to do the trick! I also added cinnamon to the top and they came out great!

Add a tablespoon of milk to make the batter easier to work with. I replaced half of the caramel with white chocolate chips and it turned out delicious!

The concept is good, especially if you love a cookie with a substantial and chewy 'mouth-feel'. However, the recipe does not work as written and you will need to add additional fat or moisture as many have stated in previous reviews. The batter is like 'sand' which you might just be able to form into a ball if you compress firmly enough. They will not melt down into flat cookies while baking, so you'll need to try and compress after a little while in the oven. More often than not, this will result in a pile of crumbs on your baking sheet. I've made these twice with the same result. The ones you successfully bake will become tooth-breakingly hard once they've dried, again due to the high sugar to fat ratio. My suggestion is to add the caramel bits and dehydrated apples to your favorite oatmeal cookie recipe, or read through the reviews for suggestions on how much extra butter or applesauce to add.

A written, this is a crumbly mess. The second time I made them, I added a little tub of applesauce and lots of cinnamon, which really makes them more savory than too sweet. They held together better. I bke them on parchment but I will try my silpat mats too.

Outstanding cookie! I made these for Christmas a few years ago and got so many compliments, I made them again this year........everyone loves them. I did not have issues with the dough being TOO dry, although I will say, if you're looking for it to be like a standard chocolate chip or sugar cookie dough, it's not. Once I put them in the oven, they baked up just fine.....they don't spread too much. I used Kraft caramel candies and cut them into 1/4's, which is a bit of a pain, but the cookies are worth it. This cookie will remain in my Christmas cookie collection!

these were just awful and a total waste of good ingredients.

Like others, I found the dough to be dry and crumbly. However, packing it as I scooped it out worked, and the cookies were delicious. They were thicker than the ones pictured, but soft in the middle and tasty. I took them out after 9 minutes,

Added about a quarter cup of apple sauce to add moisture and bring the dough together. They were chew and delicious. Needed to cook for closer to 12 minutes

Worst cookie recipes ever. Cookies (if you could call them that) came out crumbled and dry. (we followed the recipe exactly). After the first pan we decided to add some milk to the batter and the second pan can out of the oven ok-ish.

use FRESH apples and the caramel bits are optional, in my opinion. we made them with and without and they were great cookies, either way!

I bought some Kraft "Caramel Bits" at Walmart (in the baking aisle near the chocolate chips), and searched for a recipe to use them in. The dough did mix up crumbly as other reviewers noted, but I didn't have too much trouble forming them into cookies with cookie scoop and squishing them in my hands. They baked nicely at high altitude (Denver) with no alterations, which I normally have trouble with. After baking half the dough, I added a bit of water to the remaining dough to make it more the usual consistency of cookie dough, but it spread too much and were flat (typical high altitude problem).

I used real Granny Smith Apples instead of dried fruit. I think that helps with the moisture issue. I love caramel and thought these were super good!

Good cookie, a bit sweet but after all it is a cookie! My dough was crumbly like everyone else mentioned, so not a breeze to work with, but manageable. I used a food processor to chop up the apples and caramels into bits -- it worked better than I though it would! The apples were a bit sticky, but if you pulse it the blades work through them and you get perfect bits. As for the caramel, I ended up with very small pieces, almost like sand. I was worried that the pieces were too small, but I think it worked out great in the end as I didn't have big globs of caramel like the other readers mentioned. I like the Chocolate-Cherry Heart Smart Cookies better, but these are worth trying again.

Made these for a group of college-aged girls...loved them! One girl said it was "the best cookie she'd ever had." I only baked them for about 7 minutes and they were perfect.

These cookies were a hit with my family! I did add a little more apple and oatmeal (about 1/3 cup of each) and still came out perfect. I did go to 3 different grocery stores looking for caramel squares - finally found a bag of Werther's Original Chewy Caramels at CVS. I will be making them for a bakesale next month.

I didn't like these at all. They were sickening sweet. I used the caramel bits and cut them in half but it still had big globs of caramel when they melted. Thought I'd make something that sounded different for Christmas, but this is a recipe I won't keep.

I added cinnamon and nutmeg and they taste great! Just a bit crumbly.

Delicious! I used chopped caramel candies, rather than the bits, which was more work, but worth the added effort. The dough was a bit crumbly to work with, but they turned out great!

Soft caramel candies are near to impossible to chop, after eventually chopping into small enough pieces, they ended up molding together once added to the batter as well as the dried apples, which are fairly sticky to work with as well. Though they do taste very yummy, as you can imagine, the consistency was fairly uneven and something one would be embarrassed to bring to a bake sale. I'd recommend using some type of caramel chips or bits that were offered as an option, along with fresh chopped apples.

These are the best oatmeal cookies that I have ever made!! I do add about 2tsp of apple pie spice to add a bit more flavor.

Man, these are the best cookies ever! I found a great all-natural caramel (Ragolds Naturals Caramel Butter Toffee) and used dried minced apples from Barry Farms. Also used whole wheat pastry flour in same weighed amount. I used a small scoop & with latex gloves on, I rolled & flattened them. Use the parchment paper--they released beautifully. Will definitely make again!

Loved the cookies. I would make them again, but only if I could find caramel bits. I had some in my pantry from a long time ago, but I'd never try this if I had to chop caramel. I also had crumbly dough, and I used a kitchen scale for the flour. The caramel bits makes them stick to the wire racks when cooling, but they are so good, that I'll excuse that!

I agree that it was a bit of a dry dough. Could not find DRIED apples anywhere, so had to use fresh, sliced thinly, microwaved to remove some moisture, then chopped. That may be why I did not need to add additional moisture to the dough. Cutting up the caramel cubes was not easy, seems that there's got to be a better way. My 5 year old who hates everything ate them. They were worth it for that.

I have very eager to make these cookies and tried them last night. However, like many others said, the dough was crumbly but I managed to get around that. The main problem was the caramel-way too much. It cause the cookies to fall apart on the wire rack, so I think I will cut down on the caramel (1/2 cup instead of 3/4) next time or cook them about 2-3 minutes longer.

The recipe sounded good, I chose to chop the caramels, but wouldn't bother next time. It would be easier to use toffee bits as suggested by another reviewer. The dough was extremely crumbly and I added a tbsp or more of additional butter. Despite rolling into balls and flattening, the cookies tended to crumble apart. Not the best baked as they were on the dry side, but the dough tasted good!

Great hit with all of our friends. This is my all time favorite cookie.

These were very good. I couldn't find caramel chips and wasn't looking forward to trying to cut up caramels, so I used toffee chips as another reviewer suggested. I didn't have a problem with the dough at all -- it was a bit crumbly but still held together fine when I rolled it with my hands. Would make these again.

I found the dough very dry and crumbly so I added a bit of fat free milk just to help hold it together. Also cut the caramel by half and added raisins. Didn't like the way they browned at the recommended cooking temp so boosted it to 400 and cut the bake time by a minute or so. Brought to an Uncle on a visit to Virginia and he said it was the best oatmeal cookie he ever tasted. So thanks Helen for a great recipe

I've made these cookies twice now, and I've never had a problem with the dough. The warmth of my hands seems to bring it together just fine when I am making the cookies. I didn't add or change anything. My husband LOVES these cookies and the fact that they are so rich means that we stop at one or two, rather than eating six at a time.

The dough was way too crumbly for me to work with; but I got rave reviews from everyone who ate them, which is the only reason I'm giving this 4 stars. I plan to use the caramel apple ingredients in another oatmeal cookie recipe rather than making this specific one again.

The concept was good. However, these cookies were a little too sweet for my taste and I didn't care for getting caramel stuck in my teeth. The dough was a little crumbly (I weighed my flour), but I didn't find it to be a problem. I will make them again but with a couple of alterations; 1/2 the white sugar and I like the toffee pieces substitution stated by another reviewer.

These cookies are delicious! I used toffee pieces in place of caramel, and madagascar bourbon vanilla for great flavor. The recipe made 4 dozen as stated. I do agree with other reviewers - the dough is crumbly. I chilled it for about an hour, and that made it easier to form the balls of dough.

Made these this weekend. I also found the dough was very crumbly (even though I spooned the flour into the measuring cup), so the cookies didn't spread out very much as they baked. I can't complain though, because everyone in my household along with my weekend guests loved these cookies. There were only a few left over by Sunday night as people couldn't seem to stop eating them. I will make these again.

I'm an experienced baker and the dough was SUPER crumbly. I'm glad to read that it wasn't just me. I even added an extra tablespoon of butter but it didn't help. The cookies were very tasty and a hit with my 2-year-old and I liked that I was also sneaking some apple into him, but the crumbly dough is a pain. I also substituted caramel pieces (couldn't find them) for butterscotch chips and still tasted great.

I agree with other reviewers that the dough needed more moisture. But that said they were very good even the ones that weren't as moist as I would have liked when spooned on baking sheet.

The only change that I had to make to the recipe was to add 1.5 TAB of water to the dough. It was too crumbly to form into balls. Besides that change, everything else worked well for me, including the cooking time. Unique, sweet cookie.

Tasty and original cookie, but recipe needs some modifications. Dough was really dry and crumbly, which made it hard to keep the dough balls in one piece prior to baking. And mine required double the baking time. But overall, nice recipe.

I had the same problem as another reviewer. The cookie dough was very crumbly and I weighed the flour. I used a 2 teaspoon measuring spoon to measure the dough out and ended up with a lot more cookies than stated in the recipe. Additionally, I slightly wet my fingers and molded the cookies on the measuring spoon before putting them on the cookie sheet and then slightly flattening them. The cookies are very tasty, but the instructions need to be changed.

I love these cookies. Can't get enough of them, good thing they're less than a 100 calories! I've already made them twice and my family absolutely loves them! They're slightly crispy on the outside but chewy on the inside. They're better the day they're made though, not quite as good the next day (unless you freeze them right away). The caramel bits add that extra something-something yummy. As for the reviewer who said the dough was too dry and crumbly--I bet they added too much flour by scooping the flour with the measuring cup instead of lightly spooning it in or weighing it. I used to do the same thing, but when I finally bought a kitchen scale I realized how much I was over-adding flour in my recipes. The scale made baking so much better & enjoyable!

The dough was a dry crumbly mess. I am not a professional baker, but I think more butter is needed, at least 2 Tbsp. The taste was good, however, I would also reduce the sugars a bit. I liked the concept and taste of the dried apples and caramel, however, it wasn't fun to knead each lump to get the dough to hold together before placing it on the cookie sheet.