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Soft and chewy oatmeal caramel stuffed cookies! These oatmeal caramel cookies are a classic oatmeal chocolate chip cookie stuffed with a soft and creamy caramel.
*Please note* this post was originally published in 2017. I’ve since redone the text but the recipe remains the same!
Oatmeal caramel stuffed cookies. WOW that’s a mouthful. In more ways than one, I promise! A mouthful of silky smooth, sweet caramel, melty chocolate, and gooey oatmeal cookie. Umm…yum? I don’t think anything beats the classic combination of caramel and chocolate. Just typing those two words in conjunction makes me giddy with excitement!
Did you know that today is actually National oatmeal cookie day? Maybe not here in Canada, but I follow the American food holidays as I’ve yet to find a Canadian version. Come on Canucks! Is that my new calling? Calendar creator? Maybe. But for now, I’ll just stick with cookie creator.
These cookies were born out of pure experimentation. The creation of a caramel stuffed cookie has been high on my bucket list since…I don’t know, forever. I went with an oatmeal cookie as this has to be one of Etienne’s favorites, and I didn’t think he’d mind too much if I stuffed his beloved oatmeal cookie with caramel.
How do you make oatmeal caramel stuffed cookies?
The cookie itself is a pretty standard oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe; butter, sugar, flour, oats…chocolate chips. Once prepared, the dough will need to chill for at least 30 minutes before baking.
The caramels themselves have a few important qualities. In this recipe I’ve used Werther’s soft caramels. You could choose a different brand of caramel, but be sure that it’s one that is fairly soft at room temperature; otherwise, when the cookies are cooled the insides will turn into little bricks.
Roll the caramels into little balls, and place them on a piece of parchment to be frozen. The caramels will need to be frozen for at least 20 minutes prior to baking the cookies, to ensure they do not turn into a caramel puddle on your cookie sheet. I usually do this while my dough is chilling.
Once the dough has chilled for at least 30 minutes, begin scooping about 1 tablespoon of dough at a time and roll into balls, placing them on the parchment (or silicone mat) lined cookie sheets until all of the cookie dough is rolled out. I had 44.
Push a ball of frozen caramel into half of the balls, as shown below. Do not push too hard – you want there to be enough cookie dough underneath the ball that it will prevent the caramel from leaking in the oven. With the other half of cookie dough balls, cover the caramel, so you now have a little cocoon. Place the cookies a few inches apart from each other on the baking sheet.
How long do the cookies need to bake for?
The cookies will need to bake for 11-12 minutes. They will look fairly soft in the middle when you take them out, but they will continue to bake and firm up on the cookie sheet after you remove them from the oven. Wait at least 15 minutes before removing from the cookie sheets and allowing them to completely cool on a wire rack.
I highly suggest eating one (or three) of these oatmeal caramel stuffed cookies while you are removing them to the wire rack…they are SO good! I hope you get a chance to serve these unsuspecting oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to someone – they will love the caramel surprise inside!
Some of my other favorite cookie recipes from the blog:
PrintOatmeal Caramel Stuffed Cookies
- Total Time: 1 hours 25 minutes
- Yield: 22 cookies 1x
Description
Soft and chewy oatmeal caramel stuffed cookies! These oatmeal caramel cookies are a classic oatmeal chocolate chip cookie stuffed with a soft and creamy caramel.
Ingredients
- 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips
- 22 soft caramels, rolled into balls
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of your stand mixer or using a handheld mixer, cream the butter and both sugars together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and the vanilla and mix until combined.
- With the mixer running on low, slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet until the cookie dough is formed. Using a spatula, fold in 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips. Place the dough in the fridge, covered, for at least 30 minutes, or up to 2 days.
- While the dough is chilling, unwrap the caramels and roll them into balls; place the balls in the freezer for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Using about 1 tbsp of cookie dough at a time, roll the dough into balls and place on the cookie sheets. Remove the caramels from the freezer, and place one caramel into half the balls of dough (see pictures above in post). Take the other half of cookie dough balls and place on top of the caramel stuffed balls of dough, sealing the edges. Repeat until all cookies are stuffed and sealed.
- Allocate the remaining 1/2 cup of chocolate chips amongst the balls of cookie dough, pressing about 4-5 chips into each ball. Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes. The centers will look under-baked when you remove the cookies from the oven, but they will cook a bit longer on the cookie sheet. Allow the cookies to cool about 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Cookies will keep at room temperature, in an air-tight container for 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
- Prep Time: 1 hours
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: cookies
- Method: oven bake
- Cuisine: american
Just when I thought chocolate chip cookies couldn’t get any better – HELLO CARAMEL! Just plain mouthwatering!
Thanks Kate!! I think caramel in anything is a good idea, don’t you agree? Hope you have a great week! Cheers!
So I missed National Oatmeal Cookie Day yesterday so I suck big time 😉 lol! Who cares because I can celebrate it every day with your recipe. Wooohooo! Stuffing them with caramel is so much better than just regular ones too. Thanks for sharing and making them ultra decadent 🙂
Haha! You’re hilarious. Who needs an excuse to eat cookies, really!? SO much better than regular cookies. Thanks for the kind words Karrie – have a great week!! XO
Hold up! I missed national oatmeal cookie day?!!? How can that be!? I swear, there are just too many food holidays, it’s hard to keep up. But when it comes to the DELICIOUS food holidays, like national oatmeal cookie day, I NEED to be informed! Looks like I will have to make up for missing the day by baking up some of these absolutely FABULOUS cookies and eating them on repeat! These look insane! I mean, Caramel stuffed?!? WITH chocolate chips?! YES YES YES! Cheers! 🙂
I knooooow it’s impossible to keep up with them all!! This crazy food blog world we live in, haha. You definitely need to make up for it though, by eating these on repeat! I hope you have a great week Cheyanne! Thanks for the love!
First of all, Katherine, YES! You should totally become Canada’s official food holiday-creator :). But only if you don’t let that distract you from creating unbelievable cookies just like this. Oatmeal cookies are one of my favorites. Add some chocolate and some caramel and I’m pretty much in heaven. These sound just too good!
Oh Kelsie, thank you so much! I’m glad you will support me in my food holiday creating endeavors! 🙂 Much appreciate the kind words, friend. Hope your week is going well!
These are wonderful!! I could eat like 6 and that’s being modest 🙂 . Take care.
Haha, I recommend at LEAST 6. Thank you for the comments, Stacey! Have a great week!
Werthers are a complete favorite of mine! My grandparents always used to have them in a secret cupboard and stuff them in my sister’s and my pockets on our way out the door. These sound so comforting and yummy, and I know my kids would love stuffing them into the dough to help 😀
I love this story! Werthers are totally a favorite of grandparents. They’re very “stuffable” for all sorts of pockets 😉 I think your kids would love it too! Mine would be too busy eating the caramels!! Thanks for the comment Lindsay!
Seriously, these are my dream cookie. Oatmeal—check. Chocolate—check. Caramel—check! And thank goodness I have a stash of Werther’s in my pantry!!!
Ah thank you!! I completely agree – what more could you want? Hope you get a chance to try them out!! Cheers!
Chocolate and caramel in a beautiful homemade oatmeal cookie… I think I am in love! ❤️
Hah thank you Heidi. It’s such a delicious combination!!