Snickerdoodles never go out of style. They’re wonderful on a holiday treat plate, delicious when the world thaws and flowers bloom, and even worth turning on your oven in the heat of summer. A perfect any-time cookie. This season, try a new take on an old classic with this caramel snickerdoodle recipe!
If It’s Not Broke, Add Caramel!
Snickerdoodles don’t need any bells or whistles. With their signature cinnamon-sugar coating and distinctive mild tang from the cream of tartar, snickerdoodles are already a crowd-pleaser. But one caramel-flavored bell can’t hurt, right?
The buttery, almost toffee-like flavor of caramel blends beautifully with the warmth of the cinnamon and adds extra sweetness to contrast with the slightly piquant cream of tartar. It takes an already great thing and makes it great in a new way!
There are a variety of ways to add caramel to your cookie—you could drizzle it with a caramel sauce, stir in caramel chips, incorporate a couple pumps of caramel syrup, or, my personal favorite, stuff it with a soft caramel candy!
One of my all-time favorite cookies is a chocolate cookie stuffed with a rollo, and I borrowed that concept for this caramel snickerdoodle recipe. It’s important that you use a soft caramel—as soft as you can find (or make)—so that your cookie is not overly chewy or crunchy. If you feel through the bag and the candy is fairly malleable, that should work perfectly!
By forming your cookie dough ball around the candy, it creates a seal that traps the caramel, allowing it to melt throughout the snickerdoodle and form a perfect layer of caramel inside. Delightful!
So what to call this caramel-stuffed snickerdoodle creation? Carmackerdoodles? Carmickledoodles? That’s for you to decide. No matter what you call them, your friends will call them delicious. If you choose to share them, that is.
Caramel Cookie, Meet Caramel Tea!
Sometimes you want a cookie. Sometimes you want tea that tastes like a cookie. Sometimes you want both! When that mood strikes, pull out this caramel snickerdoodle recipe, brew a nice cuppa caramel snickerdoodle herbal tea, and enjoy an evening of cinnamony bliss.
Love for snickerdoodles spans all generations. They’re a childhood favorite, a midlife comfort food, and maybe just the thing to leave out for a certain immortal red-suited someone as a midnight snack. These cookies will be beloved by kids from one to ninety-two (as the song goes), so though it’s been said many times, many ways, here’s a snickerdoodle for you.
Caramel Snickerdoodle Cookie
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
- 1 1/3 cup (267 g) granulated sugar
- 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups (375 g) flour
- 2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1.5 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 bag soft caramel candies
- 1/3 cup (70 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In a stand mixer using a paddle attachment (on high setting), or by
hand, cream your butter and sugar until fluffy. 3. In a separate large bowl, whisk flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
Tip: If using a stand mixer, assemble dry ingredients while butter and sugar are creaming. This will give it time to get nice and fluffy, and you won’t just be standing around waiting for it to finish. Win-win!
4. In a small bowl, combine cinnamon and sugar for the topping and set aside.
5. Reduce speed on mixer to medium-high, add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. Mix until combined and fluffy.
6. Scrape down sides and bottom of the mixing bowl.
7. With mixer running on low speed, slowly add about one third of the flour mixture to your butter mixture. Once combined, add another third of the flour. Once that is combined, add the remaining flour and mix just until the dough is formed.
Note: it is a quite a thick dough. It’s certainly possible to mix by hand, though you may have to use a bit of muscle!
8. Take about 1 to 1.5 Tbsp of dough and wrap it around a caramel candy. (Remove the caramel from its wrapper first, if applicable!) Shape dough into a ball, being sure that it is well sealed so the caramel doesn’t leak out.
Note: Some brands of caramel candy have a dense middle but fairly thin ends. You may want to reshape them slightly, pushing the ends in to form a more solid rectangle to fit easily into your cookie dough ball.
9. Continue this process until you have 12 caramel-stuffed dough balls.
10. Roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture, coating thoroughly. Space evenly on a baking sheet.
11. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes. (Cookies will set as they cool on the baking sheet.) Finish cooling on wire rack.
12. Repeat steps 8 through 11 until all dough has been used.
13. Serve with your favorite tea, and enjoy!
