Caramel oatmeal cookies are a chewy oatmeal cookie filled with bits of toffee and topped with a creamy ball of caramel. They're sweet, gooey and just a bit salty.
These caramel oatmeal cookies are made for all the caramel lovers. The oatmeal cookie base is buttery and sweet, and topped with some salty caramel that makes them all gooey and delicious!
For more oatmeal recipes try my monster cookie bars, my small batch oatmeal chocolate chip cookies or my blackberry oatmeal muffins.
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Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Texture: The oats and caramel give these cookies such a good chew.
- Easy to Make: These cookies can be done with or without a mixer.
- Gooey Caramel: These cookies have the best gooey center filled with a salty caramel.
Ingredient Notes
Full ingredient measurements and instructions can be found in the recipe card below.
- Brown Sugar: I love using dark brown sugar in these cookies for an extra caramel taste, but light works also.
- Oats: I use old-fashioned oats in these cookies.
- Toffee: I used the toffee bits that are sold near the chocolate chips. These would also be great with homemade toffee chopped up.
- Caramel: I always use Peter's caramel which is a large block of caramel. I weighed out 6 grams of caramel for each cookie. But you can also use werther's soft caramels. It must be the soft caramels and not the chewy ones.
Recipe Instructions
Step 1: Place the butter and sugars in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and mix until smooth, about 30 seconds.
Step 2: Slowly mix in salt, baking powder, baking soda and flour, being careful not to over mix. I usually stop when I still have some flour remnants around the bowl. Add the oats and mix on low until incorporated. Fold in toffee bits.
Step 3: Scoop the dough into cookie balls. I like to use a 3 tablespoon scoop for these. Take one caramel and roll in a ball and place in the center of the cookie dough. Be careful not to push it too far in. Chill cookie dough for 2-24 hours.
Step 4: Preheat the oven to 365 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and place 6-8 cookies on a baking sheet. Top with flaked salt.
Step 5: Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges start to turn golden brown. Top with a little extra salt flakes.
Expert Baking Tips
- I have tested these with Peter's caramel, which is my favorite, and also Werthers soft caramels. You want your caramel ball to be about 6 grams.
- Because of the gooey caramel these cookies can spread out in areas, not staying a perfect circle. As soon as they come out of the oven just take a spatula or spoon and run it around the hot cookie pushing in any areas that spread too far.
- The butter and eggs should not be completely chilled from the fridge, but should also not be room temperature. I try to let them sit out for about 15-30 minutes before I begin my cookie making!
FAQ
I have only tried these cookies with old fashioned oats.
Yes, these would be great with ½ cup of chocolate chips added in, or the chocolate toffee bits.
No, it needs to be actual caramel that you can roll into a ball and place in the middle of the cookie dough ball.
Storing & Freezing
These caramel oatmeal cookies will remain fresh if stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days. If you want, prep the cookie dough in advance and store it in the fridge for about a week.
You can freeze your cookies in an airtight container for 2-3 months with them remaining fresh. You can also freeze the cookie dough balls if you would like to bake them one at a time.
Other Popular Recipes to Try
For more yummy treats follow me on instagram @thesaltedsweets. And be sure to tag me and comment if you make them and love them as much as I do!
Caramel Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup (113.5 g) butter room temperature
- ¾ cups (165 g) dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) salt
- 1¼ cups (175 g) all-purpose flour
- 1¼ cups (121.62 g) old-fashioned oats
- ½ cup (70 g) toffee bits
- 14 caramels
- Flaked salt for topping
Instructions
- Place the butter and sugars in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add egg and vanilla and mix until smooth, about 30 seconds.
- Slowly mix in salt, baking powder, baking soda and flour, being careful not to over mix. I usually stop when I still have some flour remnants around the bowl. Add the oats and mix on low until incorporated. Fold in toffee bits.
- Scoop the dough into cookie balls. I like to use a 3 tablespoon scoop for these. Take one soft caramel and roll in a ball and place in the center of the cookie dough. Be careful not to push it too far in. Chill cookie dough for 2-24 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 365 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and place 6-8 cookies on a baking sheet. Top with flaked salt.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges start to turn golden brown. Top with a little extra salt flakes.
Jena Baugh
These are great! With or without the caramel! Will definitely make again!
brooke
Thank you!!! I agree, the cookie base alone is so delish!
Mimi Philpott
My cookies came out hard. I chilled the dough. Any ideas?
brooke
I'm so sorry. My guess would be that you over mixed the dough and added too much oats or flour. They're supposed to be a super chewy and buttery cookie. Did you weigh your ingredients?
Pam Mercer
Delicious! Love this twist on the oatmeal cookie.
brooke
Thank you Pam! Yours looked absolutely delicious too!
Eileen
Everyone's favorite... #1 most asked for on my Christmas Cookie list. The joke is that they were just too sweet for me. But I was alone in that opinion. My husband loves them too. I had ditched the recipe then I had to go get it again. Back by popular demand! What do I know? LOL
ZZ
These are amazing. There was dough left without the center caramel piece and they were still tasty. These will be a great base for ,pay holiday cookie plates.
ZZ
Not sure if I remember the star rating. These deserve a 10 but I’m only allowed to give a 5.
Brooke Homec
oh my gosh! Thank you!!!
Priyashna Singh
I made these with homemade bits of toffee and they were great, especially after salting the toffee.
Lindsay Batrowny
These were great, I even used Kraft Caramels (after checking with Brooke on IG) and they worked! Made these for a friend and she enjoyed them as well.
Eileen
Everyone's favorite... #1 most asked for on my Christmas Cookie list. The joke is that they were just too sweet for me. But I was alone in that opinion. My husband loves them too. I had ditched the recipe then I had to go get it again. Back by popular demand! What do I know? LOL
Pam Nelson
Love this recipe! However, I eliminated the toffee chips because it was too sweet. I also cut the caramel's in half to get the perfect amount of sweetness.
I also removed the pans from the oven after 7 or 8 minutes and let them cool on the pan. The result was perfectly browned cookies.
Tress
Made these without the caramel, instead I cut up toffee chunks from Trader Joe’s and added pecans. Delicious! I weighed out all my ingredients and put the dough in the refrigerator for two hours. Made a salted caramel topping that I drizzled over after the cookies were baked. Will definitely make again. Great recipe!
Bailey
The carmel with the oats and toffee are the besttt flavor combo! Love!
Christina Ruiz
These are awesome. Everyone loved them. The adult kids called them crack lol.
Christine
Just made these this weekend. So good. I added chocolate chips too!
AB
At first, the extra step in getting the caramel right made me intimidated. However, after I baked the batch, it came out so good! That caramel in the middle took it up a notch!
Katie
I added about 1/2c of finely diced apple and raised the temperature to 375 to make up for the additional liquid from the apples. They came out so good, the whole family loved them!
Alrxis
Hi can I use Carmel syrup instead?
Brooke Homec
No, it needs to be stable caramel to hold in the middle of the dough.