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These Bourbon Salted Caramel Oatmeal Cookies are a basic oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with a hint of bourbon and swirls of salted caramel. 
I actually spent a whole Saturday at home without baking. I am actually amazed at myself! For someone who relies on the weekend to do all my baking and photographing, giving up a day is hard to do. I enjoyed just hanging out, sleeping in and making dinner.
I was tempted to make another batch of these Bourbon Salted Caramel Oatmeal Cookies. I made them last weekend and shipped them off to a friend. I have a hard time resisting cookies, especially these ones. Even my boyfriend liked these cookies, and he usually sticks to the basics. So it’s better if I get them out of the house as fast as possible instead of eating them all myself. With father’s day coming up perhaps your dad would like them too!
Three reasons I am obsessed with these cookies. Bourbon gives these cookies just a little kick and I love alcohol infused desserts. I think it adds a little extra richness to these cookies. The melted caramel is swirled throughout the cookies. With caramel, usually it hardens once the cookies are cooled. So I was pleased to see the caramel stay soft. Every so often, you get a bite of sea salt too! Everyone loves a little sweet and salty mix right? Lastly, everything is better with chocolate, so I added chocolate chips to these cookies as well!
I prefer giant cookies, so I used a large cookie scoop for these, 3 tablespoons to be exact. If you like smaller cookies, try using a 2 tablespoon or medium cookie scoop. The smaller scoop will produce at least 3 dozen cookies. I also always use a Silpat when I bake cookies. In this case, it makes it easier to get the cookies off the non-stick sheet, since the caramel can be sticky. It helps to prevent the cookies from burning on the bottom. This recipe is adapted from my favorite Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe from Picky Palate.
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Bourbon Salted Caramel Oatmeal Cookies
- Prep Time: 90 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
- Yield: 26-30 large cookies
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Pin RecipeDescription
A bourbon infused oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with a salted caramel swirl.
Ingredients
- 20 Kraft caramel squares or appx 1 cup caramel bites
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 cup (2 sticks) Unsalted butter
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 ounces Bourbon
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose Flour
- 2 1/4 cups quick oats
- 2 tsp salt, divided
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- 1 cup Chocolate Chips.
Instructions
- In a microwave-safe bowl, combine caramels and milk. Microwave in 20 second increments, stirring each time. Caramel will be very hot and can burn easily. Stir in 1 teaspoon salt. All the caramel to cool.
- Soften the butter in the microwave for 10-15 seconds. Combine the softened butter with the brown and granulated sugar. Beat on medium speed until well combined, 2-3 minutes.
- Next add the eggs, vanilla extract and bouron and continue beating until well incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, oats, salt (1 tsp) and baking soda. Stir to combine and slowly add the dry ingredients into the dough, mixing on low speed until dough starts to form.
- Before the dough thickens, add the chocolate chips. Beat a couple of times until they start to incorporate.
- Once the caramel is melted and smooth (and cooled), add to cookie dough. Beat just until combined.
- Pre-scoop the dough using a large cookie scoop and place on a sheet pan. Sprinkle with flakey sea salt. Refrigerate for at least one hour. Remove each batch 10-15 minutes before baking.
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet. Bake for 11-13 minutes. The center of the cookie should be slightly under baked but not too gooey. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
Recipes from Beyond Frosting
Whiskey Chocolate Toffee Truffles
Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate Cookies
Chai Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Espresso Bean Cookies
Recipes from my friends:
Bourbon Banana Cream Pie from Completely Delicious
Banana Bourbon Cupcakes from How Sweet It Is
Salted Caramel Bourbon Popsicles from Autumn Makes and Does
These sound good but I’m not a big caramel person can I substitute that with something or leave it out
You can leave it out, but in that case I would recommend you follow the recipe for my regular oatmeal cookies, and add some bourbon in place of the vanilla.
I’ve made these twice before and they are a MASSIVE hit! Can I make the dough and refrigerate it overnight? Thanks!
★★★★★
Awesome! Thank you! You sure can, you just may need to let them sit for 15-20 minutes prior to baking.
I would love to make these but don’t have any bourbon or alcohol of any kind in the house. What could I use to replace it?
you can omit it all together or add an additional 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
My cookies ended up very flat. Anyone else have this issue or have an idea as to why?
Hi John, it’s possible that either they weren’t refrigerated long enough or the ratios of the dry ingredients were off.
Can you use old fashion oats?
Yes!
excellent.
Mine taste really good but they look nothing like yours. I followed the directions to a tee, but the hot caramel melted most of the chocolate chips so they are chocolate more than anything. And they flattened more than I had hope. I did refrigerate the dough for 45 minutes. I will tweak it next time. I like the caramel-sea salt combo and want that flavor to really stand out.
★★★
Hi Teresa, sounds like the caramel wasn’t cool enough, and since that happened, you probably would have needed more time in the refrigerator. I am glad they tasted good!
Hi Jackie. I can’t find where to answer your reply so I’ll just send another comment. I did refrigerate the dough for the 30 minutes and kept the trays in the frig until I baked them. I also used parchment paper. I was thinking maybe adding some baking powder?
I’m making these today. They are very tasty, however, they are coming out very flat. ☹️ Don’t know if I did something wrong but I’m not very happy with them.
★★★★
Hi Darla, are you baking them directly on a baking sheet or is in lined with something? How long did you refrigerate?
Have you tried these with homemade caramel sauce?
Hi Tiffany, I have not, but as long as it is a thick sauce, it might work.
Can these be made ahead and frozen. Thank you
Hi Linda, yes you can! However when you freeze them, I usually flash freeze them on a sheet pan before packaging. They must be in package in a single layer with a layer of parchment in between, otherwise the cookies will stick together due to the caramel.
Hi
What’s the equivalant to 11/2 oz of bourbon. How many teaspoons?
Hi Jackie, this would be 9 teaspoons or 3 tablespoons.
★★★★★
Dear Julianne, These cookies are right up my alley. These sound perfect to me. xo, Catherine
Made these today as a Father’s Day treat. He loved them, ok so did I. Big hit. Thank you.
Be still my heart! These cookies are phenom, babe! I love adding bourbon to things to jazz it up a notch. And getting drunk off of cookies is also my favorite pasttime. 🙂
HAAH! That’s why were such great friends. LOL
Whoa, everything that I love (salted caramel, bourbon and chocolate) in one delicious, chewy cookie?! These look amazing! Pinned.
Thanks so much Nancy! These are my favorite cookies!
These look amazing. My mouth is watering! I’d love it if you’d come link up at Tickle My Tastebuds Tuesday!
Julia @ MiniVanDreams.com
Thanks Julie!
Oh boy! I just love salted caramel, so these cookies would be right up my alley! Yummy!
Thank you Jess!
I’m pretty sure my dad would love these cookies, but if I made them, I’m not sure there would be any cookies left over to give to him!
Those are exactly my thoughts!
How does the bourbon cook in these? Do you have to have it? I’m concerned about the effect it could have on pancreatitis, but it looks so good!
Hi Lily, sorry I cannot advise you on how it will effect your pancreatitis. Please consult a doctor. If you remove the bourbon, you may want to add 2-3 tsp of pure vanilla extract and this cookie needs additional moisture.
This sounds SO good! I love anything with salted caramel!
Thanks Terri!
Hi
Did you use fine or coarse sea salt in this recipe.
Hi Jackie, I used coarse. But I think you should still use fine if that is all you had.
Wow, these look incredible. All you have to say bourbon salted caramel and I’m hooked. I’ll take that entire stack!
HAAH! I would share with you 🙂
Oh my do these cookies look incredible!!
Oh they are my friend. They are. I will ship you some from my next batch!
I loved your comment about the caramel hardening. It is really reassuring, Last week I made cookies with caramel and they hardened. I thought it was just me! 🙂 But these cookies look delicious!!
This is the first time I have made a cookie where the caramel doesn’t get solid! I was so happy. I have also heard that you can try adding a couple teaspoons of milk to help keep it soft.
I love the bourbon! These look very tempting. I admire your restraint for shipping them off instead of eating them all!
And good for you, having a lazy Saturday. They’re a necessity sometimes.
Seriously, if I didn’t ship them, they would be gone for sure.