Salted Caramel Oatmeal Walnut Cookies

Makes: 20 jumbo cookies or 40 smaller cookies Prep time: 30 minutes Bake time: 12 to 15 minutes depending on size of cookie

Ingredients

1 cup softened unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon fresh baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fresh baking soda

2 eggs

2 teaspoons best quality vanilla

1 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour

3 cups old fashioned oats

1 – 11 ounce package of Kraft Caramel bits

1 cup chopped walnuts, ( I used Old Dog Ranch Chocolate Walnuts)

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Line several baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.  In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars until smooth.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.  Scrape down the bowl at this point.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

Add oatmeal to the butter mixture and mix until combined.  Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined.  Add in chopped walnuts and caramel bits.

With a large ice cream scoop, place 6 cookies per baking sheet.  They will spread quite a bit, so I don’t put anymore dough on one baking sheet.

Bake the cookies for 6 minutes, then rotate the pans.  Bake another 4 minutes and start checking for doneness.  The cookies should be a light golden brown, but you don’t want to over bake them.  They can actually bake anywhere from 13 to 15 minutes depending on your oven.  Remember that they will also continue to bake on the pan when they are removed.  Wait about 5-8 minutes and move them to a rack.  The cookies need to be cooled enough to move them, but not too cool or they will stick to the baking rack.  If you have any leftover cookies, you can microwave them for a few minutes so the caramel will not get too hard.  Store them in an airtight container for up to a week.