Chewy Caramel Apple Chip Cookies

I found a recipe for these Chewy Caramel Apple Cookies last week, and I immediately thought my hubby would love them.  He does, after all, love the Spiced Apple Cookies that I have made a couple times for him.  I bought the caramels called for in the recipe (and decided that I was not buying any more add-ins for cookies -nuts, candies, etc.- until I got rid of some of the extras I have been buying over the past few months, BTW), and got started.

I followed the recipe pretty closely, with just 2 exceptions.  The first change I made was with the apple.  We bought very small apples, so I used two instead of one.  I also diced it very finely instead of grating it.  I also had about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts that I added when I added the caramel.

Here is the recipe as posted on the eatliverun blog:

Chewy Caramel Apple Chip Cookies
makes about 2 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
2 sticks butter, softened
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 apple
1 bag mini caramels (or regular sized caramels, cut up into small pieces)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the vanilla and egg and continue to beat until combined.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in another bowl.
Grate the apple with a cheese grater and squeeze out all liquid with paper towels. Add shredded apple to the flour and then add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and mix until combined. Then, add the caramel bits. Dough will be a little dry.
Roll small balls of dough out and bake on a lined baking sheet for 12-14 minutes. Let cookies completely before attempting to move them off the baking sheet or else they will fall apart!

Finishing thoughts:

They spread out A LOT on the pan-make sure to give them space, or else this will happen:

They also stick to the pan horribly!  By the end of my 4 or 5 batches, I had learned not to place them directly onto the cookie sheet, but to put them on parchment paper.

The flavor was good-caramel being true to form stuck to my teeth.  My hubby and the boys all really liked the cookies, but I am not crazy about them-I shouldn't be too surprised because the stickiness of caramel always gets on my nerves.  If I want to make cookies with caramel again later on down the road, I will probably make the Spiced Apple Cookies I linked above, and add caramel to them.