Salted Caramel Cookie Cups

A few weeks ago, I ventured into a recipe that I had seen on Pinterest, and had longed to create. I was THRILLED on how they turned out! It may just be the closest-to-original Pinterest project I have ever created! I shared a photo of my finished product on my social media, and friends were begging for the recipe (and so were the lucky ones who got to experience this delicousness firsthand!!) So here we go!

Salted Caramel Cookie Cups

recipe via EasyBaked

sugar cookie recipe via The Pioneer Woman

So this recipe has lots of steps, and the great part is that you can customize it to how you want it. We first have the sugar cookie base. If you have a favorite sugar or butter cookie recipe, you can definitely use that! But since all my recipes are buried in a storage locker right now, I looked up a recipe from a cook I trust, the amazing Pioneer Woman! So my baking started with putting her cookie batter together.

 Start by creaming the butter, oil, and sugars, then add the eggs and vanilla.

 Combine the remaining ingredients with the liquid mixture. I always suggest combining the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, so everything is spread evenly throughout.

Then you add a special ingredient to the cookie cups, crushed pretzels!

 I crushed mine with a meat tenderizer in a plastic bag. The more crushed, the better!

Then add some into the batter, for that extra salty CRUNCH!

Now I used a small ice cream scoop to scoop dough into the muffin tin. You want to have a pretty big ball of dough in each hole, my batter made three and a half dozen.

 Bake them at 350 degrees for 16 minutes, or until they are JUST turning a golden brown. It is ESSENTIAL they don't get overcooked!!

 This is how mine looked out of the oven.

Then, take a spoon, or I took the back of my scoop, to press in the center of each ball. The key to making a great cup is pressing deep enough, but keeping a nice thick rim around the side for later.Then remove cups from the muffin tins and let cool.

Once everything has cooled down, melt the chocolate and make sure you crush more pretzels, and get them ready to dip the cups in!

Start out by dipping the rim of the cup into the chocolate.

Then dip the rim into the pretzels!

 How great do these look, even without the caramel?!

Okay, now for the rich, delish caramel!

 Mix it up while the chocolate is drying on the rims. I popped my cups in the fridge to solidify the chocolate, especially when the summer heat creeps in! 

 Then dollop the caramel into the cups, and fill them up!

For a final gourmet touch, drizzle more chocolate over the tops of the cups.

Ingredients

Sugar Cookie Batter

2 sticks butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup canola oil

1 cup powdered sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

4 cups plus 2 Tbls. All-Purpose Flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. baking soda

Cups

2+ cups crushed pretzels

6 oz baking chocolate (I used semisweet)

1 bag Kraft Caramels

1/2 cup butter

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Grease the muffin tins.
2. Prepare the sugar cookie batter by creaming the butter, oil, and sugars. Add in the vanilla and eggs. Then combine with the rest of the dry ingredients.
3. Add in 1 cup of crushed pretzels to the cookie batter.
4. Drop balls of dough into the muffin tins and bake for 16 minutes, or until light golden brown.
5. When the dough comes out of the oven, use the back of a spoon to press dough into cups, making sure to leave a rim around the cups. Then remove from the muffin tin to cool completely.
6. Melt chocolate. Once cool, dip the rims of the cookie cups into the chocolate and then into the crushed pretzels. Let the chocolate dry completely.
7. In a separate bowl, combine the caramels, butter, and sweetened condensed milk. Melt in microwave at 30 second increments until smooth.
8.Dollop the caramel into each cup and fill it to the top.
9. Drizzle the rest of the chocolate on top of the cups.

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Allie Elliott
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