Caramel Snickerdoodles

Soft and chewy caramel snickerdoodles. The famous cinnamon sugar cookies you know and love, but with a melty caramel center.

Try some other popular cookie recipes like these chewy chocolate chip cookies, these white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, or these oatmeal cookies next!

Ever since I added Rolos to the center of these oatmeal caramel cookies, I’ve been anxious to put them in more cookies. There’s nothing like a caramel oozing center in an already delicious cookie!

So when I made these “famous” snickerdoodles a few weeks ago for my boys, I decided to add a Rolo into the center. The boys have now informed me that from here on out, I can only make cookies with Rolos, ha! They’ll also tell you these are their absolute favorite cookie ever.

Caramel snickerdoodles — here we come!

How to make Caramel Snickerdoodles

The descriptions below correlate with the photo collages in this post.

1. Combine the melted and cooled butter, brown sugar, and white sugar
2. Stir until completely smooth
3. Add in one full egg, one egg yolk (use the leftover egg white in this egg wrap recipe), and vanilla extract
4. Stir until ingredients are well incorporated
5. Add dry ingredients to a separate bowl — the flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda
6. Whisk together dry ingredients until combined
7. Add dry ingredients right on top of wet ingredients
8. Stir until a thick and soft dough forms and then cover the dough and chill it in the fridge for one hour

Once the dough is sufficiently chilled, roll large balls of dough (about 2 tablespoons in size) and add an unwrapped Rolo to the center. Cover the Rolo with the dough and form a tallish ball of dough. Roll in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar and then place the balls of dough on a sheet pan. Chill the dough once more for 10 minutes and then bake!

Caramel Snickerdoodles tips 

• Correctly measure the flour: If you press a measuring cup into a bag of flour you will pack in way too much flour (which will result in cake-like cookies and is not the texture we’re going for).
  • To properly measure your flour, spoon the flour into the measuring cup until its overfilled. Then use the back of a butter knife to level the measuring cup at the top. (Video visual here)
• Use room temperature eggs: This ensures the eggs disperse more evenly into the batter giving these caramel snickerdoodles a lighter texture (the eggs trap air).
  • Soaking refrigerated eggs in a bowl of warm (not hot) water for about 10 minutes is a quick way to do this. Otherwise, pull the eggs out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before use.

Tips continued

• Fully cover the Rolo: if the Rolo isn’t completely covered with dough, it will ooze out of the dough on to the sheet pan and burn.
• Use a silpat liner: not only do the cookies bake up better, it also protects the pan in case a caramel does ooze out of the cookie.
• Roll tall cookie dough balls: roll the dough so it’s taller and skinnier instead of in a perfect round ball form. When the caramel snickerdoodles bake you’ll get a perfect thick & chewy center with crisp edges. Using this technique, the bottom of the cookie “cylinder” bakes first, which will push out and become the crisp cookie’s edge. The top of that tall cookie dough “cylinder” then becomes the soft, less baked, chewy center. 

More delicious cookie recipes:

• Peanut Butter Blossoms
• Coconut Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies (The BEST!)
• Thumbprint Cookies (Reader Favorite!)
• Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Shortbread Cookies

5 from 4 votes

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Caramel Snickerdoodles

Prep Time

25 mins

Cook Time

9 mins

Chilling Time

1 hr

Total Time

1 hr 34 mins

 

Soft and chewy caramel snickerdoodles. The famous cinnamon sugar cookies you know and love, but with a melty caramel center.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: caramel snickerdoodles

Servings: 16 large snickerdoodles

Calories: 243 kcal

Ingredients

• 16 tablespoons (1 cup; 225g) unsalted butter, melted
• 2/3 cup (135g) white granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup (120g) light brown sugar, packed
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 and 3/4 cup (337g) white all-purpose flour (See Note 1)
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 16 unwrapped Rolo candies

Cinnamon Sugar Coating

• 1/4 cup (50g) white granulated sugar
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. MELT BUTTER: In a large, microwave safe bowl, melt the 1 cup butter. Let the butter stand at room temperature until cooled to room temperature. It is very important the butter isn't hot or it will melt the sugars and cause greasy cookies.

2. ADD SUGARS: add in the 2/3 cup white sugar and 2/3 cup brown sugar. Whisk together until smooth. Add in 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk (reserve the whites for a separate recipe or discard) and the vanilla extract. Whisk until just combined and smooth.

3. DRY INGREDIENTS: In another bowl, stir together the 2 and 3/4 cup flour, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon. Whisk together.

4. COMBINE: Add all of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until JUST combined. Do not overmix the dough. Cover tightly and place in the fridge for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

5. CINNAMON SUGAR COATING: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. In a small bowl stir together the white sugar and cinnamon for the cinnamon sugar coating.

6. ADD ROLOS: Remove the dough and roll tall balls of dough about 2 tablespoons in size; If you have a kitchen scale, the balls of dough should be about 1.6 to 1.7 ounces (16 cookies total; they're BIG!). Fill the center of the dough with an unwrapped rolo and roll the balls of dough to completely cover the caramel. Then, generously coat the cookies by rolling them into the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

7. BAKE: Place dough balls on a parchment or silpat lined sheet pan, only 6-8 cookies per sheet pan and chill in the fridge for 10 more minutes. Remove and bake in a fully preheated oven for 9-12 minutes. Watch carefully being sure to not over-bake. I think slightly under-baked snickerdoodle cookies are the BEST! (I bake for 10 minutes!)

8. COOL: Remove and let stand on cookie sheet for 2 minutes before removing with a spatula to a cooling rack.

9. STORAGE: Cookies best enjoyed within 2-3 days. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Recipe Notes

Note 1: If you press a measuring cup into a bag of flour you will pack in way too much flour (which will result in cake-like cookies that don't spread and is not the texture we're going for). To properly measure your flour, spoon the flour into the measuring cup until its overfilled. Then use the back of a butter knife to level the measuring cup at the top.