Caramel Oatmeal Cookies

My new thing, in my attempt to be without a doubt the most amazing wife on the planet, is to bake a batch of cookies every Sunday for Mark to eat throughout the week.  He's big on cookies, usually crappy store-bought ones.  I thought I could make this part of me weekly routine, and then he has a sweet treat every Sunday and plenty of cookies to pack in his lunch for the week.  Plus, I keep them in the gorgeous cake stand my mom got me for my bridal shower (see picture below).  It makes the whole kitchen look more homey!

These cookies were the first in my Sunday Cookie Night routine (so far I have kept it up for 3 weeks straight, so be ready for more cookie recipes, as well as my Monday Muffin routine...).  I had bought a bag of caramel bits months ago.  I swear back in the fall, every baked good recipe I looked at called for caramel bits.  Then I bought some and couldn't think of a thing to do with them.  They've been eying me from the baking cabinet for months.  Finally when my genius Sunday Cookie Night idea happened, and I hadn't planned anything or shopped accordingly, I decided to find a way to use them. Voila: caramel oatmeal cookies.

These cookies are soft and chewy.  They are full of oatmeal and studded with caramel bits.  They're sweet and buttery and frankly every single cookie was devoured by the time the next Sunday Cookie Night recipe came around!

The caramel did annoy me when it came time to pull the cookies off the baking sheets.  Be careful at this point; the caramel tended to stick to the pan and rip out half your cookie if you weren't careful.  And if you have too many left at the end of the week, the caramel bits will then rip out your teeth.  But frankly, you won't have many cookies left because these were wildly popular.

Recipe:

caramel oatmeal cookies
from Six Sisters Stuff
makes 5 dozen cookies

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups quick or old-fashion oats, uncooked
1 package Kraft Caramel Bits

Instructions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

3) In a large bowl, cream together butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract.

4) Gradually beat in flour mixture.  Fold in oats and caramel bits.

5) Drop by rounded tablespoons onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper.  Cook for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.