Serving Green Valley, Illinois since 2024

Green Valley Mail

No Bake Caramel Cookies

I want to share a recipe from My Little Dairy Blog, for my mom! This cookie is perfect for her! It would also be great with Nutella and pecan chips! Smooth salted caramel, crunchy toffee chips, and chocolate wrapped up in super easy No Bake Caramel Cookies! I can’t think of a thing not to love about these cookies!

 

I love no-bake cookies, and I love caramel! Who doesn’t right? This is the last week to finish up projects before my son is done with school! I started with laundry, dishes, planted sunflowers in the yard, finished grouting my kitchen, and picked up my boy’s rooms. Even though it was my intention of making cookies for the boys to come home to, the same thing happened to me that always happens and I got busy doing other things and could see I was running out of time. That’s when I resorted to No Bake Caramel Cookies! Ten minutes later I crossed cookie making off my to-do list and moved on to filing! (Making cookies is more fun!)

 

All you have to do is boil some sugar, butter, and milk. Add a little salt, butterscotch pudding (ya that’s right), oats, and give it a stir. Let it cool while you line a cookie sheet with wax paper, you could sweep the floor while the cookies cool a little too…if you hurry you can sweep the floor. Add chocolate chips, toffee chips, and give it a quick stir. You don’t want to over stir or the chocolate chips will melt everywhere, which probably wouldn’t be an entirely bad thing. I like my chocolate a little separated from the caramel so you get a little of everything in each bite.

 

Drop them on a cookie sheet and let em sit for at least 15 minutes if you can wait 30 minutes is better.

 

Grab a glass of milk and enjoy! Don’t get me wrong…I love classic No Bake Cookies! But CARAMEL NO BAKE COOKIES, you have to admit that is a fun twist on a good ol’ classic! I love em! Really, I do!

 

Ingredients

  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks)
  • 2/3 cup evaporated milk
  • 3.4 ounces instant butterscotch pudding mix
  • 3 1/2 cups oats
  • dash salt I used a few grinds
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup toffee chips

Instructions

  • Bring sugar, butter, and evaporated milk to a rolling boil over medium heat. Stir frequently.
  • Remove from heat and add oats, dry pudding, and salt. Let sit for a few minutes until it cools a little bit.
  • Line a cookie sheet with wax paper.
  • Add chocolate chips and toffee chips to cookie mixture. Gently stir being careful to not over stir or else the chocolate chips will be totally incorporated.
  • Drop by cookie scoopfuls onto wax paper. Sprinkle a little bit of the sea salt over cookies.
  • Let sit for at least 15 minutes.

Notes

PUDDING:

  1. This recipe originally called for a 5/1 ounce package of butterscotch pudding. Apparently that size is really hard to find. I've tested this recipe using a 3.4-ounce package and it works great.
  2. Since recipe Jell-O created Caramel pudding! That flavor works great also.

OATS: I like using quick oats. You can also use rolled or old-fashioned oats. They will be a bit chewier.

 

TIMING: These cookies are really easy to make! However, timing is really important!

  1. You need to bring butter, sugar and evaporated milk to a full rolling boil over MEDIUM heat.
  2. A full rolling boil is when the mixture keeps boiling even when it's being stirred.
  3. It's important to bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. If you cook it too fast it the cookies will most likely be runny or sticky. If you cook the mixture too long the cookies will be hard and dry.

HOW TO STORE NO BAKE COOKIES:

  1. Store at room temperature in an airtight container.
  2. Cookies will last for up to 3-5 days.
  3. I've never tried freezing these cookies, although I do know no-bake cookies typically freeze well.

While making this recipe, double it and share it with the ones you love! Nothing feels better than enjoying a cookie and a chat with your mom!


Tonia Loy
Columnist

Tonia Loy was the Mail Lifestyle Columnist covering Food, Arts & Crafts, and Do-It-Yourself topics from January 2021 until August 2021. She is from Peoria, Illinois, and is the owner of Great Cake Adventure Bakery. She attended ICC and NIU for art and design.