Caramel Apple Surprise Cookies

Caramel Apple Surprise Cookies

Makes about 20-22.

Okay, so I must confess... My cookies turned out okay.  I mean, my photo looks decent, right?  And they tasted great!  But I kinda struggled through the process.  For one, I needed a lot of dough to cover the caramel, so I got far less cookies than the original blogger.  For two, even with all that dough, I still had issues with the caramel oozing out onto the cookie sheet, and then through the wire rack while cooling.  So I lost a lot of caramel... to my counter top.  But, they were still great, and very fall-like.  I just need to figure out how to clean up the process.
Source: Hot Polka Dot

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup apple, skinned and chopped
3 dozen caramels, flattened slightly

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and position a rack in the center. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper (I used Silpat liners) and set them aside.

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla then blend it in. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt then stir it into the butter mixture. Gently mix in the chopped apples. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes to stiffen it up.

Scoop a heaping tbsp of dough for each cookie then roll it into a ball and flatten it into a disc between your palms. Place the slightly smushed caramel into the center and fold the edges of dough to cover it well, making sure to pinch any edges that meet. Form it back into a ball and place it onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake them for 10 – 11 minutes until the edges are golden brown. Transfer them to a cooling rack and enjoy!