Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies

Source: here, via Pinterest (surprise!)

Ingredients:
1 cup softened butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 box (7.4 oz) Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Instant Original Drink mix -not sugar free- all 10 packets (You can find this in your grocery store near the hot chocolate mixes - and I just used the store brand (no need to pay more!))
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups all purpose flour
1 bag Kraft Caramels (14 oz)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350° F. Line cookie sheets with parchment. (The blog author says "You really need the parchment!" but I didn't have any and the world did not end - amazing!)

In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.

With your mixer (or an energetic spoon) cream together butter, sugar, salt and all 10 packages of apple cider drink mix powder, until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and mix well. Gradually add flour mixture to butter/egg mixture. Mix until just combined. Refrigerate for about an hour. (If you're really impatient you don't have to do this, but it makes it so much easier to work with.)

When you are ready to bake, unwrap your caramels.  (Oops - we did this first!)

Scoop out cookie dough ball about the size of a walnut. (I used a rounded cookie scoop-full. My scoop holds about a Tablespoon.)  (We just used our hands and pulled out globs.)  Flatten the ball of dough slightly in the palm of your hand. Press the unwrapped caramel into the center of your dough and seal the dough around it, covering it completely. Place on parchment covered cookie sheets 2 inches apart. Bake 12-14 minutes, or until very lightly browned around the edges. Please don't over-bake!

Once the cookies are done, slide the parchment off of the baking sheet right out onto the counter. Allow cookies to partially cool on the parchment. When cookies are cool enough to be firm but still slightly warm, carefully twist off of parchment and allow to finish cooling upside down (either on the parchment or on a rack.) If you forget about them and they cool too much and stick to your parchment, put them into the freezer for a few minutes and they'll pop right off. (This sounds really complicated, but we just sprayed our cookie sheets with cooking spray and made sure to scoop them off to a cooling rack before they cooled completely on the pan.)

Yield: about 4 dozen, depending on how large you make your cookies (or how many caramels have been snitched out of your bag before you begin.) Store in an airtight container.

Notes:
I saw this recipe on one of my first days on Pinterest and thought it looked intriguing and tasty.  My friend Anika came over yesterday and we whipped up a batch - a fun little First of December activity on a windy day.  They are definitely different than any cookie I've ever had - very apple cidery and VERY sweet.  And maybe I cooked mine a titch too long, because they are a bit on the crisp side and the caramel is kinda hard now that they are cool.  But they're still good - especially when they're warm.  (Update: I found nuking them for 11 seconds in the microwave restores their yummy, gooey, warm softness.  My faith is restored!)