These Salted Caramel Sugar Cookies are a thick, soft, chewy sugar cookie, topped with a beautiful pool of salted caramel icing!
When I think fall, salted caramel immediately comes to mind. Maybe it’s the candy apples my mom always gave us for a special treat as we approached the season or that my salt craving goes up as the temperature goes down, but I can’t get enough of it.
I baked you a thick, soft, chewy sugar cookie, topped with a beautiful pool of salted caramel icing to kick off fall in the name of Fall Cookie Week with my friend Michael of Inspired by Charm. You can catch up here. But for now, let’s talk about these Salted Caramel Sugar Cookies.
These cookies are so much easier than you’d anticipate. No fussy details, just a simple sugar cookie and some icing.
How to Make Salted Caramel Sugar Cookies:
- I start by rolling the dough into large balls and press with a glass to flatten.
- Then I use a measuring spoon or small bottle to create a pool for the salted caramel icing.
- Finally, I melt the icing in a measuring cup so that it can easily pour into the cookie pool and harden just perfect, but a spoon also works well – use whatever you’re comfortable with.
The most important thing to remember when baking sugar cookies is to not over bake, so watch them carefully as each oven can vary slightly and you’ll be rewarded with craveable cookies.
Why do I call them salted caramel sugar cookies? Because that’s how our friends and family {my market research team} described them when they took a bite. The slightly salty brown sugar icing is the perfect compliment. So go ahead, try them for yourself and let me know what you think!
Watch the video in this post to see how easy it is to make Salted Caramel Sugar Cookies!
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Just one more day of Fall Cookie Week! Michael and I have 2 more recipes for you. I hope you enjoy these salted caramel sugar cookies as much as we all do. Now it’s time to visit Inspired by Charm for his Apple Cinnamon Cookie Bars. Seriously. You can find all of my recipes here.
If you love these Salted Caramel Sugar Cookies, You’ll Also Love:
- Caramel Cheesecake Cookies
- Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Caramel Cream Cheese Bread
- Banana Cake with Salted Caramel Icing
Onto the recipe for Salted Caramel Sugar Cookies with printable recipe card:
Salted Caramel Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 c salted butter softened
- 3/4 c vegetable oil
- 1 1/4 c brown sugar packed
- 1 c powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 Tbsp water
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 6 c flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
ICING:
- icing
- 2 Tbsp butter softened
- 3 Tbsp milk
- 1/2 c brown sugar packed
- 1 c powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Combine butter, oil, sugars, water and vanilla until smooth.
- Add in eggs and mix until just combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda and cream of tartar.
- Gradually blend dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Refrigerate dough 30 minutes and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- On a lined cookie sheet, drop large {golf ball size} dough balls and press with a small greased glass, followed by a spoon to make a pool for the icing.
- Bake 8 minutes.
- For the icing:
- Cream butter, milk, sugars, vanilla and salt.
- Using a teaspoon, fill the baked sugar cookies.
Your cookies look beautiful, I’m just wondering where the caramel part comes in because they seems to be brown sugar cookies with a brown sugar frosting. Am I supposed to sprinkle salt over the frosting at the end to make it “salted caramel”?
I am going to put this cookie on my Christmas cookie list!
Hi I just have two questions about this recipe- in the icing part, it calls for 1/4 salt.. what is the measurement on this? And then do you add the salt in with step 8 in the icing?
Thanks! They look amazing! I want to try these!
I have the same question as Jen, I thought these were salted caramel cookies? The icing does not resemble salted caramel at all, and contains no salt…
The icing includes 4 ingredients I use in salted caramel and according to my friends and family, that’s exactly what the cookies taste like. I hope you enjoy them as well!
Do you think I could substitute coconut oil for the veg oil?
I’m not sure – I don’t bake with coconut oil, sorry
Lisa, I used coconut coil in my cookies and they turned out great. I also had to substitute gluten free flour and vegan butter to meet my husband’s dietary restrictions. We served them this weekend at a party and everyone loved them and had no idea the difference!
DELICIOUS! I happened to have some coarse salt on hand so I sprinkled a little on the tops! These cookies are to die for! Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks SO much for sharing, Mary! You have to try my melt in your mouth sugar cookies, too. Happy Holidays!
These look beautiful, and I bet they taste great. I want to try them with chai spices, too, as I think that would be a nice variation. I think we just found our Christmas cookie!!! Thanks so much for posting : )
Thanks, Melissa, that sounds like a fun twist. Happy Holidays!
Hi Julie,
We made your cookies this weekend and couldn’t create the icing as yours appeared. We followed the steps however they were very gritty even after blending for an extended period of time. We ended up cooking on the stove and drizzling over top and it worked really well and still very tasty.
Any ideas what we could be doing wrong?
Did you try this tip included in my post? “Finally, I melt the icing in a measuring cup so that it can easily pour into the cookie pool and harden just perfect”
What size balls ? oneTablespoon?
Large golf ball size. Enjoy!
How much salt is in the icing? 1/4 what? I can’t wait to try these out for my work cookie exchange!
My apologies – an optional teaspoon of salt.
How many dozen does this batch make?
3 dozen’ish depending on the size dough balls you make. Enjoy!
I got 83 cookies
Would it be ok to refrigerate the dough over night?
Sure! It will just have to thaw until moldable. Keep it in an airtight container for the best results.
Hoping for a quick answer here – is the dough suppost to be dry and crumbly ?? It won’t even squish together as dough
No, it’s a slightly drier dough since it’s a sugar cookie, but easily moldable. Did you refrigerate for an extended period of time? If so, allow the dough to sit out until moldable. (And always keep it covered).
Do you wait for the cookies to cool before adding the frosting?
Thanks!
Yes, they don’t have to be completely cooled, just a few minutes so they set. Happy Holidays!
Hi Julie, when you say you melt the icing in a measuring cup, do you melt it in the microwave? If so, for how long (approx)?
Thanks!
Yes, just 10-15 seconds, until pourable.
I’m wondering if these would work if I flattened them out a bit and used the icing to cover them fully? Or are they too crumbly for that? I want to add red and green food coloring to the icing to make Christmas tree ornaments.
You can certainly do that. I don’t think they’d make great ornaments though. I have a colored salt dough ornament recipe though if you’d like!
Is there a trick to the icing? I can’t get it to harden at all. It’s super runny. More powdered sugar?
It will harden as it cools
Hi just found these and was wondering if the dough can be frozen at all? And if so then the directions for cooking would the same once they get back to room temperature? Thanks
I don’t recommend it on this particular dough – it would make it really hard to work with. You can always cut the recipe in half if you don’t want a large batch at once. Enjoy!
Loved these not-too-sweet cookies!
The only sugar cookie I’ve ever liked!
Hi
Is the icing beaten or melted in the microwave
Beaten, enjoy!
6 cups of flour for 36 cookies? That seems like an awful lot of flour?
You won’t regret it! They’re sugar cookie style! Enjoy.
What a darling cookie!
OMG yum!!! I have a weakness for salted caramel and cookies so this is right up my alley!
These look SOOOOO good!
These are like the dream cookie. You had me at salted caramel!
These look incredible! These would disappear in our house!
Wow!! These look so perfect and delish!! Pinning for later!
Do you think there would be a problem making these cookies smaller? I understand I would adjust the bake time.
Not at all, you can use your finger to create a well for the icing. Enjoy!
Could not find the salt taste but bought mixed nuts lots a salt on them chopped them and added the salty mixed nuts on the top of cookies was very good … the cookies needed something!
Hello. This recipe looks gorgeous. Would you mind confirming that the C used when detailing the quantity for each ingredient is referring to a Cup, in that case are there are 6 Cups of flour in the recipe? Is a cup 4 1/2 ounces – so the recipe calls for 36 ones of flour? Thank you.
Correct!
Sorry, I never was good at Maths. The recipe calls for 27 0z flour? Thanks.
Me either! My new recipe card {coming next month} will convert it all for you. My apologies for the inconvenience. This will help: https://www.thekitchn.com/weight-conversions-for-flour-sugar-and-other-common-baking-ingredients-171316
I am making these cookies now for a party tonight. Can’t wait to see how they turn out! I have a comment about the recipe. It calls for 1 Cup of powdered sugar in the cookie dough part. I thought powdered sugar, that’s weird but then thought maybe it was a new way of making cookies so I added it. Then I saw the word “sugar” was highlighted so I clicked on it and it brought me to regular granulated sugar. I dumped it out and started over. I don’t know how much it would have changed the recipe or if it would have at all, maybe that is why one user couldn’t get the consistency that she wanted but I am glad I started over because the dough is really good! They’re going to be a hit!
Thank you for bringing that to my attention – it is in fact powdered sugar, but either will work. I have updated to clarify.
Oh my goodness! Best cookies ever! Made almost 3 dozen. Used dark brown sugar as well as dark brown vanilla so mine turned out darker than the recipe
Those cookies look so cute! I want to serve them with tea. I’m planning to have a tea party with my friends soon, and these cookies would be great for that occasion. Thanks for sharing, Julie!