Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies

I eat a lot of cookies and these are definitely some of the tastier, more addictive cookies I have made. I found the recipe from Scrambled Henfruit, so they deserve all the credit (and also for the cover picture since I am horrid at taking pictures). But this recipe must be shared! I have a couple alterations as well...  Enjoy :)

*sorry in advance for the poor picture quality, I wasn't originally going to document this but then did so with my phone because it looked so tasty*

• 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- 6 packets (I found this in my grocery store near the hot chocolate mixes.) The original recipe called for all 10 packets, but I found this too strong. I should probably be adding brown sugar to compensate but oh well...
• 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)

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Line cookie sheets with parchment. (You really need the parchment!)
2. In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.
3. 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.
4. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and mix well.
5. Gradually add flour mixture to butter/egg mixture. Mix until just combined.
6. 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.)
7. When you are ready to bake, unwrap your caramels.
8. Scoop out cookie dough ball about the size of a walnut. (I used a rounded cookie scoop-full. My scoop holds about a Tablespoon.)
9. 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. I found it worked better if you flatten the caramels first too.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. EAT THEM ALL!!!!