Caramel Apple Pie Cookies

   It's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada! 

   I love Thanksgiving! It welcomes in the wonderful fall weather our country offers us (I seriously love the fall weather here in this part of Ontario!), we get to enjoy The Rockton World's Fair, it gathers together family & friends, and we get to eat lots of amazing and delicious foods! 

   Way back in the summertime, my sister and I stopped at a store called "Almost Perfect" (or Almost Frozen as my Mom once called it!). It is a store that sells frozen, refrigerated and grocery foods, some name brands some brands of their own, & super low prices. I"m not getting paid for this rant, I just love the place! Anywho, when we were there in the summer they had bags of caramel bits for sale for a crazy good price! So, my sister and I both snatched some up with ideas in mind.
  
   Somehow though, I never got around to using mine! Oh, I've gone through (at least!) 5 KG of chocolate chips, but I just kept forgetting/not knowing when to use these caramel bits. Until it was the fall....then all I was thinking about was apples and caramel...then fate...cake mixes were on sale for 0.97, and I saw for the first time ever, a Spiced Cake Mix! Seriously, I haven't see them until now! But my brain went "yes!", and I knew what was happening....

Caramel Apple Pie Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 box of spiced cake mix
• 1 Tsp Cinnamon
• 1 Tsp All-Spice
• 2 Eggs
• 1/3 cup Oil  **I used melted and cooled slightly butter for these because I wanted that real butter taste (that you'd have in a pie crust)** Vegetable oil, light tasting olive oil, & coconut oil all work great too
  
• 1/2 Cup chopped dried apples
• 1/2 Cup caramel bits

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375 Degrees, and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper
2. Mix first 3 ingredients in a bowl, then stir in the chopped dried apple and caramel bits
3. Using a small Pampered Chef (or P.C. style) scoop, or just using 1 tablespoon, scoop the dough onto the cookie sheets, giving at least 2 inches between each cookie
4. Bake for 7-9 minutes, until lightly golden but not fully cooked. They will finish cooking a little as they cool and set
5. Let the tasty morsels cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before moving to a cooling rack

     Let's talk dollars and cents here for a moment.....I love to bake, I love to bake the "real" way (without a cake mix!), but let's break this down:

• Cake Mix-$0.97
• Dried apples, 1/2 Cup-approx. $1 ($3.99 for the whole bag)
• Caramel Bits, 1/2 Cup- (approx.) $0.50
• Eggs, 2-$0.40
•  Butter, 1/3 Cup- $0.66 ($3.99 for a 2cup butter block)

Total for (approx.) 24 cookies $ 3.53 (give or take, plus electricity for running the oven)

   All that and you're completely finished in 20-30 minutes (depending on how many cookie sheets you use at once, etc.) But for realz......this is unbeatable. Well, if they were actually magically good for you, that would be unbeatable....but let's not talk about that right now.... : )  

​    See why I love fall here?!? It's beautiful! 
​

   Alrighty, well, I hope all my fellow Canadians have a wonderful Thanksgiving, I hope you get to make some cookies, see some friends or family, or both, eat some wonderful food, and get to a fall fair if there is one near you!

   And remember to be thankful!  

​xo