These Oatmeal Butterscotch Salted Caramel Cookies, inspired by Hudson’s Cookies in Southern California, are irresistibly delicious. With their soft, chewy texture and the perfect balance of sweet and salty flavors, they’re not just a home run—they’re a grand slam!
Hudson’s Cookies
On a recent trip to visit my mom and sister in San Juan Capistrano, we stopped by Hudson’s Cookies and tried one of the most delicious cookies I’ve ever had. It was an Oatmeal Butterscotch Salted Caramel Cookie. Made with mini butterscotch morsels, a chewy center, and ribbons of caramel candy on top – it was so memorable, we went back the next day for more.
I knew immediately I wanted to recreate it or at least create something like it, and over the last couple weeks, I’ve worked my way through SEVEN versions of this cookie to create a copycat Hudson’s Cookies.
The good news? We got ourselves a real winner for a next-level oatmeal cookie recipe! It’s not identical to the Hudson’s cookie, but it’s close and it was a a huge hit with my family. In fact, Ryan declared it one of the best things I’ve ever made and his second favorite cookie of mine (first place for him are my Biscoff Sandwich Cookies). Here’s a clip of his review:
Oatmeal Butterscotch Salted Caramel Cookies
My goal, whenever I’m recreating something I’ve had at a restaurant or bakery, is to get the flavor and texture as close to the original as possible. So, a couple notes about the original cookie:
- First, they use mini butterscotch morsels (not something commonly found at the grocery store, unfortunately).
- Second, I could barely taste the oatmeal (I knew it was there, but it seemed to me they used quick-cooking oats because I could barely see oats in the cookie).
- Third, the caramel candy ribbon on top was utterly divine but as I talked to one of the bakers at Hudson’s, the way the caramel was made sounded a bit tricky for us every-day bakers.
Why am I telling you all this?
It plays a big part in how I developed my recipe and what you see below. Mini butterscotch morsels are hard to find at the grocery store. In fact, I could only find them in bulk on Amazon. Instead of using the mini morsels, I stuck with the regular size but I do highly suggest (if you can) that you use the Guittard butterscotch chips. The flavor is 10x better than the Nestle Toll House butterscotch morsels.
For oats, I used quick-cooking oats. These flakes are smaller than rolled oats and provide a texture more similar to the Hudson’s Cookies than rolled oats.
And for the caramel candy ribbon, I played around with making it according to the baker’s instructions but thought it was a little complicated, so I have a recipe and instructions for making the caramel pieces separately and adding them to the cookies after the cookies bake.
Also, in my 7th and final round of recipe testing, I added a little extra butter and browned the butter. GAME CHANGER. It really solidified our love of these cookies. These aren’t just your typical oatmeal butterscotch cookies, that’s for sure!
How to Brown Butter
Like I said, this element is a game changer to the cookies. If you’ve never browned butter before, it’s actually super simple, but make sure you don’t burn it. To brown butter, melt unsalted butter in a light-colored pan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. As it melts, it will foam, then turn golden brown with a nutty aroma; remove it from the heat immediately to prevent burning.
How to Make the Caramel Candy Pieces
The caramel candy pieces really take these cookies to the next level! To make the hard caramel (this isn’t like a caramel sauce), you’ll actually follow similar steps to my salted caramel but you won’t add very much heavy cream. In fact, we’re only adding a tablespoon. This gives us an extra minute or so to spread the caramel on silpat or parchment before it hardens.
As the sugar mixture is cooking, we want to keep an eye on it. You don’t need to stir it but watch for it to change color. You know it’s done cooking when it reaches a light brown, caramel color (about 350-360 F). As soon as it gets to that point, turn the heat off and add the cream, vanilla and salt while stirring with a spatula or wooden spoon.
Immediately pour the caramel onto the silpat mat or parchment paper and use spatula to spread it out as thin as you can. The caramel will begin to harden. Once it’s completely cooled and hard, you can break it into smaller bite-size pieces. These will go on the cookies after they bake.
Oatmeal Butterscotch Salted Caramel Cookies
Ingredients
For the Caramel Pieces
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the Cookies
- 1 1/4 cups unsalted butter cut into pieces
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups quick-cooking oats
- 12 oz bag butterscotch chips I highly recommend Guittard
Garnish
- Flakey salt
Instructions
For the Caramel
- Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
- Let the sugar mixture cook on medium heat, without stirring it. Stirring increases the chances of crystallization.
- Don’t go far, though. Once the sugar mixture starts changing color, the cooking process moves fast and we don’t want to burn it.
- When the mixture reaches a caramel color, about 350-360 F, turn off the heat and slowly add the cream while stirring the caramel. Stir in the vanilla and salt.
- Immediately pour the caramel on a silpat mat or parchment paper and use a spatula to spread it out as thin as you can. The caramel will begin to harden. Once it’s completely cooled and hard, you can break it into smaller bite-size pieces. These will go on the cookies after they bake.
For the Cookies.
- Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium size saucepan, add the butter (cutting into cubes beforehand helps the butter cook more evenly).
- Cook the butter over medium heat for a couple minutes to brown. You will hear the butter sizzle and then it will start to foam. When it gets to that point, use a wooden spoon or spatula to move the foam out of the way so you can see the butter changing color. You want to cook the butter so that it gets to a light brown and has brown specs. You’ll truly be able to smell when it’s done. It’s heavenly.
- Turn the heat off and let the melted butter cool slightly, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- In a medium-size mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
- In a medium size mixing bowl, combine the brown butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Mix until combine. You can do this with a stand mixer, a hand mixer, or even a wooden spoon because the butter is melted.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
- Stir in the flour mixture until no streaks of flour remain.
- Add the oats and the butterscotch chips and fold to combine.
- Using a large cookie scoop, make 3.5-ounce cookie dough balls. (If you make smaller cookies, just remember the baking time will decrease a little).
- I place all the pre-made cookie dough balls on one baking sheet and then freeze the dough for 15 minutes.
- Freezing the dough helps the butter set, which helps the cookies keep a little more shape and height as they bake.
- Once the dough is chilled, place 8 balls of dough on a baking sheet. I do three down the sides and two in the middle, so there’s plenty of room between them all.
- Bake for 7 to 8 minutes. The cookies will look slightly underdone on top. That’s okay.
- As soon as the cookies are out of the oven, place the caramel pieces in the center of the cookies. It’s okay if you push down on them a little. Load them up with caramel pieces and then sprinkle with flakey salt.
- Allow to cool completely (or at least 30 minutes) before eating so the cookie centers set a little.