Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Pies with Salted Caramel Buttercream

I have a new addiction.  Yes, I know I might have been late to the party to realize how amazing salted caramel is.  I think I might have been a little intimidated by making caramel sauce in the first place to attempt anything.  Then, it came to me.  I had a craving for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies- alright, so maybe I had a craving for the dough…but a craving is a craving, one of which you should never give in to when trying to lose baby weight.  However, I did remind myself that I am nowhere near the shape I used to be in pre baby (maybe 3 years before baby).  I played 2 long tennis (singles) matches.  Now I can barely walk.

Back to the salted caramel.  Really, I am a huge fan of anything that is both salty and sweet.  It usually means what I am eating is super healthy.  *Note sarcasm.  Either way…this flavor combo is super delectible.  The buttercream in the middle makes for a very rich and decadent cookie sandwhich.  As a bit of a side note, I did double the original caramel recipe that goes into the buttercream.  I only ended up using about 3/4 of it, then saving the rest of the caramel sauce for other treats.   Guess what, this weekend is a long weekend, so you have an extra day off so you can make these!

Whats your favorite salty and sweet recipe?

Again, just a reminder….be on the lookout over the next couple weeks for a new hosting site. Which means my RSS readers will have to resubscribe.  I will resubscribe my email readers, but you will need to look for the link to confirm again in your email.  Thanks for reading!
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Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Sandwiches w/ Salted Caramel Cream
Printable Recipe – OCC Pies

For the Cookies: Adapted from  My Kitchen Addiction
Cookie Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon  table salt
1 package high quality semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup Vanilla sugar (or raw sugar works too)

Caramel Buttercream Ingredients:
Adapted from Chow
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons water
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 sticks butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon fluer de sel or sea salt
1 cup powdered sugar

For the cookies:
In a large mixing bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars.  Add egg and mix until well combined.  Cream in the corn syrup and vanilla extract and blend until well incorporated.

In a separate medium bowl, combine the rest of the dry ingredients (Oats, flour, baking soda and salt) with a whisk.  Add to the butter mixture and beat until combined.  Mix in chocolate chips.  Refrigerate dough until firm (at least 30 min, I refrigerated overnight).

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 F and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Place the Vanilla sugar in a small bowl.  Break off about 1 ½ tbsp size pieces of the dough and roll into a ball.  Roll in vanilla sugar then slightly flatten with the palm of your hand on the cookie sheet. 

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are just golden and puffed up(don’t over bake or the cookies will not be as soft and chewy). Cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Frosting Directions:
Combine water and sugar in medium saucepan.  Bring to boil over medium-high heat.    Cook leaving caramel undisturbed until caramel is a dark amber color.  Remove from heat and immediately but slowly add in the cream while stirring with a wooden spoon until smooth (might take a while).  Set aside and allow to cool completely. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and salt on high speed until fluffy.  Reduce speed to low and add in powdered sugar until  well incorporated then turn to high and beat until light and fluffy.  Slow mixer to low-medium speed and slowly drizzle ¾ of caramel sauce.  Beat frosting on high speed until flight and fluffy and thoroughly incorporated.  Add additional powdered sugar if too runny.

To assemble:
Place all cookies bottom up and spoon or pipe the frosting onto one of the cookies.  The frosting will be a little gooey so don’t over do it.  Place other cookie and make a sandwich out of it.  Put cookies in the refrigerator until ready to eat.  When ready to eat, set out 15 minutes prior to eating.