Chewy Gooey Caramel Cookies

I created these yesterday while being caught in a bind when I realized I was out of brown sugar half way through making another cookie recipe that I had already planned on making changes to.

Apparently molasses is a great substitute for brown sugar when you are out, but I didn't have that either. So...I got creative and used two different ice cream toppings and WOW it was a good decision. My guests couldn't stop saying how delicious these cookies were.

The lesson to be learned here...whenever you are out of ingredients don't let that stop you. Get creative and use your brain - usually you can end up making something even tastier than the original recipe!

Chewy Gooey Caramel Cookies

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup of Smucker's Pumpkin Pie Spice desert topping (It's a limited edition - 88 cents at Walmart)
• 1/4 cup Hershey's Caramel Syrup ice cream topping
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup cooking oil
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 bag of Hershey's semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 small bag of chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with electric mixer on high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, desert toppings, baking soda and salt. Mix until blended. Beat in eggs, oil and vanilla. Beat in flour a cup at a time. Stir in walnuts and chocolate chips.

Shape dough into 1 -1/2 inch balls. Place balls on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 1 sheet at a time for 8-10 minutes or until golden. 9 minutes in my oven is perfect. Cool for 2 minutes and serve.