If you like the sweet and salty combination of caramel, these caramel frosted sugar cookies are for you! A soft sugar cookie frosted in the most delicious caramel frosting. Serve chilled or at room temperature. They are heavenly!

You might also like these cookie recipes! Lemon bar cookies, our Texas sheet cake cookies, or our Cosmic Brownie cookies.

Watch our step by step video!

These caramel-frosted sugar cookies are absolutely decadent and delicious. The buttery caramel frosting takes them up a notch for sure. Frosted sugar cookies are my favorite kind of cookies, and switching up the frosting flavors is an easy way to elevate them.

Caramel Sugar Cookies

These cookies start with a snickerdoodle cookie (without being rolled in cinnamon and sugar). Snickerdoodles make the perfect base. They are sturdy enough to frost but super soft on the inside.

Cookie Ingredients

½ cup butter
½ cup shortening
1 ½ cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt

Cookie Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cream butter, shortening, and sugar with an electric hand mixer or stand mixer. Beat in eggs.
In a separate bowl whisk flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt together.
Combine flour mixture with butter mixture.
Scoop cookies, using a medium cookie scoop, onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. I usually bake 6 cookies per sheet.
Bake for 12 minutes.
Allow cookies to cool for 3 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.

Caramel Frosting

The caramel frosting is the same that I used for my caramel cinnamon rolls (that only take 90 minutes to make!). It's best to start the frosting before you begin making the cookie dough or make it while the cookies are baking and cooling since it needs a little time to cool. The butter and brown sugar are heated on the stove and boiled before adding milk and letting it cool back down to room temperature. Then powdered sugar is beat into the caramel mixture to create the perfect frosting consistency.

Caramel Frosting Ingredients

½ cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
¼ cup milk
2 ½ cups powdered sugar
5-6 teaspoons milk

Caramel Frosting Instructions

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium-low and allow the mixture to simmer, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes or until it looks amber in color and slightly frothy (watch my video to see what mine looked like). It may take more or less time, depending on different pans and stoves.
Add ¼ cup milk, stir, and bring the mixture back to a boil for one minute, stirring frequently.
Remove caramel from heat and allow to cool to room temperature (about 30 minutes). The mixture will thicken slightly as it stands.
Transfer cooled caramel to a mixing bowl. Beat in 2 ½ cups of powdered sugar and 5-6 teaspoons of milk into the caramel and mix until smooth and creamy.

Frost cooled cookies with caramel frosting. This recipe makes 28 cookies. Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 3-5 days.

Caramel Frosted Sugar Cookies Recipe