This caramel cookie recipe is from my Italian grandma's 1932 tin recipe file. And it just happens to be simple drop cookie recipes! I will say you must put the effort into making the frosting. Not that the cookie itself is awful with out it. But it adds to caramel cookie flavor.

I was kinda surprised my grandma's recipe called for sour cream in all things - a caramel cookie. But it flavors well. And typically Italian - there are ground nuts called for in this recipe. Heaven forbid we don't put ground nuts in our desserts!

I had my family sample two different frosting's on this cookie. And, I stuck with the original frosting penned in my grandma's beautiful handwriting. It's the basic butter frosting listed below.

This caramel cookie recipe is not a long chewing type cookie you would associate with the word "caramel", but it's a soft cookie with nutty overtones and a brown sugar flavor.

Yeah. I actually hate shortening - BUT out of respect to my grandma, I made this the way she wrote it.

A trick to baking with butter and not getting frisbees? Chill the dough so it's cold. Drop the cold dough on a cookie sheet. It works!

Not a whole lot. But if you cook vegan I know shortening is a major part of vegan recipes. Here's some:

You "can" use pecans. We just don't use them in Italian dessert recipes. Walnuts and almonds are the most popular nuts in our recipes. But these will turn out fine if you do use pecans.

Not sure what it would taste like with out it. To me, it really adds a nice flavor.