Chocolate Caramel Sandwiches
I made these cookies a month ago (or more?) but I never posted the recipe. It’s from my Food & Wine 2009 cookbook and they are well worth the effort! They are somewhat time consuming since there are three separate elements to the cookies. The first time I made them, I didn’t boil my caramel long enough which is why they look so ooey gooey. They were still delish but the second time I made them they were much easier to bag and give to people because they were more solid, like an Oreo. I also opted out of the chocolate glaze just because I saw my caramel wasn’t going to stay in line. This recipe calls for some cookie cutters that I didn’t have; I used the cover from a spice jar to cut the circle shapes out of caramel. Use whatever you can find!
Dough:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 c sugar
1 large egg at room temp
1 1/2 c plus 2 T all purpose flour
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar at medium speed until creamy and fluffy. (If you have a paddle attachment on a standing mixer, use it.). Beat in the egg. Sift the cocoa, flour and salt into the bowl and beat at low speed until the dough comes together, about 2 minutes. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and kneed it a few times. Flatten the dough into two disks, wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll out each disk between two sheets of plastic wrap to 1/4 inch thickness. Using a circle shaped ring mold, cookie cutter or any other thing you can find that is 1 1/2 – 1 3/4 inch in diameter, stamp out as many circles as you can and then re-roll the scraps out and cut some more. Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes, just until puffed and set. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets.
Caramel:
2 1/4 c sugar
1 3/4 c heavy cream
1/3 c honey
1 T light corn syrup
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out
4 T unsalted butter, softened
Oil the bottom and sides of a 9 inch square cake pan and line the bottom with a sheet of wax paper long enough to reach 2 inches up two sides of the pan. In a large saucepan, stir together the sugar, cream, honey, corn syrup and vanilla seeds. Bring to a boil. Set a candy thermometer into the pan, careful not to let the tip touch the bottom or sides of the pan, and cook over medium high heat. Stir occasionally until it reaches 250 degrees. Remove from the heat (remove thermometer too) immediately and stir in the butter. Pour the caramel into the prepared cake pan and let cool for 45 minutes.
Lift the caramel out of the pan by using the wax paper like handles. Using a slightly smaller cookie cutter (1/2 – 1/4 inch smaller will work) stamp out as many rounds as you have for each set of two cookies. If you have 40 cookies you need 20 caramel rounds (duh). Sandwich a caramel in between two cookies and press gently so that the caramel squishes out to the edge of the cookies.
Chocolate Glaze:
12 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 T unsalted butter
Melt the chocolate and butter over a double boiler. Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Dip the cookies halfway into the glaze and allow any excess to drip back into the pot. Set the cookies on the wax paper and refrigerate for 20 minutes just until set.
Done!
Eat More Plants. 
2 Responses to “Chocolate Caramel Sandwiches”
These oozy cookies loo delicious! The combination of chocolate and caramel – divine!
Are you kidding me? These look too good to be true!