If you keep up with my blog even slightly, you know I have a thing for salted caramel. Shameful, but true. We’re in a relationship. It’s an addictive kind of relationship. Something about the salty and sweet combination just gets me every time. Around Christmas I seem to be driven to things that have the salty sweet combo…such as “Christmas Crack”. That stuff is dangerous in my house, for me. :-). When I heard it was time for the annual Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, I knew what I had to do. I wanted to share my love of salty and sweet with my recipients! It was perfect because all 3 were nut allergies, and these cookies are completely nut free!
If you haven’t heard of the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap then let me fill you in on it’s greatness. It’s a HUGE cookie swap and hundreds of food bloggers participate. You are assigned 3 other bloggers to send your favorite (or new) holiday cookies to! It’s so much fun to go to your mailbox and get cookies amidst all of the beautiful Christmas cards and influx of presents you bought online (ok let’s be real here, at that point I had hardly been doing any Christmas shopping…slacker!). Let me just tell you in case you didn’t know, food bloggers can bake!
Aside from the cookies, the swap raises funds for the Childhood Cancer Foundation, which is near and dear to my heart! It is called Cookies for Kids Cancer. Please go check it out and if you feel it in your heart to donate, please do!
These thumbprint cookies are really a lot of fun, and even your kids can help out with those tiny thumbs of theirs. I am all about having fun in the kitchen with your family, especially around the holidays! Your base cookie is a delicious and soft butter cookie and it’s filled with gooey and decadent salted caramel. Then to top it off you drizzle dark chocolate on them. These are a few of my favorite things!
I really hope you enjoy these! Make sure to go check out some of the other recipes out there from the Cookie Swap! #FBCookieSwap I’ll post back here and update once the links to all the recipes have been gathered. It’s always fun to go and get new ideas for holiday cookies.
Ingredients
- Cookies
- ⅔ cup butter, softened
- ½ cup sugar (extra for rolling cookies)
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- Salted Caramel
- ⅓ cup firmly packed brown sugar
- ¼ cup salted butter
- 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- Fleur De Sel or Sea Salt
- Chocolate Drizzle:
- 1/2 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips
- 1/2 TBSP Crisco or Butter
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attached on medium speed mix together butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add in the flour and mix on low speed until combined. Remove bowl from mixer and pour about 1/2 cup of sugar into a small bowl on the side. Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using your hands, roll dough into 1.5 inch balls and roll in sugar. Place about 2 inches apart on cookies sheet and make an indentation in the middle of the cookie using your thumb. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 375. Remove cookies from refrigerator and place immediately into the oven. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes. When you take the cookies out of the oven, you might need to press down slightly in the middle again to allow enough caramel to stay in the middle of the cookies. Place cookie sheet on cooling rack and allow to cool completely on cookie sheet.
- While cookies are cooling, make the caramel. Melt butter and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook down completely while whisking constantly until it begins to bubble. Continue to whisk while mixture cooks for 1 minute. Remove saucepan from heat and slowly whisk in the whipping cream. Set aside and allow caramel to cool off for 15 minutes.
- Once caramel has cooled, using a spoon pour caramel sauce into middle of each cookie. Allow it to set for about 5 minutes.
- In a microwave safe bowl, heat chocolate and crisco for 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each 30 seconds until chocolate is smooth. Using a spoon, drizzle chocolate over tops of cookies, and finish off with sea salt or fluer de sel.
- Makes a dozen cookies