It’s certainly a mouthful of a cookie title, but there is a merger of so many flavors in every bite. My husband and I have become devoted fans of Jacobsen’s Salt Company. I can find some of the salts in certain markets, but you can also order online. They have a large variety of salts and seasonings that are just wonderful. Recently, we snuck in an order of their salty caramels. They are very buttery and delicious and I just couldn’t resist creating a recipe. I was inspired by the snickerdoodle recipe posted on their site, so I adapted these caramel cookies from that recipe. I urge you to read through the recipe first, before you start your cooking (something I am guilty of not doing). When working with these buttery caramels, you have to anticipate that they will be gooey when baked. Be sure to refrigerate dough before baking and try to wrap as much dough around the caramel bits, so the dough contains some of the leakage of the caramel during the baking process. And definitely line your baking sheet with parchment paper.

Yield: about 24 large cookies

Ingredients:

cookies:

  • 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ tsp. kosher salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/4 cup malted milk powder
  • 1 ¼ light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 12 Jacobsen salty caramels, sliced in half
  • 1 1/2 cups milk chocolate baking chips (I love ghiradelli large baking chips)

topping:

  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • Jacobsen’s flaky sea salt for sprinkling

Directions:

Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside. Heat a medium saucepan on low along with malted milk powder and whisk frequently as the butter starts to foam on top and then golden brown bits start to form at the bottom of your pan. The butter and malted milk will develop a nutty aroma and will have toasted milk bits at the bottom. Watch the butter carefully to avoid burning. Remove from heat and transfer to your mixing bowl and allow to cool for about 30 minutes. Once the butter combination is at room temperature, use the standing mixer and add sugars beating until smooth. Beat in egg, egg yolk and vanilla until combined. Then add flour mixture. Mix in the dry ingredients until just combined and then add the chocolate chips until distributed evenly through the dough. Allow the dough to chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line your cookie sheets with parchment paper. Mix ingredients for topping together in a small bowl and set aside.

Take about 2 tablespoons of dough in your hand, place half a caramel in the center of your cookie then roll the dough in the palm of your hand with the caramel in the center so it’s covered by cookie batter. Roll the cookie in the cinnamon sugar mixture and place on your prepared cookie sheet about 2 inches apart from one another.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes. Cookies should be golden on top and and just baked through. Remove from oven and sprinkle cookies immediately with flaky sea salt. Once cookies are cool enough to handle, transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy!