Chocolate and Salted-Caramel Cookies

It's 4:38 on Tuesday afternoon. I just went to grab one of these guys from the office kitchen, but they--all four dozen of them--are gone! G-O-N-E.

Jon and I had been thinking about doing a salt-topped cookie for a while, but it wasn't until one of my readers (Hi, Alicia!) emailed to ask me if I had ever done a salted/salty cookie that my wheels started turning again on that topic.

I've had salt-topped chocolates before, and the flavor is just delicious. The saltiness and the sweetness bounce off each other in your mouth. If you haven't tried this flavor combination, you must!

For this cookie, I stuck with my signature chocolate base that I also used in my Fake-Out-Eos. The next layer I wanted to add was caramel because I wanted not only a contrast of salty and sweet but also a contrast of crunchy and chewy. Caramel was the obvious choice. Plus: who (other than Mumma) doesn't like caramel? I decided to do a thumbprint cookie filled with caramel sauce and topped with a pinch of sea salt.

I ran out of my favorite caramel sauce and couldn't find a replacement at the grocery store, so I tried using a thinner caramel sauce that Jon found at Williams Sonoma. I filled the thumbprint holes with a 1/2 teaspoon of the caramel sauce, but as the cookies baked, the sauce got absorbed by the dough and disappeared.

I thought about it for a while and came up with a sure-fire fix: Rollos! These candies are the perfect caramel delivery system because the caramel itself is creamy and stays semi-soft at room temperature, and the chocolate coating prevents the caramel from "bleeding out" into the surrounding cookie dough. I used Rollos to great effect in my Girl Scout Samoa knockoffs, so I knew they would work here.

Push a Rollo into each dough ball and then top with a pinch of sea salt before baking. For a gooier caramel center, pinch the Rollos to crack the chocolate coating before pushing into the dough balls. (Remember to unwrap each candy!) Makes about 4 dozen.

Creamables	2 sticks butter 2 cups dark brown sugar 1/4 cup cocoa powder
Wet Ingredients	2 eggs 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla 2 tablespoons milk
Dry Ingredients	3 1/2 cups roughly ground Cocoa Pebbles cereal 2 1/2 cups oatmeal 1 1/2 cups flour 1/4 cup cocoa powder 2 1/2 ounces milk chocolate, microplaned 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, microplaned 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt
Filling	48 individual Rollo candies
Topping	1/4 cup sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. In your Kitchen Aid or a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients and then add to the creamables. Mix together until smooth.
4. In another large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.
5. Shape dough into balls—about 2 tablespoons each.
6. Push a Rollo candy into each dough ball.
7. Place Rollo-studded dough balls about 2 inches apart on Silpat- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
8. Top each dough ball with a pinch of sea salt.
   
9. Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let stand for 2 minutes. Then place cookies on wire racks to cool.

Comments

[renee]

Alright, so I finally churned these babies out. I tried Rolo's but I didnt have enough,

so I substituted with fleur de sal caramels from trader joes

Im not sure if i put too many oats in,, because they are a little oaty.. and is it 3 1/2 cups of SMASHED cocoa krispies? or pre smashed, 3 1/2 c.

Overall, my children like the regular caramels, and one son likes the rolos.. so i continued with what rolos I had left, and used the salted caramels from trader joes. Even though they were already "salted" they needed ALOT of salt..

so? did i do a good job?

[renee]

i have pictures on photobucket, ...? how does one add.

[Oatmeal Cookie Guy]

Hi, Renee. You've inspired to make these again! (I don't think I have a "Picturing" post for this recipe yet.) I smash/grind the Cocoa Pebbles first, *then* I measure them. I've only made these with Rolos...will have to try those Trader Joes salted caramels. (If not for the cookies then to snack on.)

As for photobucket...I don't know! Sorry... :-)

[Line]

Hi :) love your blog. Do you think that I can use Dulce de leche instead of Rolo's? We don't have them here in Denmark. Maybe just ad a little melted chocolate under the dulce de leche :)

[Oatmeal Cookie Guy]

Hi, Line. Thanks for writing in! Essentially, these are thumbprint cookies, so I think the idea of using dulce de leche instead of the candies is a good idea. Just poke a little indentation into the cookie balls and scoop in some dulce de leche--about a 1/2 teaspoon's worth. Then sprinkle on the sea salt and bake.

I haven't tried this myself, but it seems like it would work. My only concern is about the dulce de leche leaking out of or being absorbed by the cookies while they bake. I guess it all depends on how thick your dulce de leche is. This is where your idea of using a little melted chocolate underneath the caramel could come in. If your dulce de leche is a little runny, the melted chocolate could provide a good foundation to keep the sauce from leaking out or being absorbed by the cookie. You wouldn't need much melted chocolate--just a light coating. If you're feeling fancy, you could even use a pastry brush to apply a thin, light coating of chocolate to the thumbprints before adding the dulce de leche. That should work!

The other night when I was chomping away at the movies, I thought of another candy that could be a Rolo stand-in. They're similar to Rolos--caramel centers coated in chocolate--but are much denser and chewier. And then I thought of how many dental problems a denser, chewier caramel center to these cookies could cause. So...I'm not recommending that other candy. :-)