Caramel Macaroon Thumbprint Cookies

Or, what I wish Caramel deLites were.

Tea for two, and two for tea...

These cookies are almost candy. And they're made especially easy by the purchase of dulce de leche, a confection of boiled sweetened condensed milk sent by the gods. It's in a can, right next to the sweetened condensed milk, and for basically no extra charge they caramelize it for you.

You make basic coconut macaroons and form into disks, except after baking you push a little well into the center and fill it with delicious dulce de leche. A drizzle of chocolate seals the deal and will make you the most popular kid in high school.

If you've never made macaroons, this is a great chance to try. They're not too tricky, and the ingredient list is short. You start with egg whites, sugar, and flavorings (salt and vanilla), and whisk it until frothy. Then just dump in the coconut, shape, and bake!

Of course, if you're looking for extra credit, extra flavor, or extra fanciness, you can lightly toast the coconut before mixing it in. A billion points extra credit, as one of my professors likes to say.

Also pictured: "guard" dog Sally, in the background, watching for intruders

Whatever adventure you pick, these are quick cookies that look fancy. They're chewy and sweet and sticky and everything wonderful. Make a batch, make some friends!

Caramel Macaroon Thumbprint Cookies
Yield: About 24 cookies

Ingredients:

• 3 cups sweetened, shredded coconut
• 4 large egg whites
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 can dulce de leche (available by the sweetened condensed milk or in the hispanic foods section)
• 4 oz dark chocolate, broken into pieces

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper, silicone baking sheets, or foil and nonstick spray.
2. On one of the baking sheets, put coconut. Toast in the oven 5-7 minutes, or until just starting to color around the edges. Let cool slightly.
3. In a large bowl, combine egg whites, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Whisk until frothy and completely combined. Add coconut and stir to combine. If it seems like there's a lot of extra liquid, add some more coconut (I didn't do this and some of mine were too soppy) until the mixture doesn't have extra liquid in the bowl.
4. Scoop by heaping tablespoons onto prepared baking sheets. Flatten with the bottom of a glass (dipping your hands and the glass in water help keep them from sticking) and shape into nice round disks.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown around the edges. Immediately after taking out of the oven, use two small spoons or your thumb to press an indentation in the middle of each cookie.
6. Melt about half a cup of dulce de leche in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave for about 30 seconds, then spoon into the divots. I didn't do this but I wish I had!
7. Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second bursts. Use a fork to drizzle over cookies.
8. Serve with tea or as dessert! Cookies keep stored in an airtight container for 4 or 5 days, but they sure didn't last that long in my house.

Inspired by Bakers Royale, recipe from the Kitchn. 

Millionaire Shortbread

Happy Fourth of July!

Here's to food and family and fireworks.

I actually made these a couple of weeks ago, and they were the first thing I brought in to work. Food is universal--everyone eats, and most people like sweets!--so it was a great way to meet more people and share something enjoyable in the middle of the work day.

Though I brought them in when I arrived that morning, I didn't announce their presence until 2 o'clock or so. You gotta wait until the hunger and fatigue strikes, then BAM! make some friends! They're a layer of shortbread, followed by a dulce de leche-like caramel filling, and a chocolate ganache on top.


Anyway, everyone raved. And people were super impressed with the diamond cutting pattern.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret: it takes the same amount of effort as cutting regular squares.

But people think they're fancier. Just like spreading sauce artfully on a plate, or swirling frosting on a cake. Food psychology is almost as cool as food science!

Each layer is simple to make, so though there are three, there's not a ton of waiting between steps. The whole shebang took me about an hour, or a bit over. The original recipe calls for cooking the caramel to a precise temperature, but I did it by look and feel and it still turned out delicious. Make these...and revel in sinking your teeth into something decadent, sweet, and beautiful!

Millionaire Shortbread
Yield: as many diamonds as you can cut! (9x9 inch pan--I split between two smaller pans with similar area)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup dark brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon ice water
• 1 egg yolk

• 1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk
• ½ cup dark brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons Lyle's Golden Syrup (or dark corn syrup, or honey, or agave...)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream

Method:

1. For the crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a 9x9 inch baking pan with slings of aluminum foil (greased) or parchment paper.
2. Whisk flour, brown sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a large bowl. Add butter, then cut in with a pastry cutter, two forks, two knives, or however your soul tells you is right. I like to grate frozen butter on the biggest holes of a box grater and then fluff everything together!
3. Add ice water and egg and mix with a fork until the dough starts to come together in clumps. Press into the pan and bake 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
4. While the shortbread is baking, get the caramel ingredients ready. Dump everything except the vanilla together in a medium saucepan. When the shortbread has about 5 minutes left, turn on the stove to medium heat and whisk while the sugar dissolves and the caramel cooks. Let it cook until the mixture starts to boil around the edges, then keep whisking constantly until the caramel is thick and browning (you'll feel it get thicker). Stir in vanilla extract, then pour over the shortbread.
5. Let the shortbread and caramel cool for about 15 minutes, then microwave the chocolate and cream together for 30 second bursts, until the chocolate is melted. Stir to combine, then spread over the caramel. 
6. Put the pan in the fridge to set, at least an hour, and then pull out by the foil sling and cut as desired (I suggest diamonds!). Serve and impress, eat and delight!
7. Store in the fridge for up to a week.

From Brown Eyed Baker

Cinnamon Caramel Pinwheels

Mmmmmm. I'm home for Thanksgiving! With everyone home and an amazingly well stocked kitchen and a post-college wind-down cold Ugh. I've basically lost my voice, but I can still bake as long as I wash my hands all the time. And no coughing or sneezing.

But listen up, y'all, 'cause these pinwheels are poppin'. A thick, buttery, brown sugar caramel sauce envelops the bottom (and later becomes the top) of a pan of light, fluffy, quick-baking, biscuit-dough cinnamon rolls. No separate glaze to make, just melt it together in the microwave and dump in the pan before the rolls go in.

This is the only picture of the finished rolls that I could, with a good conscience, show you. The others look like a pile of brains.

There are a lot of ingredients in this recipe that you might not keep in stock. Buttermilk, sour cream, and cake flour. Luckily, these are easily substituted for and the results were great. I used greek yogurt for the sour cream (not for health--there's so much butter in these it wouldn't make much of a difference--but because it's what we had). One Fage is a cup, which is exactly what this recipe calls for!
I also used some milk and a squeeze of lemon juice for the buttermilk, and flour with a teaspoon of corn starch for the cake flour.

Soft soft dough with warm, chewy caramel soaked in. Sweet sticky rolls for a decadent breakfast!

Cinnamon Caramel Pinwheels
yield: 9 rolls

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

• 2 cups minus 1 tbsp all-purpose flour 
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup sour cream or greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup buttermilk (or just shy of a 1/4 cup milk plus a squeeze of lemon juice)

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon (you could probably use more, they weren't that strong with this amount)
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Method:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degress and put a rack in the middle. Make a parchment paper round to fit in the bottom of a circular cake pan, then grease the whole thing with spray. 
2.  Put honey, butter, and brown sugar in a microwaveable bowl or measuring cup and microwave until melted and easy to stir. Stir to combine, pour this glaze in bottom of prepared pan. Rinse this bowl (we'll use it soon).
3.  Sift together flour, cornstarch, 1 tbsp sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt (Note: kosher salt is much less dense than table salt, so use less than the recommended 1/2 tsp if using normal table salt!). In the same bowl in which you stirred together the glaze, mix 6 tbsp melted butter, the sour cream or yogurt, and the buttermilk or substitution. 
4.  Put half of the flour mixture aside in an extra bowl, then add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix gently to combine. Then, add in the remaining flour mixture, and mix (hands help here) to form a shaggy dough. Dump out on a clean counter and knead a few times until it comes together.
5.  In a small bowl, mix 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Press the dough out approximately into a 12x9" rectangle and brush with the 1 tbsp melted butter, leaving 1 inch on one of the long edges for sealing the dough. Sprinkle the butter completely with cinnamon sugar and roll up the dough, starting at the edge that doesn't have the 1 inch margin. Roll as tight as possible, and seal by pinching the dough together at the end. 
6.  Cut dough into 9 pieces (about equal) and lay in pan with two rolls in the middle and seven rolls around the perimeter. Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden and firm to the touch. Let rest 5 minutes, then flip onto a serving plate and remove the parchment. Serve warm!

Recipe from Fast Breads, via Serious Eats.