A Sweet Treat With A Surprise On The Inside!
There has been this bag of caramels languishing in my pantry for a few weeks. I originally bought them to make caramel apples with, but surprise, surprise, all of the apples were eaten before I got around to dipping them into melted caramel. How unfortunate.
With the Great Apple Depletion of Fall 2018 a raw memory in the forefront of our thoughts, it was no surprise that my mind floated over the existence of the caramels in the cupboard. As my nephews are dropping in from college for a weekend visit, I knew that I wanted to make them a culinary confection of the welcome to my house kind, and spent a bit of time today pondering what I was going to craft the two visitors for a treat.
It was as I was on the roof of my travel trailer spraying glide out gasket lubricant that inspiration struck me. You see, I don't buy cream cheese in the little packages at the store. Not only are those 8 ounce blocks over priced, but I also tend to need at least 48 ounces of cream cheese in one day around these parts. The restaurant supply store sells cream cheese blocks in three pound blocks at a far more reasonable price. Now we're logging!!
I came in from my job on the trailer roof and bucked an 8 ounce hunk off of my cream cheese log. It's always good to let cream cheese soften to room temperature before whipping it into things. A couple of hours later I found myself throwing some cream cheese, butter, sugar and vanilla into a mixing bowl.
After I whipped that conglomeration into a creamy suspension, I added a couple cups of flour, and mixed up a nice, simple little dough.
Next I rolled double portion sized cookie dough balls, and poked a hole in each ball. Why do this you might be wondering? Well, I stuck a caramel into each one of these holes and rolled the cookie dough back into a nice ball again.
Opening caramels annoys me, but children always want to eat a few of the treats, so I exchanged a few caramels for some adolescent caramel wrapper opening labor. The trade was totally worth it!
Now, these cookies need to be baked on parchment paper or silicon mats. I have both, but as my daughter was the last to put my mats away, I ended up using parchment paper. You want to bake the cookies for twelve minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Then you get to have a bit of fun! By fun I mean that you get to grease the bottom of a glass, take the cookies out of the oven, press the cookie dough balls with the greased glass twisting slightly in a circular motion, and then sprinkle a little sea salt onto the cookies before returning them to the oven. Don't press your cookies too hard, else a caramel catastrophe will occur.
Next, I popped the cookies back into the oven for about 3 more minutes, removed them, salivated excessively while waiting for them to cool enough to eat, and tested their tastiness out by offering them to my son. He was eating his cookie in too fast a way to give me too much in the way of feedback, but I must admit the yum grunts he emanated seemed to project a positive opinion of the cookies.
Now, I am going to go put on fuzzy fleece jammies and grab a plate full of cookies to share with my imminently arriving nephews. Good night to you all!!!
Caramel Cheesecake Cookies
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 bag caramelsCream together cream cheese, butter, sugar, and vanilla until super fluffy.
Gradually beat in the flour, a little bit at a time.
Grab a double portion of dough out (about a Tablespoon), roll into a ball, punch a hole to the middle, insert a caramel, and then roll back into a ball.
Place cookie dough balls onto a parchment or silicon mat lined cookie sheet and bake in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for twelve minutes.
Remove cookies from oven, and using a greased glass, press cookies slightly using a circular motion. Sprinkle with sea salt and return to oven for 3-4 more minutes.
Take cookies out of the oven and let cool for a bit before eating. These cookies are best served warm, so if they have cooled off just pop one into the microwave for ten seconds before eating (or warm in the oven).
And as sometimes when I am not being lazy, all of the images were taken on my Canon Rebel digital camera.
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