Caramel has become a new obsession recently (not in terms of eating – that was already an obsession – but in terms of making, particularly in making homemade caramel sauces). It took a while, but after trying several different methods and ingredient combinations I’m now set with a go-to caramel sauce recipe that is perfect for all caramel sauce needs. Make thicker or thinner depending on use and it’s perfect as an ice cream topping, cookie or cake filling, or however your heart desires, really. It can be salted or unsalted, whatever strikes your fancy. In my household, we’re big fans of the salted caramel. It doesn’t (as I’d originally feared it would) make a dessert salty instead of sweet (which would be weird and just plain wrong), but enhances the flavors of whatever it’s paired with. It’s difficult to describe to someone who hasn’t tried it before. Suffice it to say I believe everyone should give salted caramel a go, because it’s amazing.
Depending on your level of love for salted caramel, you can salt just the caramel sauce or salt the sauce as well as sprinkle some additional sea salt on top of the cookies. Personally, I love the few crystals of salt on top, but do whatever you’re comfortable with. Honestly, these cookies are amazing regardless of the quantity of salt in the caramel. You could certainly make them with regular caramel sauce instead if you can’t have the extra salt in your diet or (gasp) are just not that into the salted caramel thing.
As for the caramel sauce… I have a love-hate relationship with homemade. I love when it works with a perfectly smooth consistency and gives me a sense of accomplishment. I hate when (which happens more often than I’d like) something throws it off and not only is the end product not a usable caramel sauce but now I have to re-make it (either risking it again homemade-style or buying packaged caramels). This delays the cookie filling and eating, which is all kinds of not ok.
So with that said, honestly feel free to melt down packaged caramels with heavy cream, which guarantees success, and call it a day. Truth be told, in the end the sauce tastes the same (to me, anyway) whether it’s homemade or made from melting down packaged caramels.
If you are going to try the homemade (meaning, in particular, my recipe below, since depending on recipe certain things might be different), there are some crucial components to yield a happy ending:
- Have all of your ingredients and materials ready and next to the stove before you turn on the burner.
- Don’t scrape down the sides of the pan when the sugar crystals form (if you do, then you will end up with a sauce that has an undesirable crystallized texture). Instead, use a wet pastry brush to wipe the inside of the pan.
- Make sure the heat of the burner never goes above medium. Because, caramel science. If you know your stove is an over-achiever and medium on your stove equates to medium-high in the real world, adjust accordingly. Never go above real world medium heat level.
- “To stir or not to stir” depends on the recipe and must be strictly adhered to (again, it affects whether the caramel ends up with a crystallized texture). With my recipe, there are times you need to stir and other times you need to just say no.
So to summarize, caramel sauce from scratch is, in theory, a fairly simple thing to make. In practice, however, it can end with a pot full of failure and you crying on the floor of the kitchen. The most important thing to take away here though is that these cookies are divine. They have a great blend of textures, with the soft cookie, crunchy pecan pieces and smooth caramel, and flavors, combining sweet and salty to create cookie perfection. However you choose to make your caramel, they will be delicious and devoured by everyone who is lucky enough to get some of them.
Salted Caramel-Filled Turtle Cookies
Ingredients
For Cookies:
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I prefer Hershey Special Dark for these)
- 1 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (softened)
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar (packed)
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 large egg whites (separate 2 eggs, use 1 yolk for the cookies, toss the other yolk and reserve the whites in a small covered dish in the refrigerator to be used later in recipe)
- 1+1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp. buttermilk (see substitutions for buttermilk here if you don't have buttermilk on hand)
- 1+1/2 cups chopped pecans
For Salted Caramel Sauce:
(see recipe notes at end of recipe to melt down packaged caramels instead)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter (cut into 6 pieces)
- 1/2 cup whipping cream/heavy cream (must be whipping cream/heavy cream! Not 1/2 and 1/2)
- 1 tsp. finely crushed sea salt (more or less, depending on taste preference. Needs to be finely crushed or it will not dissolve. I learned the hard way)
- 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
For Presentation:
- 4 oz milk chocolate chips (or semi-sweet, whichever you prefer)
- 1+1/2 tsp. vegetable shortening
- large chunks of sea salt (optional)
Instructions
For Cookies:
- Whisk the cocoa powder, flour and salt in a small mixing bowl until thoroughly combined. Set aside.
- Whip the butter and both sugars on medium-high speed in the bowl of an electric stand fitted with the paddle attachment until pale and fluffy (you'll probably need to stop a few times to scrape down the sides of the bowl in order for it to get pale and fluffy).
- Add the egg yolk, vanilla extract and buttermilk and mix until thoroughly blended (you'll need to stop once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl).
Note: Mixture will look weird and as if it's curdling at first. Just scrape the sides of the bowl and keep mixing and it will all mix together fine. - With the mixer on low speed, slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix just until everything is combined (do not overmix).
- Cover the bowl with the dough and refrigerate for an hour, until somewhat firm (see notes below if making more than an hour ahead).
- When you're ready to make the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Remove the reserved egg whites and whisk diligently until they are frothy. Set aside.
- Place the finely chopped pecans in a small, shallow bowl.
- Scoop and shape the cookie dough into ~1" balls. Taking one at a time, first drop into the egg whites, roll around to thoroughly coat, then drop into the pecans, rolling and pressing the pecans lightly into the dough, until thoroughly coated.
- Place the completed, rolled cookie dough balls onto parchment-lined baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Using the back of a small measuring spoon or your thumb, make indentations in the center of each cookie (Keep in mind, the wider and deeper the indentation, the more caramel will fit in!).
- Bake cookies in the preheated oven for ~11-12 minutes. Remove and immediately, using the back of the measuring spoon or your thumb, push down on the indentations of each cookie (the dough will have baked up a bit in the center during baking and you will want lots of space for caramel).
- Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire cooling racks and allow to cool completely.
For Salted Caramel Sauce:
- *See notes below if you would rather melt down packaged caramels to make a sauce which honestly tastes just as good and if you've never made homemade caramel is probably a much better option.*
- Begin by gathering everything, and I do mean everything, that you will need and place it next to the stove. This includes all of your ingredients (with butter already in pieces) as well as utensils. I usually have a couple of heat-resistant silicone spatulas and a pastry brush sitting in water for use, if needed, during cooking.
- Place the sugar in a medium-sized nonstick saucepan over medium heat (very important that the heat be no higher than medium) and heat, stirring constantly with a heat-resistant spatula, for ~12 minutes until sugar completely breaks down into a dark amber-colored liquid and no longer looks grainy, being careful not to let it burn (seriously, stir nonstop. If you don't, the sugar will burn and it will be ruined).
Note #1: You'll feel like you're stirring forever with nothing happening but around the 8 minute mark it'll start forming some clumps and by 10 minutes it should be almost all clumps. Everything will go very fast from there on out.
Note #2: When the mixture is all liquid, toss the spatula you've been using into the sink (it will probably have some hardened sugar on it) and quickly wipe the inside of the pan down with a wet pastry brush or wet paper towel to remove any sugar crystals that are stuck to the side (DO NOT scrape sides with spatula). If some sugar chunks from your spatula got into the liquid, keep stirring (using a new heat-resistant spatula) and they should dissolve. - Moving very quickly, add the butter to the pan and, using your fresh heat-resistant spatula, stir nonstop and vigorously (but carefully to avoid splatter as the mixture is VERY HOT) for ~2-3 minutes until the butter is completely mixed in (butter will be separated for a while, but vigorous stirring will get it to thoroughly incorporate).
- As soon as the butter is thoroughly incorporated and your mixture is nice and thick, add the cream SLOWLY with one hand (the cream is colder than the caramel at this point and everything will splatter like crazy if added too quickly) while stirring quickly & constantly with the other, until everything is nice and smooth and thoroughly mixed (about a minute).
- As soon as the cream is mixed in and the caramel is nice and smooth, STOP STIRRING (very important) and allow to boil for 1+1/2 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit until it stops boiling, then immediately pour the caramel into a heat-resistant container (DO NOT scrape edges of pan at all, just pour and let whatever is stuck on the pan stay there. Trust me, you don't want it).
- Once the caramel sauce is in the heat-resistant container, add the salt and stir until thoroughly mixed in. Then, let the caramel sauce sit for 3 minutes, then add in the vanilla extract and stir in to thoroughly incorporate it throughout the caramel. Note: You don't want to add the vanilla in right away or else it will all boil off and also may cause the caramel to crystalize a bit. Waiting 3 minutes lets the caramel cool just enough that it's safe to add the vanilla.
- After the vanilla is mixed in, allow the caramel sauce to continue to cool at room temperature for ~5 more minutes before using. You don't want it to fully thicken or it will be hard to work with, but it definitely needs to have cooled down before use. You'll probably have more than you need for this recipe. I recommend eating the leftovers straight from the jar!
For Presentation:
- Once the caramel has cooled, fill the cookies with it. I do this by using a 1 tsp. measuring spoon to scoop caramel and a silicone spatula to scrape the bottom so it doesn't drip, and then spooning in. This could be a bit messy if you've never worked with caramel sauce before, though. You could use a ziploc bag with an end of one corner cut off or piping bag instead if you feel more comfortable, just make sure the caramel has cooled enough so that it won't melt the bag and won't come out too fast.
- Once the cookies are all filled with caramel, place the chocolate chips and shortening in a small glass dish and microwave in 10 second spurts, stirring between each, until completely melted and smooth. Using either a piping bag or a ziploc bag with a small end of one corner cut off (cut off the end after you put the chocolate in), drizzle the chocolate over the cookies.
- Allow the chocolate to firm a bit, then if desired place a few large sea salt crystals in the center of each cookie.