Salted Caramel Thumbprints

life is somehow still in disarray. one would think that as soon as everything has been moved, settling in would be easy... but it's not as easy as i thought it would be. I'm still unpacking things and while it seems as though bits and pieces of my life are back in order, a huge majority of things are still sitting in the garage, waiting to be taken care of. The realtor stopped by the other day and marveled at how different the house looks now compared to what it looked like and the condition it was in when i bought it.

in between house stuff (taking a short break from remodeling and fix 'er upping) i've ventured back into the land of exercise and activities. biking everywhere has been an amazing step up from driving everywhere, and i can't wait to start the long trips out on the country roads. but, for now... the kitchen is still being warmed with delicious cookies. I found this recipe here and i thought they were worth trying out. and um, they totally were.


Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
¼ white sugar
¼ light brown sugar
1 egg separated
1 teaspoon of vanilla

12 unwrapped nibs
1/8 + splash cup heavy cream

1/2 cup almonds – chopped, lightly toasted

Toasted Chopped Almonds

• Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add light brown sugar, egg yolk and vanilla extract. Beat until just combined. Set batter aside.
• In a separate bowl whisk flour and salt.
• Slowly add flour mixture to batter while beating on low until just incorporated. Do not over beat or the dough will become sticky.
• Form into one inch balls and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• While the dough balls are cooling, beat egg white until frothy.
• Removed chilled dough and dip into egg whites first then roll into nuts.

Rounded Dough Rolled in Almonds

• Using either your thumb or a round ended tool, press the rounded dough to create an indentation.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove from baking sheet and cool on rack.

Caramel Sauce:

20 Kraft caramel squares
¼ cup heavy whipping cream

Nips preMelting

- Place caramel squares and cream in a sauce pan and melt over low heat for approximately 7-8 minutes.
- Caramel sauce is ready when it is free of any solids.

Assembly
- Fill indentation of thumbprint cookies.
- Sprinkle with sea salt.

Filled with Caramel

Sprinkled with Salt

These cookies were delicious. They were a wonderful balance of flavors and textures, with the hint of salt, the sweet from the caramel and the toasted nutty almond flavor mixed with the soft cookie, the crunchy almonds, and gooey caramel. great with coffee, better with friends. I'll be making a second batch of these... you know... just to make sure the first wasn't some abnormal fluke in the kitchen :-)