Thursday, May 15, 2014

caramel & chocolate chip cookies

caramel and chocolate cookies 
Whenever I see the words “caramel” and “chocolate” together, my mouth starts watering and my self-control wanes. I was browsing my Hershey cookbook and settled upon this recipe almost immediately. As I was baking them, I realized they were only slightly different from my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe, but the caramel adds a whole new dimension of taste! I’ve never made cookies with shortening, so they turned out lighter and fluffier than I’m used to. The plate I brought to MOPS was most definitely empty at the end of our meal the other day :)

Ingredients:
18 caramels, unwrapped (Kraft makes caramel baking bits so you could substitute those and save time)
1 cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2  3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon hot water
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut each caramel into four pieces, then cut those pieces in half. Combine shortening, sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until well blended and creamy. Beat in the two eggs.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add it gradually to shorting mixture at a low speed with the electric mixer. Mix until well blended. Beat in vanilla and hot water, then stir in the caramels and the chocolate chips with a spoon.

Drop rounded tablespoons, three inches apart, onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Shape dough into circles about two inches in diameter and one inch high.

Bake 7-9 minutes, or until light golden brown. Cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before removing to wire rack. Be aware that the bottoms tended to darken before the tops. So, personally, with my oven, I turned down the temperature to 375 degrees after the first tray and got better results.

Enjoy!

2 comments:

  1. These look AMAZING!!!! I'm absolutely putting them on my list to be made STAT :) Thanks for sharing!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. These look PERFECT. All of my favorite things: Caramel AND chocolate chips!

    ReplyDelete

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