With Thanksgiving approaching its that time of the year for everyone to start preparing their holiday dinners right? Well not for me. As I mentioned previously I am from Canada, and we celebrate Thanksgiving back in October. However just because I didn’t bake these cookies for the holiday doesn’t mean that you can’t. They are delicious and chewy and not too sweet. They would be great to serve to your guests or they would make the perfect hostess gift.
I personally made these for two reasons. Firstly, because I had so many caramels left over from the Chocolate Caramel Brownies that I made last week but secondly I made them for my brother. Since I do go to school in America I do in fact get a thanksgiving break – even if I don’t celebrate it. This year I am excited to say that I will be taking my first trip out to the west coast, Vancouver! My brother moved out there after graduating from university to explore his inner Tarzan and has been living in the wilderness ever since. Okay, well not exactly but that’s what it seems like to me. He is taking a course that teaches outdoor educational skills such as hunting and skinning. Again I’m kidding, more like white water kayaking, rock climbing and first aid skills. To me all these things are the same and none of these them sound the least bit appealing, however I am thrilled that my brother has also found his passion in the world and I couldn’t be prouder of him.
Anyways back on track here, since I am going to see my brother for the first time in 5 months (!) I wanted to bring him something special. And what better to celebrate his return back to society than a batch of his favorite cookies?! My mother has been making these for as long as I can remember and they are many people’s favorite cookies, but no one loves them more than my older brother. Like I said before they are chewy and gooey – like all good cookies should be. They also use bittersweet chocolate, which really helps balance out the sweetness of the caramel and the sugar in the cookies.
On a side note – this recipe calls for good quality chocolate, NOT CHOCOLATE CHIPS! Contrary to popular belief chocolate chips are not miniaturized versions of a chocolate bar, they are actually manufactured differently and have a different fat content so that they do not melt down the same way as regular chocolate. Using one when the recipe calls for the other will completely change the taste of the baked good, so please read and follow all your recipes carefully!
A bowl of pure deliciousness
Chocolate Chunk Caramel Cookies
Ingredients
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
8 ounces bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, cut into ¼ inch chunks
24 Kraft caramels, unwrapped and cut into quarters
Recipe
In a medium sized bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In an electric mixer, cream together the butter and white and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
Scrape down sides of mixing bowl with spatula. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add flour mixture and mix just until no traces of white remain. Do not over beat once flour has been added or cookies will be tough.
By hand, stir in caramels and chocolate chunks. Chill dough for several hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a 2 inch ice cream scoop, form cookies and place on lined baking sheet, placing about 2 inches apart. If you have large cookie sheets, you should be able to fit about 9 cookies per sheet. Bake cookies, one sheet at a time on the middle rack of the oven for about 9-10 minutes, until golden brown. They will be quite soft when you remove them from the oven so let them cool on the cookie sheets until firm.
Enjoy the gooey and chewy cookies!
