Now THAT'S a Cookie!

Every December, I devote a full day to baking holiday goodies. This year I shuffled through my many recipe cards and decided to search for some new cookie recipes. I found a new sugar cookie recipe from Paula Deen. I made the dough but haven't yet baked the cookies. I also wanted to use the cookie press I bought from The Pampered Chef about six years ago and have never used, so I found a Martha Stewart recipe for butter cookies. Finally, I had tucked away a recipe for million-dollar caramel cookies that I had found in the December 2009 Parenting magazine. Let me tell you what a disgrace it is that this recipe has been in my recipe binder for nearly two years because it made what I'd have to say are probably the best cookies I've ever baked!

First, let me tell you about the butter cookies. The dough was easy to prepare in my Kitchen Aid stand mixer and worked nicely with my cookie press. The only deviation from the original recipe is that I added about a teaspoon of almond extract to the dough when I added the vanilla extract. They came out great and tasted perfectly buttery. (I guess three sticks of butter in a recipe will do that, yes?)
Now onto the million-dollar caramel cookies. Imagine this: a chewy chocolate cookie rolled in crushed Heath Bar with a Rolo inside. YUM!!! The consistency of the cookies were brownie-like. Warm out of the oven, the caramel was soft and gooey. The Heath Bar added a nice crunch, an element of texture. These will definitely be in the holiday cookie repertoire for years to come.



Cookie Press Butter Cookies

Makes 2 dozen to 3 dozen cookies

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 large egg yolks
3 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Colored sanding sugar

1.Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, flour, salt, and vanilla. Mix thoroughly.
2.Fill a cookie press with the dough, and turn out cookies 1 to 2 inches apart onto an unbuttered baking sheet. Sprinkle cookies with colored sanding sugars.
3.Bake until the cookies are lightly browned, 7 to 10 minutes. To ensure even baking, rotate sheet halfway through the baking process. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool.

Million-Dollar Caramel Cookies

Makes 4 dozen

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar, plus 1 Tbsp.
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour, plus 1/4 cup (if needed to reach desired consistency of dough)
3/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
2 Heath candy bars
1 bag Rolo chewy caramels

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium bowl, beat butter and sugars until fluffy, then add eggs and vanilla and beat well.
2. In a separate bowl, mix 2 1/2 cups flour, cocoa, and baking soda. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture a little bit at a time and blend well. If the dough feels too sticky, sprinkle in a little extra flour. Cover and chill dough in fridge for about 30 minutes.
3. Chop Heath bars into small pieces. Place in a small bowl and toss with 1 Tbs. sugar.
4. Once dough has chilled, wrap a piece around each caramel, forming a 1-inch ball and covering the candy completely. Dip top of the dough ball into the candy topping and place on parchment-lined baking sheet.
5. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes. (Mine took 8 1/2 minutes.) Cookies will look quite soft, but do not overbake. Cool in pan slightly, then move to a rack or the counter to finish cooling. Store in a covered container.