Chocolate Caramel Chunk Cookies

 This past Monday the other half of the family came over. That is what it feels like, anyway, whenever the Slacks come visit Wilbertopia. It always involves lots of talking, laughing, and music...but honestly, none of that would be the same if it didn't include some amazing food :).



However, since some of the adults were on one of those fancy green liquid diets and getting really healthy, it was up to the kids to make dessert if we wanted it. So we did. The vote for something chocolate was unanimous, but we had some yummy looking caramel cubes on hand too. So Mariah chopped those up and we added them to a chocolate cookie batter. We cooked them low and slow at 300 for 22 minutes, and ate them while still warm out of the oven. The chocolate cookies were crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, and then when you bit into the gooey caramel....it was heavenly.

I think it made about 36 cookies, and they disappeared FAST. Of course there were all four of us girls (yeah we remembered it was four, not three), plus my two other little sisters, and 3 boys. Then we did send the last few home with the Slacks...but I think that comes down to about 3 cookies per person. At least. Haha.

And there are all of us. Definitely a fun night. You should make these cookies and get a taste of what it was like. The recipe is below, but first I'd like to thank Mariah, Maryah, and Brooke for letting me do this post, and also apologize that this is my first one. Unfortunately, college does tend to get in the way of culinary creativity.

Ingredients:

2 and 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 sticks salted butter, just softened

3 large eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup unwrapped caramel cubes, cut into quarters

Go for it:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
• In a medium bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, and cocoa powder. Mix well and set aside.
• In a large bowl, blend sugars with an electric mixer at medium speed. Add butter and beat to form a grainy paste. Scrape down sides of bowl, then add eggs and vanilla. Beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.
• Add all but 1/2 cup of the flour mixture and blend until just combined. Toss that remaining 1/2 cup with the caramel cubes before adding them to the batter and combining (the flour keeps them from sticking together). 
• Drop dough by rounded tablespoons 1 and a 1/2 inches apart onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes (our oven took 22). Remove from oven and let cookies sit for about one minute, or as soon as you can move them to a cooling rack without the them falling apart. 
• Eating them while they are warm is especially good, but they keep for several days in an airtight container. We haven't tried it, but they seem like they would freeze well too.

~mattea