51. Caramel Choc Chip Cookies
I just wanted to experiment with caramel today after seeing a recipe for caramel blondies in ‘The Violet Bakery Cookbook’ by Claire Ptak, so I made some caramel chocolate chip cookies. Not too hard to do at all, and a little step up from your normal chocolate chip!
Makes 15 - 20 cookies
Ingredients
For caramel shards
80g caster sugar
2 tbsp water
For the cookies
225g flour
Pinch of salt
3tsp baking powder
100g butter, cold and diced
120g light brown sugar
100g chocolate chips
2 eggs, beaten
Method
Start with the caramel, as you need to let this cool before you break it into shards to put in your cookies. Put the water in a pan and cover with the sugar. Heat on a low to medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. DO NOT STIR as this may cause the sugar to crystallise.
Once the sugar has fully dissolved, turn it up to a high heat and bubble away until it is a deep amber colour (around 170C for those with thermometers who want to be precise). If your sugar crystallises, turn the heat back down to low to medium and add some more water to dissolve the crystals again.
Pour your caramel onto a piece of baking paper (or silicone mat as I did) on a heat proof surface or baking tray. Allow to cool at room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 180C, and line two baking trays.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt and baking powder, and then rub in the butter until it is the consistency of bread crumbs, then mix in the sugar and chocolate chips.
Once the caramel has cooled, use the back of a knife to whack it and create shards. Use your fingers to snap into smaller pieces if necessary, but be careful, as caramel can be quite sharp.
Mix the caramel shards into the cookie mixture, then add the eggs and mix until a sticky dough forms.
Split the dough into little balls (or just hunks, I wasn’t bothered about pretty today) and place on the baking trays spaced apart.
Bake for 10-12 minutes until starting to turn golden.
Allow to cool and enjoy!
