Recipe: Brown Butter Salted Caramel Snickerdoodles
I've recently started working at <an awesome> food consulting company a few months ago - working on the branding team. It's been a sweet mashup of my love of food and design. One of the perks is that I have a kickass source for anything food-related: my coworkers! They're a wealth of knowledge, not surprisingly, as most of them are food scientists for crying out loud! When I'm in need of inspiration or ideas on what to bake, they have an answer for me in 2.2. It's rad.
I needed a solid low-maintenance cookie recipe the other day, and my coworker with her Brown Butter Salted Caramel Snickerdoodles recipe came through for me. As soon as she said the magic words: "brown butter" it was game over. Brown butter is my boy! I also love me some 'doodles and desserts stuffed with more dessert.
Friends, it's time to up your Snickerdoodle game. Lets do this.
Note: This cookie can be stuffed with store-bought candy caramels or with homemade caramel if you're feeling like a baller.
Brown Butter Salted Caramel Snickerdoodles
Recipe from twopeasandtheirpod.com
Yield: about 3 dozen cookies
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup unsalted butter, sliced
1 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt
About 1 cup caramel squares, cut into 1/4’s
For Baller-Style Caramel
Note: you're going to have a good amount leftover. Thoughts? Wrap individual pieces in waxed paper and you've got yourself some chewy caramel candies. Boom.
1/2 cup butter or margarine
8oz light brown sugar
7 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 pinch salt
3/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
For Rolling the Cookies:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Sea salt, for sprinkling on top of cookies
Directions
For the Cookies
1. In a medium bowl, Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
2. To brown the butter, heat a thick-bottomed skillet on medium heat. Add the sliced butter, whisking frequently. Continue to cook the butter until melted. The butter will start to foam and browned specks will begin to form at the bottom of the pan. The butter should have a nutty aroma. Watch the butter carefully because it can go from brown to burnt quickly. Remove butter from the heat and let cool to room temperature.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the brown butter and sugars. Mix until blended and smooth. Beat in the egg, yolk, vanilla, and yogurt and mix until combined. Slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
4. Form the dough in a ball and cover with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. You can chill the dough overnight.
5. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Measure about 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into balls. Flatten the ball with the palm of your hand and place a piece of caramel in the center of the dough. Wrap the cookie dough around the caramel, making sure the caramel is completely covered with dough.
6. In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar. Roll the balls in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place dough balls on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Make sure the cookies are about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle the cookie tops generously with sea salt.
7. Bake the cookies 8-10 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. The centers will still be soft. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, or until set. Transfer cookies to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.
For the Homemade Caramel
1. In a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, brown sugar, sweetened condensed milk, corn syrup and salt.
2. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Heat to between 234 and 240 degrees F (112 to 116 degrees C), or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms a soft ball that flattens when removed from the water and placed on a flat surface.
3. Cook for 2 minutes at that temperature. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla.
4. Meanwhile, butter a baking pan. When the caramel is ready, pour into the buttered pan. Allow to cool completely at room temperature.
5. Remove from the pan before cutting into squares.