While we’re talking about makeup and stuff, I just want you all to know that I was so insecure about my thumb-shots while photographing this post that I stopped to groom my left thumb. I trimmed. I filed. I even considered painting, but decided not to because I didn’t want to get pink nail polish on my perfect cookies. Somehow my thumb still looks like Shrek’s. TMI? Sorrynotsorry. But I’m throwing all that out the window for this post. BECAUSE THESE ARE THE BEST COOKIES I HAVE EVER PUT IN MY MOUTH. They are my baby. I’ve been working on them for weeks, and my freezer is still full of reject dough. (Too flat. Too crispy. Not enough caramel. And on and on.) But finally, FINALLY, I got them just right. They sell these Chocolate-Covered Sea Salt Butterscotch Caramels at Traders Joe’s.*** I am obsessed with them. I will go to the store for the sole purpose of buying 3 bags, just to eat. And I’m not even a huge candy/chocolate person (I would take a brownie over a box of chocolates any day). But these caramels. My undoing. They are deeper than normal caramels, just on the line between caramel and butterscotch. They are covered in bitter chocolate and infused with sea salt to perfectly balance out the sweetness. I have been known to eat most of a 7-ounce package in one sitting. I chopped them and put them in a tender brown butter cookie. If butter is God’s gift to man, (this is completely arguable), then browned butter is like the secret awesome ninja twist that makes it way cooler. Aaaaand that’s where this analogy ends. (Seriously though. If you’ve never taken 4 minutes to brown butter before, there is a gaping hole in your life. That means you’ve never made Brown Butter Brownies. Or Brown Butter Blondies. Or Balsamic-Brown Butter Asparagus. You are missing out my friend.) I am anti plead-with-my-readers-to-make-my-recipes, but that rule is also being thrown out today. I love these cookies like I love my own children (how’s that for an obsession) and if you make them without telling me, I will never know, but if I DID know that you didn’t tell me, I would cry. Make these cookies, then die happy. P.S. I asked my readers on Facebook yesterday what cookie they would choose if they could only have one kind for the rest of their lives. Chocolate chip won, of course. And several weeks ago, that would have been my choice too…but now it’s these Brown Butter Sea Salt Butterscotch Beauties. HANDS DOWN. I mean these hands are so down. Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram Cut the caramels in half. It’s easiest to hold onto both sides and gently crush the chocolate with the scissors. If you get a chunk of caramel on what is going to be the bottom or edge of your cookie, patch it up with some dough… Like this. Otherwise you will get crunchy caramel oozing out the side of your cookies. Like this. Of course, if that’s your thing, then don’t bother patching. (Be aware that this is a mild case of oozing.) Here’s what they look like straight out of the oven with no caramels pushed into the top. And there you have it. My favorite cookie.
Dark, semi-sweet, or milk chocolate chips (or a combination!) Butterscotch chips Kraft Caramel Bits (the unwrapped kind, not the wrapped cubes) Chopped dark chocolate (from a high quality bar) Any combination of the above!
Soft and Chewy Andes Mint Cookies « take an awesome chocolate chip cookie, then add minty chocolate candy. Yesssssss Chewy Cookies and Cream Cookies « over-the-top cookies loaded with chopped Oreos, dark chocolate, Hershey’s Cookies and Cream candy bars. Nathan’s Peanut Butter Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies « a HUGE family favorite with so many classic flavors. Double Chocolate Cookies with Caramel Bits « so rich and decadent, you’re going to need a full gallon of milk. Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies from Cookie Dough Diaries Dark Chocolate Apricot Oatmeal Cookies from Grab a Plate
