A Sweet Moment and a Salty Tongue | Chocolate, Caramel, and Coarse Salt.

Once in Las Vegas, I tried a truffle chocolate filled with caramel and sprinkled with rock salt. I went back a couple weeks later only to find out it was a special offering and no longer available. Well then, I decided to make it a cookie. For A Sweet Moment and a Salty Tongue, the base is milk chocolate rather than dark; either will do. After a few tries with the caramel, I now have the cream ratio right so that the caramel remains soft but not gooey for days. These addictive cookies taste great, and the coarse salt “tang” feels great.

Ingredients

Step 1:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
½ cup chopped solid chocolate candy bar, your favorite
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Step 2:
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder

Step 3:
2 Tablespoons milk

Step 4:
30-36 milk caramel candies
3 Tablespoons heavy cream
2 Tablespoons coarse salt

Baking Instructions

Step 1:
Cream butter and sugar, chocolate, and cocoa powder.

Step 2:
Stir together and mix into above.

Step 3:
Add milk 1 Tablespoon at a time until dense but not sticky.
Form dough into 1″ balls and place 2″ apart on a parchment lined or nonstick baking sheet.
Bake at 325° for 5 minutes. Take out of the oven and use your thumb or spoon to indent the top of the cookie thumbprint.
Continue baking for 10 minutes (15 minutes total).

If you prefer a lot of caramel, deepen the thumbprint with the back of a teaspoon when the cookies come out of the oven.
The cookies do not brown, they are cakelike.
Let sit for a couple of minutes and transfer to a cooling rack.

Step 4:
For smaller batches, microwave 10-12 caramels and 1 Tablespoon heavy cream for 30 seconds. Then stir.
For a full batch, microwave 30-36 caramels and 3 Tablespoons heavy cream for 30 seconds. Then stir and microwave for an additional 15 seconds or until soft.
Dollop caramel onto each cookie thumbprint.
Sprinkle coarse salt on top as desired.