Hello Fall! I welcome you with open arms. I am ready for cooler temperatures, brilliant colored leaves, and apples! We went on our annual apple pick at our usual orchard this past weekend. The day was perfect- the sun was shining down on our faces, and a cool fall breeze was blowing through the apple laden trees. We were so gung-ho that we picked around 140 pounds of apples. We always go a little overboard, but I must say, I love it! We are down to our last few jars of applesauce from last years pick. So, I have some serious processing and baking ahead of me. I am thinking some apple maple jam, lots of applesauce and perhaps a pie. Maybe a cake too… Ohh the possibilities are endless! I can’t wait.
Before apples and pumpkin spice completely take over, I need to talk about these cookies for a minute. Or forever, because dammmnnnn these cookies are good. When it comes to cookies, I don’t actually eat them. Gasp! I know. If I make a new type of cookie, I will eat one or two to give an honest review and see if they are worth sharing. But, that’s it. The kids and husband devour the cookie jar weekly while I have ice cream. So, when I was in the grocery store last week, I decided on a whim that I wanted to add some sort of candy into cookies to mix things up a little. Enter caramel filled chocolate kisses. So, I went home to figure how I wanted to incorporate them into cookies. I decided to use my favorite chocolate chip cookie dough as a base. I browned the butter to add a level of nuttiness and depth. I popped them in the oven and waited in anticipation as they baked. I couldn’t wait for them to fully cool before sampling one. I may or may not have slightly burned my tongue. But it was well worth it. These cookies are my new favorite.
Soft and chewy with pockets of caramel, a slight nuttiness from the browned butter and bites of heaven. Seriously, I could eat these cookies all day long. These would be a perfect fall treat for any upcoming get togethers or halloween parties. So, go get some caramel chocolate kisses and make these cookies.
Recipe adapted from Lily’s Café Cookbook, Revised Edition by Kyra Alex
Browned Butter Caramel Cookies
These tender, chewy cookies are filled with gooey chocolate caramels, that make for the ultimate cookie.
Ingredients
- 16 Tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 11 ounces caramel chocolate kisses, frozen for at least 20 minutes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Have ready two lined, or non-greased baking sheets.
- Place the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Melt, swirling the pan occasionally to prevent burning. Continue to cook the butter, swirling the pan occasionally until the butter is a lovely golden brown. Remove from the heat and let cool for 10 minutes.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix until just fluffy again. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the flour to the butter mixture at a low speed, and beat just until incorporated. Unwrap the frozen kisses and roughly chop. Stir into the dough.
- Scoop into balls about 2 tablespoons full of dough and place on the prepared baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart.
- Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until barely golden brown around the edges. Let cool completely before removing from baking sheets. Store at room temperature in a covered container up to 5 days.
