Chocolate Caramel Crunch Cookies

When it comes to holiday cookies, I prefer the classics.  Give me a chewy chocolate chip, frosted sugar or rich peanut butter any day.  But there are times when I want to change things up and create a cookie that is pure decadent flavor.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been playing with my Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe to see if I could come up with a new recipe that was a little more thrilling.  I wanted something that was chewy, crunchy, and full of chocolate flavor.  So when bags of caramel candies came on sale at my local grocery store, I was instantly inspired.

Chocolate Caramel Crunch Cookies
½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1/3 cup shortening
1/3 cup butter, room temperature
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup + 1 Tbl. flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa
½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
2/3 cup Heath bar pieces
½ cup (13-15 pieces) caramel candies, unwrapped
1/3 cup macadamia nuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cut unwrapped caramel candies into fourths and toss in a small bowl with 1 Tbl. of flour.  Make sure all cut sides are coated with the flour.  This step is important to prevent the caramel from fusing into a single mass.  Set aside.

Sift 1 cup of flour, cocoa, cinnamon, salt, baking soda in a medium bowl.  Set aside.  Cream the sugar, brown sugar, butter and shortening until completely incorporated.  Continue to cream the mixture while adding the egg and vanilla.  With the mixture still on medium low speed, slowly add the sifted dry ingredients.  Mix until just combined.  Finally, add the Heath bar pieces, caramel candies with flour and macadamia nuts to the batter.  Mix by hand to combine.

Line the cookie sheets with parchment paper and lightly coat with cooking spray to prevent sticking.  Spoon the batter into one inch balls and place on the cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.  Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 5 – 8 minutes or until just under baked.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool directly on the cookie sheets.  Serves 24 cookies.

Authors Note:  These cookies are quite rich and are best if they are made smaller than normal sized cookies.

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