Salted Caramel Shortbread Cookies Recipe

Ingredients

Cookies:
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
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Topping:
1 bag (14 oz) caramels, unwrapped
2 tablespoons milk
4 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoons coarse (kosher or sea) salt

Preparation

Step 1

1. Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat 1 1/2 cups butter with electric mixer on high speed until creamy. Beat in sugar and vanilla. On low speed, beat in flour until blended.

2. Divide dough in half. Between 2 sheets of waxed paper, roll 1 portion of dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with 2 1/2-inch round cookie cutter. On ungreased cookie sheet, place cutouts about 2 inches apart. Repeat with second portion of dough.

3. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until set and just barely light golden (do not overbake). Remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks; cool completely.

4. In medium microwavable bowl, microwave caramels and milk uncovered on High 2 minutes 30 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth. Frost each cookie with about 1 rounded teaspoon caramel mixture.

5. In small microwavable bowl, melt chocolate and 1 tablespoon butter uncovered on High 1 minute 30 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth. Drizzle chocolate over caramel on each cookie. Sprinkle generously with salt. Let stand until set.

Tips:

If desired, substitute 1 can (13.4 oz) dulce de leche (caramelized sweetened condensed milk) for the caramels and milk. Spread each cookie with dulce de leche and proceed as directed.

You can omit the coarse salt on top of the cookies and instead add a dash of salt to the cookie dough.

For a quick and easy way to drizzle the chocolate, spoon melted chocolate into a small resealable food-storage plastic bag. Cut off a tiny corner of the bag and squeeze bag to drizzle the chocolate evenly over cookies.
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REVIEWS:

These cookies are amazing! After reading reviews I cooked the caramel on the stove, so it could stay hot while I was spreading it. I didn't alter the shortbread recipe any because these cookies are not meant to be sweet. My husband loves them! I made 2 bite rounds, so I got quite a few. Turned out beautiful and delicious! Definitely need milk with these bad boys.

Made these last Christmas, (they had looked so good in their photo)- I felt like they took forever to make start to finish though!!- and although the LOOKED GREAT,- I too, was slightly disappointed with THE TASTE- I followed recipe exactly- (everyone who ate one seemed to agree..) . Overall, -Sorry to say I felt they were a little more work than they were worth...

Just made these. I cut them into squares after rolling them out instead of cutting out circles. They are easy to make, and look pretty. Just not what I thought they would be like as far as taste goes. Maybe they need a thick layer of chocolate on the top of a caramel, then they would be like a Twix.

Just made these cookies as part of our annual Christmas baking marathon. They turned out great. They were easy to make and delicious. I did make the cookies a bit smaller, and a little thicker. Instead of frosting them with the caramel, I used a whisk to drizzle them instead. I also drizzled the chocolate, then sprinkled generously with kosher salt. I love how pretty they are!

My new FAVORITE COOKIE! If you like caramel, you will love these cookies. So easy too! YUMMY!

Just made these cookies as part of our annual Christmas baking marathon. They turned out great. They were easy to make and delicious. I did make the cookies a bit smaller, and a little thicker. Instead of frosting them with the caramel, I used a whisk to drizzle them instead. I also drizzled the chocolate, then sprinkled generously with kosher salt. I love how pretty they are!

My new FAVORITE COOKIE! If you like caramel, you will love these cookies. So easy too! YUMMY!

I thought they were a nightmare also. The cookis crumbled so easily and the caramel was thick and hard. Wish I knew what went wrong because they sounded goo.

I thought these cookies were a nightmare to make. First, the dough was so soft when I was rolling them out (even after I refrigerated it) that it was hard to keep them round when transferring to the cookie sheet. So I started making balls and flattening them on the cookie sheet with the back of my spatula. That worked well and made smaller cookies. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for a minute or two, or they will crack when transferring them to the rack. Then, the caramel was so hard to spread on top of the cookies. Like others said, it cooled so quickly. The melting time for the chocolate is all wrong-check every 10 seconds to make sure it doesn't seize, and I also added more butter. I put my chocolate in a sandwich bag and cut the corner to drizzle. All that said, I probably will not be making these again. They weren't worth the frustration!

I made this today and they are wonderful. I did have trouble with the dough sticking to the wax paper when I was trying to cut the cookies. If someone can share with me what I did wrong, please do. I ended up putting the dough in the freezer for a few minutes and that helped. I also added a little more butter to the chocolate. I will definitely make these again - try and try again.

I made these last night and they came out beautifully! Very easy to make, a little time consuming but no one step was difficult. I followed the directions exactly and didn't have any trouble. I used a measuring teaspoon for the caramel, dropped it on top of the cookie and then used the back of the spoon to spread it (like you would with pizza sauce). I did have to nuke the caramel in the middle of putting it on the cookies for about 15 seconds to keep it easy to work with. I got a bit over generous with the salt, so glad that it didn't all stick.

I've made these twice and they were a big hit. I also added another tablespoon of butter to the chocolate, and 1 minute was more than enough. I let mine cool completely and the caramel spread fine. I did however add the salt immediately after spooning the caramel on. Sticks better. It was suggested that these would be good in a bite size cookie, so I'll try that next time!

After reading the 1st review, I decided to make these cookies. When rolling my dough out, I quickly saw that I wanted the cookies to be a bit thicker (they're sturdier when rolled out a bit thicker...) I melted my caramels & chocolate on the stove-top, though. I added an additional Tbsp of milk to the caramels--turned out GREAT ...and added a smidgen more butter to the chocolate, to make a bit thinner. Again...worked great. I did spread the caramel onto the cookies while they were hot...waiting about 4 minutes after they were done baking...Caramel spread beautifully =) I tried to drizzle my chocolate off a spoon..Not so great. Next time, I will follow the recipe direction on that part. All said & done, these cookies are tasty. My family said that they're worth making again!

So, I was all excited at these beautiful cookies with sweet and salty side to them. The cookies were really easy to make, came together in no time. I never got mine to brown at all on top and quit after about 20 minutes in the oven for fear of over-baking them like the recipe says. The caramel melted easily, but was a nightmare to get on the cookie. It looks so pretty in the picture, mine look terrible and messy. The caramel cooled almost instantly despite the fact I was using a hot spoon to spread it. Perhaps I shouldn't have let the cookies cool completely? The chocolate was also a nightmare. 30 seconds in the microwave was enough to burn my chocolate, so I had to start over. When I tried drizzling it, it didn't come out smoothly and instead looks choppy. Every thing cooled so quickly that the salt had nothing to stick to and falls off when you turn the cookie upside down. I'm so disappointed. I really wanted pretty cookies, but they came out ugly. Still taste good. Next time, I'll turn the heat up in my house. Some pointers on how to work with caramel and chocolate would be much appreciated also.