Caramel-Cashew Thumbprints

By ezunich

Ingredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt1 1/3 cup flour
• 1 egg white
• 1 tsp water
• 1 1/2 cups chopped roasted and salted cashews
• 16 vanilla caramels
• 3 tbs heavy cream
• 3 oz white bar chocolate, chopped
• 1 tsp shortening

Preparation

Step 1

Cream butter and sugar with on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add egg, vanilla, and salt to creamed mixture; beat on low speed until blended. Add flour; beat on low until ingredients are combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap; chill 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350°. Line with parchment paper.
Filling: Melt caramels with cream in a saucepan over low heat, stirring about 5 minutes; remove from heat.
Whisk together egg white and water in a small bowl and place cashers in a separate bowl. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Dip balls in egg white, allowing excess to drip off. Roll dough balls in cashews to coat. Transfer dough balls to prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. Using a 1 tsp measure or your thumb, make an indentation in each dough ball. Bake cookies, one sheet at a time until edges are set 12-13 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack (indentations may need to be redone while cookies are warm). Spoon warm caramel filling into indentations. Let cookies cool completely.
For the drizzle, heat chocolate and shortening in a pyrex measuring cup in the microwave. Stir mixture until chocolate melts about 1 minute. Drizzle chocolate over cookies, then chill cookies until chocolate is set. Serve cookies at room temperature.