Chunky Chocolate & Caramel Crunch Cookies | Genius Recipes

Hi, I'm Samantha Seneviratne. This week I'm guest hosting Genius Recipes while Kristen is on sabbatical. And I'm going to show you how to make Dory Greenspan's Caramel Crunch Chocolate Chunklet Cookies. They're baked in a very special way. It's genius, but I'll show you later. Okay, so the first thing we're going to do is cream our butter and sugar. Dory says to do this with a mixer, but I'm going to just do it by hand because we're not trying to beat air into the cookies. We are just trying to make the mixture creamy. So we have two sticks of butter, some granulated sugar. So this recipe comes from Dory Greenspan, who I think probably needs no introduction. She is one of my favorite bakers on the planet. And of course, I would choose something from one of her books. She also has a bunch of excellent videos on Food 52 if you want to check those out. More Dory content. Okay, so you look at that. That took zero effort. Okay, I'm also going to put half a teaspoon of sea salt in here. These don't have any eggs in them. Even easier mixing. They kind of come out like a shortbread cookie, sort of chewy on the inside, crisp on the outside, with a very special way to bake them. These cookies don't actually have any caramel in them, even though the name says caramel. And the reason is because they're baked in a way that makes the edges nice and caramelized. The butter and the sugar cook really well, make the edges crispy and delicious. It's really, it's genius. Dory's a genius. I love anything I can do by hand, as opposed to having to drag out my mixer. So I have both sugar, salt, and butter together. I'm going to dump in my flour. Oops. I should have put the vanilla in first, but I didn't. But I don't think it's going to matter. Cash, we're keeping the cash. These cookies are great, too, because you can, after you form them into logs, you can freeze them. So you can make them well in advance. And if you're like me, you can just slice off a few and bake them just for yourself. Late at night, when your children are asleep. That's what I do. So Dory even says in her recipe not to overmix this dough. She said it can be a little bit clumpy. So that's why I think doing it by hand is actually totally fine. Looks good. No lumps. And now I'm going to put in my chopped chocolate. This is milk chocolate. She says you can use dark or milk. Going milk today. And chopped walnuts. Coarsely chopped walnuts. And that is it. Now, I wouldn't throw in, usually I say, go in whatever you want. Add things. But not to this one. I think the balance of chocolate, nut, and dough is actually perfect. So don't add anything else. Look at this. And it looks really crumbly, but it's totally look. Okay, if you're doing this with an electric mixer, it's probably going to look a little more combined at this point. But it's totally fine because we'll press it together when we form the logs. I cleaned up my workstation a little bit because I need some room. We're going to make some logs. You need a little piece of plastic. Divide your dough in half. We're just doing that because it's easier to work with dough when it's a little bit smaller. I'm dividing it in two so I can make two little logs as opposed to one giant log. One giant unwieldy log. Okay, it's almost a little bit pie pastry-esque. Okay. So I'm trying to form this into about a two-inch diameter by about six inches long. So what I'm going to do is just sort of like get everything together first, and then we'll worry about the shape. But the way that we bake it is so smart, it's so genius, that actually you don't have to worry about it being such a perfectly round circle. They're going to end up being perfectly round in the end. Which is actually great for gifting because when you think about it, all your cookies are exactly the same size. You can pack them up so neatly. You can freeze them really neatly. I like when all the things are the same size. Now I have kind of a wonky log here. The heat from my hand will actually help bring everything together. Now we'll just roll this into a little circle. And the dough needs to chill for at least an hour so that you can slice it. Wrap up our ends and then set this aside to chill. So these guys need to go into the refrigerator for at least two hours so that they are sliceable. You could also just throw these in the freezer for another day. But I'll see you in two hours. Okay, so I finally get to tell you exactly what makes this recipe so genius. Dory bakes these cookies in a muffin tin, which I love because when the sides of the cookies bake in the muffin tin, the butter and the sugar caramelize and make the edges toasty and wonderful. It's very special and it's very smart. The other thing is that they all come out perfectly round and exactly the same size, which is very satisfying without very much effort at all. So it's truly genius. First thing we have to do is butter our muffin tin. Just as you can use baking spray if you have it. But the thing is, if you use butter, you get all that butter flavor. You get even more caramelization. So I highly suggest you use butter. Just be sure these these brushes tend to lose bristles really easily. So just give it once over to your muffin tin so you don't get any of those bristles in your cookies. And the truth is, they're only going to go up about three quarters of an inch. So you don't have to worry too much about going all the way to the top of the muffin tin. I have a nonstick muffin tin at home, which I love. Even if you use the nonstick, be sure to butter it because it's just about that flavor. You want more of that caramelly deliciousness. That's ready. So we'll work with one log at a time. And we're cutting them into half inch slices. I think the job is usually easier with a serrated knife because you can kind of get through those walnuts and chocolate a little bit easier. But use whatever you have. So here's my log. I'm going to just divide it first because I'm going for 12 pieces. So we'll do four and then each one into three. That one's going to be a little big. But you know what I'll do is I'll trim it. And then if I need it for the next round, I can use it. The other fun thing about this is if they happen to crack, you just push them back together and put them in. No one will ever know. It's the most forgiving cookie recipe. They look so unique and they really don't take that much effort. So here are my little cookie rounds. Put them one in every little muffin tin. Cute, easy, and fun. This will go into a 350 degree oven for about 20 to 25 minutes. You'll know they're done when the tops look dry and the edges are nice and caramelized. So while my cookies are in the oven, it's the perfect time to remind you to like and subscribe. Okay, so check these out. So here are my cookies. They've come out of the oven. You have to take them out of the muffin tin when they're a little bit warm, but now they've cooled so we can taste them. And I can show you. Look at this beautiful bottom. Deeply caramelized. It's going to have so much flavor and you can just tell by the texture in there. It's going to be tender, chocolatey, and basically perfect. And if you like Genius Recipes as much as I do, check out Genius Recipe Tapes podcast. You can find anywhere you get your podcasts. Thanks. Can't wait to eat these. I'm going to get right into it.