Chocolate Caramel Cookies (aka Milk Dud Cookies)

Sorry I haven't been on-top of my blogging!  What's even even worse is that I have been cooking at lot of very healthy things and haven't documented them!  I made some roasted chickpeas (a wonderful snack), some vegetable soup (complete with purple potatoes), browned butter chocolate chip cookies with toasted coconut (for Jessi's farewell snack fest), and a simple pasta dish (for a quick dinner).  Sadly, school has been getting in the way of cooking and more importantly not taking photographs!  I think the biggest reason I've been falling behind is… THE OLYMPICS!  I can't even being to describe how much I LOVE the Winter Olympics.  I can honestly say I love it  more than the Summer Olympics… the snow, the skiing, the figuring skating… and seeing  Russia dominate everyone in hockey (don't worry, I'm still cheering for the USA).  Mainly, the Winter Olympics really make me miss ski racing… it makes me want to run a GS course again.

I have made a lot of desserts in my day (obviously) but all my housemates said that these were the BEST that I have ever made.  The flavor also reminded me of Milk Duds (hence the name).  They are amazing straight out of the oven because the caramel is so gooey, but you can also zap them in the microwave for 5 seconds to get the caramel all gooey again.

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cookie Recipe Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 bag of caramels, unwrap

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Whisk dry flour, salt and baking powder in bowl and set aside.
3. Mix butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and cocoa in mixer. Gradually add flour mixture, and mix until smooth.
4. Wrap dough ball in plastic and chill for at least one hour.
5. Roll out cookie dough on floured counter. Cut into roughly 1 1/2 – 2 inch diameter circles or squares (the shape and precision of the cut section doesn’t really matter since you will be wrapping it around the caramel anyway), brushing extra deposits of flour off the top.
6. Roll the dough around an unwrapped caramel.  Roll the dough back and forth in your hands until it forms a smooth ball.
7. Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet (or silpat) for 10-12 minutes until the cookies are firm.
8. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.