This Week for Dinner – Weekly Meal Plans, Dinner Ideas, Recipes and More!: Recipes

Category: Recipes

Thursday, March 22

Apple Ham Paninis

I really love paninis. I’m always a sucker for a hot sandwich, plus paninis make for a quick and easy dinner on busy weeknights. And my kids {almost} always eat them! My friend Natalee was raving about two panini combinations she discovered recently, so of course I had to give them a try. I’ll share one of them with you today and the second one tomorrow!

Today’s is simple and delicious. Ham and havarti cheese combined with the sweet-yet-tart crunch of granny smith apples is delish. And this panini really, truly is fast and simple to prepare. That’s my favorite kind of recipe!

Apple Ham Paninis
From Natalee, who found the inspiration online somewhere…
- Sliced sourdough bread (I didn’t have sourdough, I used sliced wheat country bread)
- Whole-grain mustard
- Deli-sliced ham
- Havarti cheese
- Thinly-sliced granny smith apples

Spread mustard on two slices of bread. Stack the cheese, ham and apples between the slices, then cook in a panini press. If you don’t have a panini press, just do what I do and smush the sandwich between two frying pans (click here for details). Eat and enjoy!

Posted by Jane Maynard at 12:18 am 12 Comments
Categories: main dishes, Recipes
Tuesday, March 20

Tres Leches Cake from The Pioneer Woman

This giveaway is now closed, but you really should keep reading because this cake is DELISH.

It’s no secret I love Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman. I am very grateful to know her. She is lovely. And she deserves every bit of success she is having. I like it when good karma just works like that. Plus, her food is yummy.

I am delighted to share Ree’s latest cookbook with you! The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier just came out and it is every bit as scrumptious as her last cookbook and her delicious website. This book is also brimming with cream. LOTS of cream, people. Like, you might need to buy a cow or at least some stock in your local dairy.

I needed a dessert the other night because, well, I just needed one, okay? I flipped open Ree’s book and discovered Tres Leches Cake, which I am tempted to rename Patience Cake. Seriously, you need some patience for this recipe. There is a lot of waiting. But it is worth the wait. Believe me.

Tres Leches Cake is my daughter Anna’s dream dessert. She’s not big on dessert or chocolate. (I am still wondering if she’s really my child.) But she loves milk. And she loves whipped cream even more than milk. She ate THE ENTIRE PIECE OF CAKE. I don’t think she’s ever eaten all of her dessert.

~~Before we get to the recipe, how about a giveaway? I love giving away great cookbooks!~~

THREE of you lucky, randomly-selected people will each win a copy of Ree’s new book The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier. Simply leave a comment on this post by Midnight PT on Monday, March 26. The winners will be announced on Tuesday, March 27. Good luck!

And, to help quench any whipped cream and/or milk and/or cake cravings you may be having, here is the Tres Leches Cake recipe, with my notes. Enjoy!

Tres Leches Cake
From The Pioneer Woman
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 5 large eggs, separated
- 1 cup sugar plus 3 Tbsp, divided
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup whole milk (Jane note: I used 2%, everything came out fine)
- 1 pint plus 1/4 cup heavy cream, divided
- 1 12-oz can evaporated milk
- 1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9″ x 13″ pan.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and set aside.

Mix egg yolks and 3/4 cup of sugar in a mixing bowl. Beat until very light in color (Jane note: I used my hand mixer, you can also use a stand mixer). Add milk and vanilla and beat until just combined. Pour this over the flour mixture and stir gently to combine.

In a separate mixing bowl beat the egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. Add 1/4 cup of sugar and continue beating until the whites are stiff but not dry.

Gently fold the egg whites into the other ingredients. Don’t over mix, stop stirring just before everything is mixed together.

Spread the batter in the pan and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. (Jane note: Mine was definitely done by 30 minutes, so keep an eye on it!)

Let cake cool completely. (Jane note: Here is the first part requiring waiting and patience…) When the cake is cool, invert onto a platter and poke holes in the surface with a fork. (Jane note: I just left it in the pan because we weren’t serving it to guests and didn’t need it fancy on a platter. Also, I used a steak knife to poke the holes – my fork was sticking to the cake too much, the sharp, thin knife worked better.)

Combine the sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk and 1/4 cup cream. Slowly pour milk mixture over the cake, getting it all around the edges and evenly coating the surface. It will puddle, which is fine. Let cake sit for at least 30 minutes to absorb the milk. (Jane note: more waiting!)

Whip 1 pint of cream with 3 tablespoons sugar (Jane note: I use powdered sugar here because that’s what I like in whipped cream) until thick. Spread over top and sides of cake (Jane note: or just the top if you left the cake in the pan).

Jane note: Here’s the last bit of waiting…the cake was good at this point, but it was REALLY good the next day after being refrigerated. I highly recommend eating after it is cold! Totally worth all the waiting and your patience skills will be well-honed! Regardless of when you eat the cake, leftovers need to be refrigerated.

Posted by Jane Maynard at 12:00 pm 3,849 Comments
Categories: Recipes, sweet things, the goods
Thursday, March 15

Donuffins

Last week I was craving donuts for some inexplicable reason…because, I mean, donuts are disgusting and who would ever want to eat them, right? So, I posted about my craving on Facebook, hoping someone reading would magically deliver donuts to me. That didn’t happen. I know, shocking. But Courtney from Misadventures in Cooking (who regularly posts her weekly menu – yay, Courtney!) did share a quick, fun recipe to help quench the donut craving.

Courtney got the recipe originally from Maris of In Good Taste (she’s one of my food blogging buddies and she is lovely). Maris actually has a donut pan for making her donuts, but she suggests using a muffin tin if you don’t have a donut pan. Courtney gave that a whirl and cleverly dubbed her creation ‘donuffins.’ I love the name. It makes me smile.

I whipped up a batch of donuffins the other night to share at book club. Everyone loved them and a few people went back for seconds. My girls and Nate had them the next morning, at which point I received RAVE reviews. Anna told me they were very good and I believe Cate said something like, “Oh, Mommy! These are AWESOME.”

I’ve made two batches this week, tweaking them a bit. This is a great, quick treat for when you need a baked good pronto. You know, like those times that you’re craving donuts and wish that Facebook had a delivery service.

Donuffins
Adapted from here and here
Makes 12 muffins
- 1 c flour
- 1/2 c sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 c milk
- 1 t vanilla
- 3 T canola oil
- 4 T melted butter (separated into 1 T and 3 T), plus butter to grease muffin tins
- 2 T sugar and 1 t cinnamon combined in a bowl

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Whisk together dry ingredients. Add egg, vanilla, and milk and whisk together until blended. Add 1 Tablespoon of butter and all the canola oil. Whisk until well combined.

Grease muffin tin liberally with butter. Fill muffin tin with 2 tablespoons of batter per cup, dividing batter evenly. Bake for 7-10 minutes (mine were done around 9.5 minutes, took them out when a toothpick came out clean). Brush each donuffin liberally with the remaining 3 tablespoons of melted butter, immediately sprinkling with the cinnamon sugar mixture.

The first time I made these there was no salt in the batter, which I though it needed. So that first time I also sprinkled a bit of salt on top of the donuffins – everyone really liked that. Yet another genius use for salgar! Anyway, when I had added salt to the batter, I didn’t put salt on top. Just play around with it to your taste!

Posted by Jane Maynard at 10:13 am 22 Comments
Categories: Recipes, sweet things
Tuesday, March 6

Ina’s Banana Granola Coconut Muffins

You can trust today’s recipe for two reasons. #1: My friend Amy made these muffins and shared the recipe with me. Amy is an amazing cook. Amy knows good food. Amy always finds the best recipes. #2: It’s an Ina Garten recipe.

I haven’t made this recipe myself yet, so I don’t have much to say except that it is DELICIOUS. These muffins were SO GOOD I just had to photograph them (thanks for being my hand model, Ana - J.P. Prewett would be proud) and share the recipe with you.

I’m trying not to think about how many of these muffins I ate. It was like I lost all self-control. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Banana Granola Coconut Muffins
(Ina calls these Banana Crunch Muffins, which is cute, but my more descriptive name is guaranteed to reel you in, so I went with it. Sorry, Ina.)
From Ina Garten
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 pound unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 2 extra-large eggs
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (~2 bananas)
- 1 cup medium-diced ripe bananas (~1 banana)
- 1 cup granola
- 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Optional: (Jane note: Amy did NOT include these ingredients and I’m glad she didn’t. The muffins were seriously perfect they way she made them, so I will just skip these when I make them. Although, topped with shredded coconut might be acceptable. )
- 1 cup small-diced walnuts
- Dried banana chips, granola, or shredded coconut, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 18 large muffin cups with paper liners.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the melted butter and blend. Combine the eggs, milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas, and add them to the flour-and-butter mixture. Scrape the bowl and blend well. Don’t overmix.

Fold the diced bananas, granola, and coconut into the batter. Spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each 1 to the top. Top each muffin with dried banana chips, granola, or coconut, if desired. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly, remove from the pan, and serve.

Jane note: I ate these muffins fresh out of the oven and then later on after they’d cooled. WAY BETTER fresh out of the oven. If you are able to resist eating the whole batch when they have just finished cooking, be sure to heat up the leftovers in a toaster oven at 200 degrees for 5-10 minutes. It will be worth it, trust me.

Posted by Jane Maynard at 10:18 pm 9 Comments
Categories: featured recipes, Recipes, sweet things
Thursday, March 1

Anne’s Pumpkin Squares

My sister Anne has moved to our town! We haven’t been closer than 800 miles to family since we moved to California, so having a family member just one mile away is soooo exciting for us. My girls are especially ecstatic and are planning their first sleepover at Auntie Anne’s apartment on Friday!

Anne’s Twitter and Blogger profiles state the following: “I’m night blind but I make the best pumpkin squares you’ve ever had.” Well, after years of reading this every time I visited her blog, I decided it was time to have Anne prove herself. First, we made her drive around at night without her glasses on. Then, we made her throw together some pumpkin squares. Okay, scratch that first part, but I did beg her to make pumpkin squares last night and she happily obliged.

And I think they might have been the best pumpkin squares I’ve ever had. Especially hot out of the oven…be still my chocolate-loving heart. And yeah, yeah, they’re pumpkin. I stand by the fact that pumpkin can be enjoyed at all times of the year, even if the leaves on the trees aren’t turning orange and falling to the ground.

Anne, we’re so happy you’re a Californian now. (And, don’t worry, it’s not just because of the pumpkin squares…although those certainly don’t hurt!)

Anne’s Pumpkin Squares
From Anne Wallin, adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe
- 2 C all purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt (if using un-salted butter, 3/4 tsp)
- 1 C butter
- 1 1/4 C sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 C pumpkin puree (sometimes Anne adds more, but no more than 2 cups)
- Bittersweet chocolate chips (about 1 or 2 cups, depending on how much you like chocolate)

Whisk flour, cinnamon, soda and salt together and set aside. Cream butter and sugar in mixer until well-mixed. Beat in egg. Add vanilla, mix. Beat in pumpkin puree so it looks lumpy and sort of curdled. Mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Spread in 9×13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes – the edges will pull away from the side and the toothpick should come out clean (with maybe a crumb or too on the toothpick).

Posted by Jane Maynard at 11:03 am 13 Comments
Categories: featured recipes, Recipes, sweet things
Tuesday, February 28

Twice-Baked Potato Casserole

My CSA has had Yukon Gold potatoes recently. Before we get to today’s recipe, let us first ponder on just how delicious Yukon Gold potatoes are. Mmmmmmm…

In an effort to mix things up with all the soft foods I’ve had to eat lately, I wanted to do something a little different with this week’s batch of potatoes.

I don’t know about you, but I love twice-baked potatoes. But, honestly, scooping the hot baked potato out of its skin is one of my least favorite kitchen tasks. The potatoes are always super hot and I invariably break some of the skins. As I was eating mashed Yukon Gold potatoes with the skins mixed in the other day, I had a revelation…as cute as twice-baked potatoes are, if you just mash the skins in with the potato and make a casserole out of it, it would be easier to prepare and probably taste just as good.

And so the twice-baked potato casserole was born! A bit easier to prepare than its classic counterpart and easier to serve to a crowd. And, the casserole version did taste just as good. Hypothesis proven correct! Enjoy!

Twice-Baked Potato Casserole
- 1.5 pounds yukon gold potatoes (other bake-able potatoes will work, too, but yukon golds sure are yummy!)
- 1/2 cup warmed cream
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- ~1 cup shredded cheddar or cheddar-jack cheese
- sliced green onions (optional)

Poke a few holes in your potatoes, wrap in foil and bake in a 350-degree oven for about an hour, until easily pierced by a knife. Leave the oven on.

Mash potatoes with the skins ON in a bowl by hand. Add cream, butter, sour cream, salt and pepper. Mix and mash some more! Spread in a 1-1/2 quart casserole dish. Top with cheese. Bake for about 10-15 minutes, until cheese is all melted. Top with sliced green onions if desired.

Posted by Jane Maynard at 10:28 am 12 Comments
Categories: featured recipes, Recipes, side dishes, the goods
Friday, February 24

The greatest liquid and soft foods list in the world!

I need your help today. As you know, I had oral surgery yesterday. Not only did it take ALL DAY (which we were not anticipating) but YOWZAH my mouth hurts. Also, I sound like a crazy person when I talk. Just ask Helen Jane. I called her last night to get some help on work and she literally laughed when she first heard me. Rightly so, my friends, rightly so. Don’t feel bad for me. If you were Helen Jane, you would have laughed, too.

Anyway, back to the help-from-you part. I have to “eat” a liquid diet for two days and then soft foods for one week. I’ve got chicken broth, green smoothies (thanks, Cherisse!) and ice cream all ready to go, but certainly there must be other options, right? So, I’m coming to you for advice. Share your best ideas for liquid and soft meals…especially if you’ve been in this boat in the past and have experience. And if you have strong opinions on things I should not eat at this time, share those, too!

Our goal is to create the greatest liquid and soft foods list in the world! Pretty awesome goal, eh? When some poor soul like me searches “liquid and soft foods to eat after oral surgery,” I want them to find your beautiful and comprehensive list. It’s a public service we’re performing here, folks. Now, share those ideas!

Posted by Jane Maynard at 9:44 am 36 Comments
Categories: call for recipes, musings
Wednesday, February 15

Pots de Crème au Chocolat

Despite my busy day yesterday (p.s. Owen does not have an ear infection, which is good…but he is still grumpy!), did you really think I would let Valentine’s Day pass without whipping up some sort of chocolate decadence?

Last night, after the kids were in bed, dinner was done and Nate and I had another Breaking Bad episode under our belts (romantic, eh?), I ventured to the kitchen to make pots de crème au chocolat. Our friends Ana and Tom made these a few weeks ago when they had us over for dinner. (p.s. Ana and Tom are not only fabulous cooks, they are both hilarious. I wish I could eat dinner at their house every night. Hint, hint, Ana.) The dessert was pretty much divine and, after Ana assured me it was easy to make, I decided to give the recipe a go.

Ana was right. They were in fact easy to throw together and required only a few ingredients. My kind of cooking.

If you’ve had pots de crème au chocolat before, you know what they’re like. {Delicious.} If you haven’t, it’s sort of like the custard in crème brûlée, only chocolate flavored. This chocolate dessert is rich yet still kind of light. And, if you’re not feeling up to the task of using and washing 20 bowls to make Julia Child’s mousse au chocolat, this is a great alternative – not quite so thick and rich as the mousse, but still delicious. I mean really – can you go wrong with cream, chocolate and eggs? Nope, you can’t.

Pots de Crème au Chocolat
A mish mosh of two Williams Sonoma recipes and comments from Ana Haymore
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3 ounces semi-sweet (or bittersweet) chocolate, chopped
- 3 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 pinches of salt (I’m sure I could give you an actual measurement, but I did four pinches, so there you go)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Heat cream in a saucepan over medium heat until small bubbles appear around the edges, stirring occasionally. Remove from the stove and stir in the chocolate until melted. Let cool while you do this other stuff…

Whisk together egg yolks and sugar in a bowl for about 5 minutes. You want the eggs to be pale yellow. Just keep whisking. The more the merrier. (I had Nate do this last night…what a whiner, by the way. Oh wait, I mean, he was such a sweetie to do this for me and didn’t complain once! I suppose you could get out a hand blender…but a little wrist exercise never hurt anyone, right?)

Slowly stir the chocolate cream into the egg mixture. Stir in the vanilla and the salt.

Pour the chocolate mixture through a fine sieve into 6 ramekins, dividing evenly. Place ramekins in a 9×13 baking dish or pan. Pour boiling water around the ramekins in the 9×13 pan, 1 inch deep. Cover the ramekins and dish with foil.

Bake for around 20 minutes, until the edges are set but the chocolate still trembles a bit (I cooked mine a minute or two too long and they still came out fine).

Let cool on a wire rack. The Williams Sonoma recipes say to refrigerate for at least four hours and up to 2 days before serving…but we also have eaten them right after they’ve cooled but still sort of warm and they were delicious.

Posted by Jane Maynard at 10:36 am 6 Comments
Categories: featured recipes, Recipes, sweet things
Tuesday, February 14

Any Excuse to Eat Chocolate…Happy Valentine’s Day!

You know I’m always looking for a good reason to eat chocolate. One might say I have a problem. Whatever. Chocolate is good for the soul.

I was hoping to whip up something chocolatey for a post today, but Owen isn’t feeling very well and we’re heading to the doctor in a bit. (I’m sure he’s fine, no worries…probably an ear infection, poor little guy!) Even though the day is not going as planned, I can’t leave you completely chocolate-less on Valentine’s Day! So, I’m reposting a recipe from a few years ago.

Oh how I wish I had time to make these truffles today. THEY ARE SO GOOD. I think that’s really all I have to say. Have a Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Scotch Truffle Hearts
Recipe contributed to the Scharffen Berger book Essence of Chocolate: Recipes for Baking and Cooking with Fine Chocolate by Alice Medrich. From the book: Since we began Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker, Cocolat founder Alice Medrich has been a constant help, ready to lend a hand with everything from bean tasting to recipe tasting. We’re especially honored to have Alice’s chocolate recipes in our book because both of us are fans of her chocolate confections, which she first began selling in Berkeley in the 1970s. These chocolates have a thin dark shell around a decadently soft center, underscored with the warmth and fragrance of a single-malt Scotch. Alice recommends that you mix this ganache gently with a spatula rather than vigorously with a whisk. Because the chocolate coating is not tempered, the hearts must be stored in the refrigerator to keep them from discoloring or blooming. Enjoy them cold, right from the refrigerator, or let them sit at room temperature for a half an hour or so, to bring up the flavors of the chocolate and the Scotch.

- 7 ounces 62% semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp. single-malt Scotch
- 12 ounces 82% extra dark chocolate, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder (optional)

Line an 8X8 inch 2-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, overlapping the top slightly, and set out a fine-mesh strainer.

Place the 62% chocolate in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate, and stir gently with a heatproof spatula until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Do not whisk or splash the mixture by stirring too briskly, or the texture of the chocolates will be cakey and granular. Add the Scotch and stir just to incorporate. (Jane note: I left out the Scotch b/c I didn’t have it on hand and they came out very delicious just the same!)

Strain the ganache into the prepared pan. Tilt the pan to level the ganache. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Transfer the pan of the ganache to the refrigerator to soften for 20 minutes. Choose a baking sheet of dish that will fit in your freezer and line it with parchment paper.

Place a sheet of foil about 12 inches long on your work surface. Remove the ganach, using the foil that you used to line the pan to help lift it. Invert it onto the clean sheet of foil. Peel the foil from the bottom.

Using a 1 1/2-inch heart-shaped cutter, cut out hearts as close together as possible to avoid excessive amounts of scraps, and transfer to the prepared pan. (Jane note: I found a set of heart cutters for fondant made by Wilton at Michaels – the hearts were 3 sizes, which was helpful in making a lot of hearts with little scraps. The leftover chocolate I rolled into round balls to make a more traditionally-shaped truffle.) If the ganache becomes too soft to work with, cover with plastic wrap and return to the freezer to harden.

Once all of the hearts are cut, cover with plastic wrap and freeze until very hard, at least 4 hours or overnight. (At this point the hearts can be placed in a an airtight container and frozen for up to 2 months.)

TO COAT THE HEARTS: Choose a baking sheet or pan that will fit in your refrigerator and line with parchment paper.

Melt the 82% chocolate and stir until smooth. Cool to 100-105 degrees F. (Jane note – I melted the chocolate over a double boiler. The chocolate was quite warm and took some time to come down in temperature. At 109 degrees it started to harden, so I would recommend working with it around 115 degrees – I had no problems with it melting the truffles.)

Put the bowl of melted chocolate next to the prepared baking pan.

Remove the hearts from the freezer one small batch at a time. Place a heart in the center of the bowl of chocolate and, using a dipping fork or table fork, flip it over and push it under the surface of the chocolate to coat completely. Slip the fork under the center and lift the heart out of the chocolate, tap the fork on the side of the bowl so any excess chocolate drips back into the bowl, and then wipe the bottom of the fork on the edge of the bowl and set the heart on the prepared pan. Repeat with the remaining hearts. (Jane note: These directions were spot on and it was actually pretty easy to do if you follow them. I did need to zap the dipping chocolate twice in the process to remelt it a bit.)

Use a small fine-mesh strainer or shaker to dust the hearts with the cocoa. Refrigerate for 1 hour, or until the chocolate has hardened. (Jane note: the chocolate hardened FAST…so if you’re going to put toppings on (cocoa, powdered sugar, decorative sugar crystals, sea salt) you gotta get them on there quickly!)

The hearts can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Makes 30-36 hearts.

Posted by Jane Maynard at 12:01 pm 3 Comments
Categories: fab faves, featured recipes, Recipes, sweet things
Wednesday, February 8

Salted Caramel Thumbprints

These salted caramel thumbprint cookies were my favorite cookie find this past holiday season. My friend Elisa made them for her holiday cookie plates (among many other amazing treats) and I immediately fell in love. I don’t know if it was the salt or the fact that the cookies themselves are shortbread, but I got sucked in and stole them right out from under my family when they weren’t looking.

Elisa originally found the recipe on the lovely food blog A Cozy Kitchen. I decided to give the recipe a go. I even made the caramel from scratch, which I highly recommend. I promise it was easy and it didn’t take much time at all. I just followed Adrianna’s instructions, to great success. Elisa had used store-bought caramel to save some time. Her cookies were still wonderful, but I must admit I preferred the homemade caramel – the texture was softer and easier to chew.

I am retyping the recipe here so I can throw in a few notes from what I learned. Enjoy!

Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies
From A Cozy Kitchen. Shortbread Cookie recipe adapted from Barefoot Contessa. Caramel recipe taken from Salted Caramel Mousse by Trish Desseine.

Cookies:
- 1 1/2 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Caramel:
- 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
- 2 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream together the butter and sugar until they are just combined and then add the vanilla (if you have a stand mixer, use paddle attachment). In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar. Mix until the dough starts to come together. Dump on a floured board and roll together into a flat square. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, take out the fridge and cut into 1 1/4-inch squares.

Jane notes: the dough was super duper crumbly. I really had to work it on the floured board to get it to come together. Also, it was difficult to roll it out into a square, so I pressed and rolled it out into a circle. After removing the dough from the refrigerator, I evenly cut the circle into 16 pie slices, if that makes sense, and form those triangles I rolled the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. By doing it this way, I knew that the cookie balls were all the same size and it was just all around easier for me.

Roll the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. (If you have a scale they should each weigh 1 ounce.) Place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet. Hold the cookie steady with one hand and press a light indentation into the top of each with your finger. Jane note: again, the dough was pretty crumbly, even when I had them shaped into balls. I had to sort of press each cookie down and shape it into a circle, then press the indentations in. A note on the indentations – I thought the cracked edges would be pretty, but the caramel oozed out of the cracks, so try not to have too many of cracks. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until they’re just a little golden brown on the sides. Jane note: I had to bake them longer than 15 minutes, my oven runs cool. Let cookies cool. While they’re cooling, make the caramel.

Combine the sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a medium saucepan. Do not stir. Cook over medium-high heat to a dark caramel, swirling as it begins to brown to distribute the sugar. While the sugar and water are going at it, heat up the cream in a saucepan or microwave just until warm.

Take off the heat and add your room temperature butter. Whisk the butter in, being sure it’s totally combined. Add your warmed cream and whisk vigorously. Jane note: HOLY STEAM! Be careful when you add the cream…a pretty decent amount of HOT steam shot out of the pot when I poured it in and sort of surprised my face. No damage done, but can’t hurt to warn you!

Spoon a teaspoon of warm caramel into the indentations of your cookies and top with sea salt. You can eat right away or let sit for 2 hours so the caramel sets. Jane note: I sprinkled my coarse sea salt about 5-10 minutes after I filled the cookies with caramel, so that I knew it would stick. The salt sort of disappeared into the caramel, so you couldn’t see it, which was sad because the salt is pretty, but it still tasted divine.

Makes 16 cookies

Posted by Jane Maynard at 12:40 pm 8 Comments
Categories: featured recipes, Recipes, sweet things