Chocolate and Salted Caramel Cookies

Here we go again, it's time for another quick/brief/short/hastily-written-at-1-am kind of blog post!  Why, you ask?  I've fallen behind.  Believe it or not, I have a bright aquamarine sticky note stuck to my desk outlining my schedule for blog posts, and these chocolate and salted caramel cookies were supposed to have been posted yesterday, not today.  Oops.  You'd think the bright color of my sticky note would have been striking enough to catch my attention, but I guess that when that bright aquamarine sticky note is sandwiched in between a bright purple and a bright pink sticky note for several weeks, you just sorta become accustomed to fluorescent colors, and they no longer have any effect on you.  That makes sense right?  If not, I'm going to keep telling myself that anyway.  Moving on!

I'm not only behind on my pre-scheduled blog posts, but I'm also behind on life in general.  My independent study project has moved to the back burner for now, and my portfolio production is so far behind that it's not even in the kitchen anymore, let alone near the back burner.  Up until now, that is.  Yes.  Tonight, as in, within the next fifteen minutes, I'm going to open up Indesign/Illustrator/Photoshop (obviously not all at the same time, as I seriously doubt my little Macbook pro can handle that kind of stress) and get work done.  Forrealz. It's going to happen.  I don't have class until 1:10 pm tomorrow (today?), so it's not like I have to wake up early or anything.  It's time for an all-nighter!

This portfolio-making-business needs to happen, as does my affordable-housing-research-business, and my general-other-work-business.  When this is all happening, I have yet to figure out, as I am going home this weekend to do some serious baking and photographing for you guys (get exciteddddd, everyone), and then Sunday night is Oscar night, which I refuse to miss for anything in the world.  This is the one year where I have actually seen a majority of the films nominated, so I plan on plopping myself on my couch in front of my television and not moving until the award ceremony is over (although I will probably have my laptop in hand, as I'm sure I'm going to be attempting to multitask).  But anyway, I'm getting sidetracked.  This post needs to be written and published, now!

These chocolate and salted caramel cookies are quick, delicious, and simple to make.  They have the texture of a brownie, and a hidden salted caramel in their center, and here's a funny story that I can't pass up on sharing. I love sharing my baked goods with my little cousin, mostly because I just love hearing her say, "oooh cupcake!!!!" or something along those lines as soon as she sees me walk through the door.  She likes pretty much everything (seriously, she's the only three-year old I know who asks for plain lettuce as a snack), but these cookies just did not suit her fancy.  She took one bite, and said, "I don't like brownies!" and that was it.  I didn't bother to explain that these were actually cookies, and not brownies, but just left it at that.  It was still adorable!  I'm sure she'll grow into learning to love the combination of chocolate and salted caramel, because really, who doesn't?

You'll notice if you scroll down that I don't have any pictures from when I actually made the cookies.  Shocker, I know, as that's something that I always try to include in my recipes.  I'm not including them this time, not because of my time crunch (seriously, I NEED TO GET BACK TO WORK), but because I cannot for the life of me find the memory card that has all the pictures I'm missing.  In any case, the cookies are simple enough that I think you'll be alright without photos.  Here's a tip- make your life easy by using store-bought caramels.  That's what I did!  I found some great salted caramels at Trader Joe's, but any store-bought or soft homemade caramel will do.  Enjoy the recipe!

Chocolate and Salted Caramel Cookies
recipe from Two Peas and their Pod

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
7 tablespoons cocoa powder
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 brown sugar
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
caramel candies (or homemade soft caramel)
sea salt

Directions

Begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F, and position an oven rack in the middle of the oven.  Line two baking sheets with silicone liners or parchment paper.  

In a small bowl, sift together the flour, soda, and salt.  Whisk to incorporate, and set aside.

In a large microwave safe bowl, melt the butter in the microwave.  Stir in the cocoa powder and both sugars with a wooden spoon (the mixture will look very sandy).  Add the plain yogurt and the vanilla extract, stirring to combine.  Add in the dry ingredients, mixing until just incorporated. 

To assemble the cookies, begin by prepping the caramel.  I used store-bought caramels, so I cut each caramel in half and rolled it into a little ball, about a teaspoon in size.  Wrap about a tablespoon of the cookie dough around the caramel balls.  Place the cookies on the prepared cookie sheets, spacing them about two inches apart to allow room for spreading.  Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with a little sea salt.  

Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for about 10-12 minutes, or until they are just set.  Allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets before transferring them to a wire rack.  These cookies are delicious when warm, because the caramel interior is still gooey, but make sure to give the cookies time to cool before eating them!  Try to resist for at least five minutes, as their caramel centers will be very hot when you remove them from the oven...don't burn yourself!  Enjoy!

Makes about 2 dozen cookies