White Chocolate Caramel Cookies

Sometimes you just need a cookie. But then the question becomes which cookie? And just what is the best cookie? Is chocolate chip the holy grail of cookies? According to my boyfriend, no. Oatmeal Raisin wins that award. But we’ve been through that before. My cookie-loving boyfriend got the most epic cookie jar for Christmas and I needed to step up, be an awesome girlfriend, and fill the cookie jar — and my boyfriend’s belly.

So the debate on the best cookie may still be ongoing, but these cookies are definitely contenders for a place on the podium. White chocolate and caramel in cookie form. Way better than I thought these flavors could ever be. Not without the addition of browned butter, of course. My favorite kind of butter. And it should be yours too. I had some white chocolate from making so much peppermint bark and really wanted to use it up. And throwing in some caramel didn’t seem like such a bad idea either. Totally brilliant.

I really was not expecting these cookies to be so … WOW. I can’t really describe the intense flavors without sounding to hyperbolic — that’s a word right? These cookies are so good that I make up new words just describing them. I can’t even handle it. You wanna know the craziest thing? I only ate 3 of these. I know. Because that’s all that were left after I finished a juice cleanse. Five days later. Three left out of forty cookies. Cookies for the boy and green juice for me. I’m pretty traditional when it comes to cookies. I don’t stray too far from my favorite, can’t resist a good old chocolate chip cookie, and I’m beginning to see the light with oatmeal raisin. But I’m no risk taker when it comes to cookies. Except I think that’s about to change. Because I think I came across something so phenomenal that I’m willing to change it up. And fatten up my friends in the process.

White Chocolate Caramel Cookies

Ingredients

*Adapted from Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

*Makes: about 48 cookies

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 12 tablespoons of unsalted butter, browned
• 1 cup brown sugar, only gently packed
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 oz white chocolate, chopped
• 1/3 cup caramel sauce

How to Brown Butter:

Cut the butter into 1 inch pats and add it to a skillet on low heat. Whisk the butter until melted, and then continuously stir by moving/swirling the skillet (keep it movin’!) until butter begins to turn a rich brown and brown bits start to float up from the bottom of the pan. This takes about 5-15 minutes. Once the butter turns a nice caramel color and/or has a toffee, nutty smell to it, it is done.  Remove immediately from heat and let sit until cool (room temperature).  I put it in the fridge to speed up this process.

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 325 F degrees
• In a mixing bowl (or large-medium sized bowl) combine the brown butter and sugars. Then mix in the egg + egg yolk and vanilla extract.
• Add flour and baking soda together.
• Fold in white chocolate
• Scoop out about 2 tablespoons worth of dough and roll it into a ball. Then rip the ball in half. Place one half (ripped side down) onto a cookie sheet and then place the other half (ripped side up) onto the first half. Repeat for each cookie, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie on the cookie sheet.
• Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes or until the edges start to get slightly golden brown.
• Let them sit on the cookie sheet for 3-4 minutes and then transfer to a cookie rack and allow the cookies to cool completely.