Cashew Caramel Cookies from Martha Stewart

One of my favorite OPL resources is access to Overdrive, an online library for digital books. I heavily use Overdrive for audiobooks and recently starting using it to access cookbooks. I love a good cookie and you typically can’t go wrong with a classic Martha Stewart recipe. I borrowed the following cookbook via Overdrive to find a new cookie recipe: Martha Stewart’s Cookies: The Very Best Treats to Bake and to Share by Martha Stewart Living Magazine (ISBN: 9780307885692). My favorite food combination is salty and sweet, especially with caramel playing the sweet role. I was immediately drawn to the Cashew Caramel Cookie recipe, because who doesn’t like a cookie with caramel drizzled on top? 🙂 The recipe is almost as simple as my typical chocolate chip recipe with the exception of chopping the nuts, which really didn’t take that much extra time. Plus, the drizzle of caramel on top adds an extra wow touch.

Ingredients

• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 2 1/2 cups roasted salted cashew
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon canola oil
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 24 soft caramel candy cubes or caramel sauce
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift together flour and salt. Coarsely chop 1 cup cashews; set aside. Process remaining 1 1/2 cups cashews in a food processor until finely chopped. Pour in oil; process until creamy, about 2 minutes.
2. Put cashew mixture, butter, and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture and reserved chopped cashews.
3. Using a 1 1/2 -inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake 6 minutes; gently flatten cookies. Bake until bottoms are golden, 6 to 7 minutes more. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.
4. Melt caramels with cream in a saucepan over low heat, stirring. Let cool. Using a spoon, drizzle caramel over cookie; let set. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature in single layers up to 3 days.

Thoughts:

I used my blender instead of a food processor and it worked just fine. Also, I flattened the cookies with the back of a large spoon. Flattening with a fork reminded me too much of peanut butter cookies even though that would have been fine.