In the Spirit of Halloween

A small Halloween token for my beloved co-workers. These chocolate caramel cookies are a little on the thin side, but are chewy thanks to the caramel candy. Note for next time: scoop flour, not spoon, roll out balls (32 grams for ~38 cookies) & refrigerate before baking. Although I refrigerated some dough & my butter was still a bit cold, the cookies spread too much & became to thin for my taste, which makes them too unstrudy to support the heavy candy. The texture of these remind me of the cookies you get at the bakery section of your local supermarket. The dough was moist & sticky...my least favorite kind. After removing them from the oven & allowing them to continue cooking on the cookie sheet, I moved them into the fridge, this made for quick & easy removal from the parchment paper. For removal, I used an offset spatula, which worked like a charm.

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Halloween Caramel Cookies
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (scooped)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup Halloween M&Ms (chocolate chips)
20-25 caramels, such as Kraft (about 1 cup+)

• Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Place 1 tablespoon of the flour into a small bowl. Chop each caramel into 6-8 pieces & lightly coat with the flour.
  
• Whisk together remaining flour, baking soda, baking powder & salt in a medium bowl.
• In a large bowl (stand mixer), cream together butter & sugars until light, about 2 minutes.
• Add in eggs one at a time, then vanilla extract. Don’t worry if the batter separates, just keep beating until it becomes smooth.
  
• Slowly add in flour mixture. Fold in caramels & chocolate candy/chips until batter is uniform & no streaks of flour remain. (This will be an arm workout, the batter is thick & sticky.)
  
• Roll dough by rounded tablespoonfuls (32 grams) onto baking sheet. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
  
• Hopefully cookies will not spread a lot. Bake for 12-13 minutes, or until cookies are lightly browned around the edges.
  
• Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 5-10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. If cookies stick to the parchment, allow them to cool longer in the fridge before moving them.
• Makes ~ 38 cookies.