Sea Salt Caramel-Stuffed Snickerdoodles

If the word caramel was not in here, this is a perfect example of alliteration. Wow. I'm a nerd. Anyway. These were an extremely fun cookie to make. Since I've become addicted to Pintrest [it's unfortunate], I have pinned many a-recipe with plans to bake them all. [It's like Pokémon! Gotta bake 'em all!] Forgive me, it was a long day at work and I think I'm a tad loopier than usual.

On to the real story. I decided that I would make cookies for everyone in my office for Christmas. This resulted in four types of cookies. I think I made over 400 cookies and I don't think my kitchen has forgiven me yet for the abuse. At least the house smelled delicious and was nice and toasty since the oven was on all day. I wanted a cookie that deviated from what I normally baked, but still have a cookie that everyone would eat. Thus, the snickerdoodle. Besides it's hilarious name, it is a very tasty cookie and very easy to make. And everyone at work loved them.

 

Sea Salt Caramel-Stuffed Cookies

Ingredients:

[cinnamon sugar coating]

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

[dough]

1 1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, softened [as always, you can use salted]

2 large eggs

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons cream of tarter

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

5 packages of Rolo candies [I used around two bags of mini Rolos and I doubled the recipe]

coarse sea salt

 

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. For the cinnamon sugar, combine the 1/4 cup of sugar and tablespoon of cinnamon in a shallow dish and set aside. [As you go, you may need to make more.]

 

In a large bowl, beat the 1 1/2 cup of sugar and butter at a medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition. Stir in vanilla.

 

Sift flour, cream of tarter, baking soda, and salt into mixing bowl. [I don't own a sifter any more so I used two mesh colanders. My mother's idea and it's brilliant.] With the mixer on low, mix until thoroughly combined.

 

Working with one tablespoon of dough at a time, place a single Rolo inside the dough and roll into a ball. Roll dough balls in the cinnamon sugar mix and place on a baking sheet. Sprinkle the dough balls with sea salt.

 

Bake for seven to eight minutes. The cookies should look raw between the cracks and seem underdone. [Trust me, they aren't.] Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for five minutes and transfer to a cooling rack. Then dig in!

 

 

 

I probably made around 100 of these. Needless to say, it was a good thing I did.