TOFFEE & CARAMEL MALLOW COOKIES

Here’s one of my tricks to making a show-stopping holiday cookie: start with a classic cookie, and give it a few tweaks. In this case, I gave the classic mallow cookie a toffee-and-caramel spin.

Toffee and Caramel Mallow Cookies

To start things off, I tweaked the shortbread cookie by adding some brown sugar and toffee chips to make a toffee variation. From there, I gave the marshmallow filling a gooey caramel center, and then finished it all with a chocolate dip like the traditional mallow.

I’ll admit these cookies take awhile to make, but trust me when I say you won’t be sorry. They are wonderfully delicious and present beautifully.

These are one of my favorite cookies to gift, so from my kitchen to yours—happy baking and happy holidays.

TOFFEE & CARAMEL MALLOW COOKIES

Ingredients:

SHORTBREAD

• 1/3 cup of confectioner sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup cream cheese
• 1/4 cup shortening, butter-flavored
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 2 cups of flour
• 1/3 cup toffee chips

MARSHMALLOW FILLING

• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 2 egg whites, room temperature
• 1 whole vanilla bean, split open and seeded

CARAMEL FILLING

• 1 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons water
• 4 tablespoon butter
• ¼ c heavy cream
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

CHOCOLATE GLAZE

• 2 lbs. chocolate
• 2 tablespoon shortening

Directions:

TO MAKE SHORTBREAD

1. Place butter, cream cheese, shortening and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and creamy. Add vanilla and beat until combined. Add flour and beat until combined. Fold in toffee chips. Place dough in refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes.
2. Turn out dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out the dough to a 1/8 of an inch in thickness. Using a two-inch round cookie cutter, stamp out cookies. Place stamped-out cookies on parchment-lined bakesheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

TO MAKE MARSHMALLOW FILLING

In a medium saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar; bring to a boil until “soft-ball” stage, or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve. Remove the syrup from the heat, add the gelatin, and mix. Whip the whites until soft peaks form, and pour the syrup into the whites. Add the vanilla seeds and continue whipping until stiff. Transfer to a pastry bag.

TO MAKE CARAMEL FILLING

1. Place sugar and water into a saucepan over medium low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Dissolve any crystals forming on the side with a wet pastry brush. Once sugar has dissolved, increase heat to high.
2. At this point, do not stir the mixture directly. Now and then, using the handle, give the pot a swirl to keep the mixture moving. The mixture will start to bubble after a minute or so. After 3-4 minutes the mixture will turn from light amber to medium amber. Add the butter and heavy cream and stir to combine. The mixture will bubble wildly. Whisk to combine (bubbles will subside upon cooling). Set aside to cool completely.

TO MAKE CHOCOLATE GLAZE

Place chocolate and shortening in a bowl over simmering water. Gently stir until melted and combined.

TO ASSEMBLE

1. Fill pastry bag with marshmallow filling and pipe a small ring around perimeter of cookie. Spoon caramel unto the center. Return to marshmallow filled pastry bag and pipe a large dollop of marshmallow filling on top of caramel, making sure to completely cover the caramel surface.
2. Chill cookie for 20 minutes. Remove from refrigerator and dip in chocolate glaze. Or, place cookies on a cooling rack with a large microwave-safe bowl underneath and pour chocolate over the cookies. Reheat chocolate as needed to finish pouring over all cookies.

http://www.bakersroyale.com/toffee-caramel-mallow-cookies/

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