12 weeks of Christmas cookies - week 11 - Chocolate Caramel Cookies

As the Christmas is nearer the free time I have for blogging is less and less, and therefore I simply didn't get to post my cookies on Friday, although the cookies were gone much earlier last week.
These were explicitely requested by my daughter, she decided, first of all, it was time for me to make something that "she chose", and then between two recipes that she had picked in my cookbook, she finally decided it was these that she wanted.
I was hoping she'd choose the other one, much simpler, but no. It had to be this recipe.
Now, the recipe called for caramel topping made with toffees, butter and heavy cream, and since I didn't have any toffees at home, I made my own caramel sauce (the recipe will follow separately).
It was worth the effort, the cookies were gone in no time, and two of my friends who stopped by that afternoon can confirm.
As far as I'm concerned, my weeknes for caramel is well known, anything made with caramel (or the caramel sauce on it's own for that matter) gives me a real kick.
A spoonfull anyone? Or you'd rather have a cookie ^__^



Chocolate Caramel Cookies


225 g flour
180 g butter
95 g muscovado sugar
1 TBspoon unsweetened cocoa
25 g grated milk chocolate
1 egg yolk
thick caramel sauce(for topping)
dark or milk chocolate for decorating

Mix and sift together the flour and the cocoa. Add the grated milk chocolate and thesugar and stir well.
rubb in the cold butter, chopped, to get coarse crumbs.
Add the egg yolk and bring everything together to form soft dough. Divide the dough in two parts and wrap each in a piece of plastic wrap, and let it cool in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour, until firm enough to roll out.
Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out between two sheets of baking paper to about 4-5 mm thick.
Using a round, flower shaped or simply fluted, cookie cutter, 5 cm in diameter, cut the cookies and place them on baking sheet lined with parchment paper.



Collect the scraps after cutting and chill them again before cutting out more cookies.
Bake the cookies in an oven preheated to 180°C for about 12 minutes.
Let them cool on a cooling rack.
Before they are completely cold, put 1/2 teaspoon of caramel sauce in the center of each cookie and let it spread alone.



Melt some dark chocolate and put it in a small parchment paper cone and pipe over the caramel creating a "cage". Let the chocolate become stiff before serving.
It is best to eat them within 2-3 days.




Biscotti al cioccolato e caramello


225 g di farina
180 g di burro
95 g di zucchero muscovado
1 cucchiaio di cacao amaro
25 g di cioccolato al latte grattugiato
1 tuorlo (medio)
caramello (mou)
cioccolato fondente per decorare


Mescolate e setacciate insieme la farina e il cacao.
Unite lo zucchero e il cioccolato grattugiato.
Aggiungete il burro freddo a tocchetti e lavorate con le punte delle dita per ottenere delle briciole.
Unite poi il tuorlo e impastate velocemente.
Dividete la pasta in due parti, avvolgetela in pellicola alimentare e lasciate riposare in frigo 30 minuti (o un'ora).
Stendete la pasta (un pezzo per volta) con un mattarello (tra due pezzi di carta da forno, cosi non la pasta non si appiccica al tavolo) allo spessore di 4-5 mm. Con un tagliapasta rotondo di 5 cm di diametro ricavate dei biscottini e metteteli sulla teglia rivestita con la carta da forno.
Cuoceteli nel forno già caldo a 180°C per circa 12 minuti.
Trasferiteli su una griglia e lasciateli raffreddare.
Prima che i biscotti sono completamente freddi, mettete al centro di ogni uno 1/2 cucchiaino di salsa al caramello e lasciate che si stende da sola.
Sciogliete un po' di cioccolato e con aiuto di un piccolo cono di carta oleata create la griglia sopra il caramello. Lasciate che il cioccolato indurisca prima di servirli. E consigliabile consumarli entro 2-3 giorni.




Čokoladni cvjetići s karamelom


225 g brašna
180 g maslaca
95 g muscovado šećera
1 žlica kakaa (gorkog)
25 g naribane mliječne čokolade
1 žumanjak
karamel
tamna ili mliječna čokolada za ukras


Prosijte skupa brašno i kakao.
Dodajte šećer i mljevenu čokoladu i izmiješajte.
Dodajte na listiće narezan maslac i trljajte vršcima prstiju da dobijete mrvice.
Umiješajte žumanjak i zamijesite glatko, mekano tijesto.
Podijelite ga na dva dijela i svaki omotajte plastičnom folijom i ostavite u hladnjak 1/2-1 sat.
Razvaljajte tijesto tanko (4-5 mm) između dva komada papira za pečenje pa okruglim kalupićem (po mogućnosti u obliku cvijeta ili nazubljenog ruba) promjera 5 cm vadite kekse i stavljajte ih na pleh obložen papirom za pečenje. Ostatke tijesta nakon rezanja opet rashladite prije nego ćete ih ponovo razvaljati, jer tijesto na toplom dosta odmekne.
Pecite kekse u pećnici zagrijanoj na 180°C oko 12 minuta.
Izvadite ih i ostavite da se hlade na rešetki.
Dok su keksi još pomalo mlačni, stavite na svaki pola žličice karamela - sam će se od topline razliti. Ne stavljajte previše jer će iscuriti preko ruba.
Otopite čokoladu, stavite je u plastičnu vrećicu, kojoj odrežite jedan vrh pa ukrasno našarajte preko keksa i karamela.
Pokušala sam i obrnuto, staviti prvo čokoladu, pa preko nje karamel, ali vam ne preporučam iz dva razloga - prvi što je karamel klizio dolje s čokolade, a drugi zato što su se keksi lijepili jedan za drugi.