Caramel Shortbread Cookies

Caramel Shortbread Cookies

These Caramel Shortbread Cookies are SO SO easy to make that this will be the shortest blog post ever! A super melt in your mouth buttery shortbread is topped with an incredibly easy caramel topping that is soo good and then sprinkled with a bit of flaky sea salt! They do require a tiny bit of wait time (for the dough to chill in the fridge), but other than that, they are such a breeze to put together!

How to make the shortbread cookies

  1. Whisk together the dry ingredients: in a large bowl, combine cornstarch, flour, baking powder, and salt.
  2. Beat the wet ingredients together: beat the butter with the sugar until fluffy. In goes the egg yolks and vanilla, beating to combine well.
  3. Put it all together: dump the dry ingredients into the wet, and mix on low until a dough comes together and no more dry flour is on the bottom of the bowl. This gets wrapped in plastic wrap and chilled in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
  4. Roll and bake: roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness, cut with a 2 inch round cookie cutter, and bake for about 12 minutes! Let them cool completely.

Make the easiest caramel topping

Homemade caramel is a thing of art and beauty. But we don’t have time for that here! Haha This caramel topping is made with 2 simple ingredients and comes together in a literal minute!

  1. Combine unwrapped soft caramel candies with heavy cream in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on 30 second intervals, mixing in between, until it’s smooth!
  2. Spoon caramel onto the middles of each cookie and let them set slightly before enjoying!

These cookies are sooo perfect as you bite through that top layer of chewy soft caramel and then finish off with the softest, crumbly and buttery shortbread.

Caramel Shortbread Cookies
Yield: about 24-30 cookies

Caramel Shortbread Cookies

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

melt in your mouth shortbread meets luscious caramel in this super easy cookie recipe!

Ingredients

for the shortbread cookies

  • 2/3 c (90g) cornstarch
  • 2/3 c (85g) all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 6 tb (85g) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1/3 c (67g) granulated sugar
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

for caramel topping

  • 10 oz soft or chewy caramel candies (I used Werther's Original)
  • 2 tb heavy cream

Instructions

for shortbread cookies

  1. in a large bowl, combine cornstarch, flour, baking powder, and salt. whisk well and set aside.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on high for 1 minute until creamy. Beat in sugar on high until fluffy. Scrape down the bowl and add egg yolks and vanilla. Mix again until well combined, then turn to high for 30 seconds.
  3. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture and mix on low until combined and no dry ingredients are left at the bottom of the bowl.
  4. Dump out dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap and using the sides of the plastic wrap, flatten the dough into a cohesive flat disc, wrap tightly. Flatten dough further to fill the entire plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or overnight, up to 2 days.
  5. When ready to bake, take dough out of refrigerator. If it has been chilling over 1 hour, let it soften a bit on the counter before rolling.
  6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  7. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out until it's about 1/4 inch thick (I like them on the slightly thicker side). Use a 2 inch circle cookie cutter to cut out the dough and place on a parchment lined baking sheet at least 1/2 inch apart (they don't spread too much). Re-roll excess dough and cut again.
  8. Bake cookies for about 10-12 minutes, until the edges or bottom are just very slightly catching a golden color. Let cool completely.

for caramel topping

  1. When ready to assemble, place caramel candies and heavy cream in a microwave safe bowl. microwave on 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until caramel is completely melted and smooth.
  2. Carefully spoon caramel onto the middle of each cookie and top with flaky sea salt. Let caramel set for a little or enjoy right away!

Summary
recipe image
Recipe Name
Caramel Shortbread Cookies
Author Name
Published On
Preparation Time
Cook Time
Total Time
Average Rating
51star1star1star1star1star Based on 1 Review(s)

Comments are closed.