So, it was bound to happen. With 6 different cookies, something had to go terribly wrong with at least one. And that was today.
I guess I should’ve known better than to get a cookie recipe from Food & Wine. After all, their photo of the finished product showcased the cookies next to a glass of wine. Do people drink wine with cookies? I much prefer a glass of milk. Or a cup of coffee. But I guess the fine folks at Food & Wine prefer something a little stronger to balance their sugar intake.
So let’s start off with what this cookie was supposed to be: Chocolate-Caramel Sandwich Cookies. I think we were aiming for a sort of fancy version of an Oreo. A crunchy chocolate cookie sandwich with a caramel filling. Sounds delicious. And it all started off okay. I made the chocolate cookie dough without a problem.
But then I had to make the caramel.
The problem here is that you need a candy thermometer. I don’t have one of those. I do, however, have a liquid thermometer intended for checking the temperature of your frothed milk when making a latte. I figured this was good enough. But the caramel needed to heat to 250 degrees. My thermometer only measures up to 220. But I assumed that I could just guesstimate from there. False.
My caramel never caramelized. I guess I didn’t let it cook long enough. So I unknowingly poured non-caramel into a pan to cool, as directed. It was supposed to solidify enough to be able to cut it with a cookie cutter. Mine remained liquid. But I decided to try to spread it on my cookies with a spatula. That worked for about 3 seconds, until the non-caramel just oozed out of the cookie sandwich, leaving my fancy Oreos looking more like dirty, melted snowmen.
So I threw away the caramel and the poor cookie mess (luckily, I only attempted 4 messy sandwiches before giving up, leaving me with plenty of chocolate cookies), and searched the kitchen for a way to make these cookies delicious.
And what did I find? Cool-whip, semi-sweet chocolate, and graham cracker crumbs.
And it was awesome.
I used the Cool-whip as the filling between my sandwiches, dipped half of the sandwich in melted chocolate, and then dipped that into graham cracker crumbs. Call it an upscale s’more.
Eric complained that these cookies were “too chocolately,” whatever that means. More for me, I guess.
Fancy Schmancy S’mores
recipe partly from Food & Wine
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (I used 3/4 cup each of all-purpose and whole wheat)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch of salt
Cool-whip (as much or little as you please)
4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted
graham cracker crumbs (approximately 1/2 cup)
Beat the butter and sugar at a medium speed until fluffy. Beat in the egg. Sift the flour, cocoa, and salt into the bowl and beat at a low speed until the dough comes together, about 2 minutes.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 2 or 3 times. Flatten into 2 disks, wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out each disk of dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Using a small, round cookie cutter, stamp out as many rounds as possible; transfer to the baking sheets. Gather the scraps, reroll and stamp out as many cookie as possible. Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes, until puffed and set, shifting the baking sheets for even baking. (Watch them carefully near the end so they don’t burn!) Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets.
Once the cookies have cooled, spread Cool-whip on half of the cookies. Place another cookie on top to make a sandwich. Dip half of the sandwich into melted chocolate, and then immediately into graham cracker crumbs. Keep cookies refrigerated until ready to serve.
If you want these to taste more s’more-like, you could definitely use marshmallow fluff as the filling. But Cool-whip was perfectly light and fluffy.
Be sure to check out Becca’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups with Nutella. I’ve been drooling over them (and her beautifully decorated home) all day!
-Ally
Nathanieli says
There can never be too much chocolate! They look awesome.