Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Cookies

Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Cookies will rock your world if you’re a fan of Twix bars or any shortbread, chocolate, & caramel treat!

These Twix Cookies will have you swooning with your first bite! They will disappear in no time.

Why You Must Make

• I can’t say I’ve eaten very many Twix candy bars, but I adore almost any dessert that involves chocolate and caramel. If you do, too, you must make these!
• These Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Cookies start with a round of buttery shortbread, then a dollop of dreamy caramel, and finally a smear of milk chocolate. A swoon-worthy combo!
• To push these even further over the top, you can sprinkle with some sea salt (I love Maldon) or coarse sugar. They look so elegant with a bit of sparkle.

Expert Tips:

These cookies have three components so it takes a little time to make and bake the cookies, let them cool, add the caramel, let that cool, then top with chocolate. You can easily space out these steps throughout the day. Here are some tips to make the procedure go smoothly.

• Often the butter used to make shortbread is cold. In this recipe, the butter is at room temperature, so set it out on the counter early in the day (unless it’s mid-summer or you live in Florida. Use your best judgment as to how long it will take your butter to get soft).
• PRO-Tip: You do not want the butter so warm that it appears greasy.
• Once you make your dough, roll it to a thickness of 1/8-inch. If the dough is too soft to roll, wrap it in plastic and chill for 30-60 minutes, then try again.
• I used a 2-inch cookie cutter (affiliate links)to make these cookies. Any smaller and it will be tedious to decorate!
• The caramel is made with packaged caramels that you melt in the microwave. Gently melt with heavy cream. If you overheat, the caramel will get too stiff. You want it to be of a spreadable consistency so feel free to add a little more cream if needed.
• Use an offset spatula to spread on the caramel and the chocolate.
• Melting chocolate at home often brings quality concerns as it can bloom or get a whitish-gray tinge as it cools. There is no danger in eating this chocolate, but it is not very attractive.
• PRO-Tip: Adding a bit of shortening to your chocolate often prevents bloom (as does tempering, but that’s a more complicated process) or you can use chocolate melting wafers instead.

Frequently Asked Questions

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The Recipe:

Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Cookies

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes

Total Time 42 minutes

Yield varies depending on size and thickness of cookies

All the flavors of a Twix bar in a delectable cookie!

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups butter (3 sticks), at room temperature
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 bag Kraft caramels (approximately 15 ounces)
• 2+ tablespoons heavy cream
• 12 ounces milk chocolate, chopped (I used Ghirardelli bars)*
• 1 ½ teaspoons shortening, optional
• Coarse sugar or Maldon sea salt, optional, to sprinkle over chocolate.

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Beat butter and sugar.
3. Add vanilla, flour, and salt and mix until dough forms.
4. Roll half the dough out between 2 sheets of parchment dusted with flour. Roll to ¼ inch thickness.
5. Use a round cookie cutter (mine were 2 inches in diameter). Place on prepared baking sheets.
6. Bake at 350 for about 10-12 minutes. Let cool.
7. Gently melt caramel and cream in the microwave until smooth.
8. Spoon onto each cookie and let set.
9. Gently melt chocolate and shortening in the microwave and spoon carefully over the set caramel.
10. Sprinkle coarse sugar or sea salt over chocolate if desired. Let the chocolate solidify before serving.

Notes

Make sure your chocolate is chopped very fine. Gently microwave (stopping to stir at 30 second intervals) until it's almost melted. You want to let it finish melting outside the microwave. Being too aggressive will result in the chocolate blooming, but the cookies will still taste amazing!

Don't let your caramel and cream over cook in the microwave too long or it will be extra chewy. Add an extra teaspoon of cream if you're worried about over heating it!

*You can also use Ghirardelli Dark Melting Wafers if you don't want to risk having your chocolate bloom.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

24

Serving Size:

1 cookie
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 261Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 35mgSodium: 151mgCarbohydrates: 26gFiber: 1gSugar: 12gProtein: 3g

Thatskinnychickcanbake.com occasionally offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although thatskinnychickcanbake.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased can change the nutritional information in any given recipe. Also, many recipes on thatskinnychickcanbake.com recommend toppings, which may or may not be listed as optional and nutritional information for these added toppings is not listed. Other factors may change the nutritional information such as when the salt amount is listed “to taste,” it is not calculated into the recipe as the amount will vary. Also, different online calculators can provide different results. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information obtained is accurate.

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