Chocolate and Salted Caramel Christmas Cookies

by Sofia Gallo

A spin on a classic Italian cookie in time for Christmas teas. This lovely chocolate short crust recipe has been enhanced by the addition of ground cinnamon and filled with caramel and a hint of sea salt. Try this Occhi di Bue today!

Prep: 15 min

Bake: 15 min

Difficulty Easy

Makes 10 sandwiched biscuits – or less depending on the cutter or enough for a medium tart

Ingredients

• 125 g unsalted butter, softened
• 90 g caster sugar
• 2 egg yolks – about 40 g
• 180 g 00 flour – if not available, any flour with low protein content
• 20 g bitter cocoa powder
• 1 heaped tsp of cinnamon
• Pinch of sea salt
• To assemble: Set caramel already made, sea salt – recipe for homemade caramel

Method

1. Sieve together flour, cinnamon and cocoa powder in a bowl and add a pinch of salt.
2. Cream your butter and sugar together with the help of a fork. This will keep the temperature of the butter consistent.
3. Add the egg yolks one at the time, and combine fully. Once you have a pomade like consistency dough, add your dry ingredients.
4. Mix them together first to a sand like consistency, then bring the ingredients together into a smooth dough ball.
5. Place the dough between two lightly floured pieces of parchment paper and roll it to a 4 mm thickness. Cut your cookie shapes and carry on until the dough is finished.
6. Half of the cookies will have an eye in them. For these I used a little star shape, but you could just use the back of a piping bag tip or a small round cutter.
7. Lay the cookies on baking trays and place them in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes. They will need to be baked from cold to keep their shape.
8. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C/ Gas mark 4 for about 12-15 minutes. The cookies should still be a little soft and will solidify when completely cooled down.
9. To assemble: place about a tsp of caramel in the middle of the base, and jam the tops. Sprinkle with a little more of sea salt. Optional: for a more Christmassy look, try and decorate with royal icing, a great way of also using the leftover egg whites.

TIPS: 

Caramel recipe. You can buy already made caramel, or if you would like to give it a go, you could either bake the content of sweetened condensed milk or, follow the below recipe:

• 200 grams caster sugar
• 120 ml double cream
• 70 g unsalted butter
• 2 tsp salt

Heat sugar and butter in a saucepan over medium heat, once of a maple like color, pour the cream, being mindful of this passage. Add salt and pour into a glass container to cool down. Try and whip this when cooled completely, for a lovely smooth consistency.