Chocolate Caramel Cookies, where the wild things are

 

Rainy Saturday on February, cold and dreary...

I and my piano man took the kids to New York City to see the Broadway musical, "Mary Poppins".

Wandering around the Manhattan street, blocks after blocks, soaking wet with two munchkins in the winter rain..., not a romantic scene you can imagine before the Valentine's day but we had a great time.

The show was great. It was "SuperCaliFragiListicExpiAliDocious".  My 7 year old boy screamed at the end of the show, when Ms. Poppins was ascending to the theater ceiling holding her umbrella, " I love you, Mary Poppins!"

Time Square, NYC

I like to bake with my kids. They are good at it. This is how I tame my kids... well, should I say how I domesticate them? You know, with any kids, a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, medicine go down and medicine go down...

I would like to share with you one cookie recipe that my kiddos adore. It is this caramel filled chocolate cookies from Pillsbury website. 

Ooey-gooey caramels melted in rich chocolate cookies...

Sounds like complicated recipe but quite easier than you would imagine. If my wild munchkins can make them, anybody can.

*****

The most important factor of this recipe...

Gather up your WILD THINGS to help you out!

Wild thing #1                                                 Wild thing #2

Next, put all the baking supplies on your counter. 

I used "Rolo" for this recipe. 

You can use other types of candies that can melt, but I think Rolos works the best.

Sift the flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda happily together. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugars until they call the police for domestic violence.
(I mean until they transform into nice and fluffy...  Uh, you know that, right?)

Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time.
Beat, beat, beat...

Slowly add the happy cocoa-flour mixture,
(make sure to lower the speed of your mixer)

combine until they turn into dark side of the force. 
Don't you beat them anymore!
You can chill them for 30 minutes if you want.

Meanwhile, peel the Rolo wrappers to reveal their flesh.
My wild things will do anything if sugar is involved in their diet.

You go and chop some pecans and mix with sugar in a bowl.

 

 Take about 1 Tbsp of dough and squish it.
Put 1 Rolo in the middle,

and cover the Rolo with the dough.

 Have your wild things to play around with the dough to make a ball shape.

Press on to the pecans,



and have them place the balls exactly 2" apart evenly on the the baking sheet.
Teach them a sense of space and distance.

Wild thing #2 is ready to put his sheet into hot oven.
"I will eat you up!"
Bake at 375ºF (190ºC) for 7-10 minutes.

This made my wild things to become mischievous of one kind...

When they saw the ooey-gooey caramels melted in the cookies, well... 

 they gnashed their teeth and romped around the house with their claws.

I think it just made their life happier.
They are simple creatures, sometimes...

The night when my wild things put these cookies in their mouth,

The forest started to grow in their rooms, 

and they were sailing off to wild-land without eating their dinner.

Who knows how many hours had gone by for them to return to reality,

but when they came back,
well..., the dinner was NOT still hot.

But they, still, will be my Valentines

Happy Valentine's day!

Chocolate Caramel Cookies

(adapted from Pillsbury recipe)
makes 4 dozens

2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (I used dutch processed)
1 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped
1 Tbsp sugar
48 Rolo chewy caramels, unwrapped

Icing (optional):
1 cup powdered sugar
about 2 Tbsp milk (more or less)

Sift flour, cocoa, soda, and salt together in a bowl. Set aside.
Beat butter and sugars until fluffy, add vanilla and eggs one at a time; beat well.
Add the flour mixture and blend well until it gets incorporated. Chill the dough for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat oven to 375º F (190º C)
Mix pecans and sugar in a bowl. Take 1 Tbsp of dough and flatten. Place 1 Rolo in the center and cover it completely with the dough making a ball. Press the ball into pecan sugar mixture.
Place the balls onto parchment papered cookie sheet, 2" apart. Bake for 7-10 minutes. Remove them from the sheet and cool on the wired rack.
Combine powdered sugar and milk until you get the desired consistency, drizzle icing over the cookies.

Printable recipe