Soft Salted-Butter Caramels

The key word here is “SOFT”….I do not know what happened, other than I must have over cooked these,  but mine were not soft!  I did everything the recipe told us too.  Ugh!!  No problems whatsoever.  I even commented to myself that Dorie was so right in describing the mixture as “seething” when you add the cream and butter.  So imagine my surprise when I went to cut these and they were not soft…at all.  I was able to cut them with quite a bit of pressure but knew right away these didn’t turn out the way they were suppose to.  (I have since found out from other blogs, that a lot of people had the same problem!! 🙂

I almost threw them out but decided to try one anyway.  I thought, well maybe mine will be more like a caramel hard candy.  Much to my surprise, it softened pretty readily in my mouth and tasted fantastic!!  The salted caramel flavor was right on..just not the consistency.  The caramel reminded me of an old candy bar I loved when I was growing up.  Anyone remember the Marathon Bar???…chocolate covered caramel?  I loved those.  That caramel was a little hard, not quite gooey or sticky like some caramel. That is what these were like.

These really were a  failure given the name of the recipe, but it turned out everyone loved them haha!  It just goes to show you, don’t throw it out!!  Always taste the creation first because although it might not look right, the flavor might be perfect and you can salvage your efforts.

Cocoa Linzer Cookies

In the overview, Dorie tells us that she hasn’t met a Linzer she didn’t like…and I say…I have never had a Linzer!  I know, right…how does this even happen?  I recognize the cookie!  I just haven’t had one,  probably because traditionally they have jam in them and I steer away and find something more chocolatey.  So here is the perfect opportunity…a chocolate linzer with the option to fill it with chocolate!  Win-Win!

I was pretty interested to see what these would taste like with the spice and chocolate combination that they had going on…pepper, allspice, cinnamon and clove, that is a lot.  I had no trouble making the dough or with the cutting out which can sometimes be a sticky mess. I had planned on using a plain circle but….I happened to be at Bed Bath and Beyond looking for something else and there it was…a Linzer cookie cutter. Who knew!??   Not me!  🙂  I don’t buy many gadgets to participate in this blog but this is one I just couldn’t resist…kind of like when I bought my Madeleine pan.  It just makes it all that much more fun.  I actually really liked the cookie cutter.  It had a mechanism that allowed you to push out the cut dough!  I wish all my cookie cutters had this feature.  It made it all so easy!

All in all, super easy.  I couldn’t wait to try them.  Perhaps I had high hopes with the chocolate and chocolate filling but I found these to be a little bland. Bummer!  I was lacking in the richness factor.  They were good, but not great.  My husband said he thought people who drink coffee or tea would probably love them.  They seemed more like that kind of biscuit cookie.  I am not a huge dessert eater but if I am going to have something I want it to be rich and this left me unfulfilled.  I may not make these again but I feel like I am going to find a use for my new linzer cookie cutter!!…that thing was awesome!! 🙂