Hands on: 30 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes
Makes: 48 cookies
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 egg white
1 teaspoon water
1 1/2 cups chopped roasted, salted cashews
16 individually wrapped caramels (about 1/3 of 14-ounce package)
3 tablespoons heavy cream
3 ounces white chocolate
1 teaspoon vegetable shortening
Instructions:
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter and brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg, vanilla and salt and blend on low speed 1 minute. Add flour and beat on low just until ingredients are combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a pie plate, beat egg white and water until foamy. Pour cashews into a second pie plate.
Scoop out dough and roll into 1-inch balls. Drop each ball into the beaten egg white and roll to cover, then into the cashews and roll to cover. Arrange on baking sheet 2 inches apart. Using your thumb, make an indentation in the center of each cookie. Bake 12 minutes or until edges are set.
While cookies are baking, make caramel filling. In a small saucepan, heat caramels and cream over low heat, stirring until caramels melt, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat but keep warm.
As soon as the cookies are done, move them to a wire rack and fill each indentation with caramel filling. Allow cookies to cool completely.
To make the drizzle, in a small saucepan, combine white chocolate and vegetable shortening. Warm over low heat just until chocolate is melted. Using a fork, drizzle chocolate over cookies. Allow cookies to cool completely before moving. Caramel topping will be sticky for 6 hours.
Per cookie: 87 calories (percent of calories from fat, 53), 1 gram protein, 9 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 5 grams fat (3 grams saturated), 11 milligrams cholesterol, 24 milligrams sodium.
