Caramel White Jumble Cookies
A serious contender for Best Cookie Ever Recipe!
I confess to having a bit of a love affair with cookies. What is it about cookies? Don’t you just love them, the big fat puffy ones, the thin, crispy, crunchy ones, the ooey, gooey fudgy ones and the munchy, crunchy, nutty ones! There’s even a cookie called the World Peace cookie (as in ‘it is so delicious it could bring world peace.’) I unabashedly join ranks with the cookie monster when homemade cookies are sitting on the counter and hope no one is looking who might notice any similarity between us.
Aren’t we conditioned to love them after all. With childhood fun like “Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?” and, “When you give a mouse a cookie…”, we knew they must be something we should be excited about eating! And then with the parental admonition of not sneaking an extra cookie from the pile, we were not too young to understand that something that is guarded and limited must taste delicious!
A bakery in my hometown known for their delicious, creative cookies, invented one called a White Jumble and White Jumble with Nuts. Well, I was a bit nutty about them and have been thinking for years that I should try to duplicate them. I have tried piecing together bits of different recipes to achieve a similar result but wasn’t nearly as nutty about these attempts and found none worthy of sharing.
But during a recent surge of creative energy, I thought I’d give it one more try, If I didn’t nail the White Jumble, the result was a cookie I knew I would want to have again, and that it was worthy of your attention - so here it is. You have my permission to eat as many as you’d like!
Caramel white Jumble cookies
1 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
2 eggs
4 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup sliced almonds
1/3 cup toffee baking bits
-In a large mixing bowl, cream together shortening, butter, sugar, powdered sugar and eggs. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed ingredients and mix until dry ingredients are incorporated. Mix in the vanilla extract. Scoop the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press together into a ball, then press into a flat disc, wrap well with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
-Roll the dough on a well-floured counter to a uniform 1/2 inch in thickness. With a round cookie or doughnut cutter, about 3-4 inches in diameter, cut the dough into as many cookies as possible. Press left-over dough into another disc and roll a second time, once again cutting out as many cookies as possible. continue until most of the dough is used.
-Place the cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper a silpad, or sprayed with cooking spray. Bake in a 350 degree oven, 10 - 12 minutes or until the cookies are slightly puffy and golden around the bottom edges (be careful not to overcook). Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on a wire cooking rack.
FOR THE CARAMEL:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel or coarsely ground salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-Place, butter in medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Let butter melt about 5 minutes then add brown sugar, milk and syrup. Stir frequently with a wooden spoon over medium heat until smooth.
-Increase heat slightly to medium-high heat and stir constantly until mixture reaches the soft ball stage on a candy thermometer (240 degrees) - about 6 - 8 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Let cool. Save extra caramel sauce in an airtight container in the fridge to use on ice cream or cakes.
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
1/4 cup butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
dash of salt
-Mix room temperature butter and cream cheese in an electric mixer on medium-high speed until smooth and fluffy. Add powdered sugar, salt and vanilla to the creamed mixture and mix in gently, then increase speed until well-combined and smooth (about 2 minutes.)
TO ASSEMBLE COOKIES:
-Frost each cookie with a dollop of cream cheese frosting either by piping a mound on each cooking or swirling it on with a knife. Drizzle the caramel over the top of the cookies then sprinkle with almonds and toffee bits. Let set out for about an hour before serving, to allow caramel to harden slightly.
-Makes 2 dozen large cookies.
You can either scoop the cookies with an ice cream scoop onto a cookie sheet or roll out the dough and cut them out. The cut ones have a nicer, sharper edge.
Allow baked cookies to cool completely on wire rack.
Are they ready to eat yet?
PERSNICEKTY NOTES:
-The caramel recipe above is so easy and delicious and has so many uses. For these cookies you want it to be of a drizzling consistency and yet be able to set on the cookie without being sticky. Be sure to cook to the temperature indicated. You can use wrapped caramel candies, melted down as a shortcut, but they tend to harden more than the homemade caramel in this recipe.
