When I mentioned salted peanut caramel cookies to my boyfriend the other day, his eyes swivelled so quickly, I knew I’d have to make these sooner rather than later. You see, he doesn’t like chocolate. Peanut butter on the other hand, is a little different. These cookies can be made with round or fluted cutters, with the buttercream piped in or spread with a palette knife. I buy pre-made salted caramel simply because it’s quicker but you can totally make your own. Simply check out the instructions below.
What makes these salted peanut caramel cookies so special?
I’d be lying if I said there isn’t one distinct characteristic that makes these cookies undeniably good. In fact, it’s the combination of a multitude of components that really make them stand out.
- The cookies themselves are delicate and light
- The salted peanuts and salted caramel is the perfect example of “flavour layering”, the salt acting as an enhancer of the sweetness to make these cookies taste even better
- The mixture of silky buttercream, crunchy peanuts and buttery cookies are sensational for the mouthfeel
Ingredients and alternatives
- Nuts / peanut butter: I’m a huge lover of peanuts and peanut butter, but if you’re allergic to nuts, you can leave them out completely. Alternatively switch the peanuts for almonds, and the peanut butter for almond butter.
- Flour: the combination of flour and icing sugar will produce a beautifully flaky cookie that melts in the mouth. Always use plain, cake or pastry, or something like Cotswold Flour Maizebite for the best results.
- Butter: as with most recipes, I always use unsalted butter unless otherwise stated. This gives you more control over the amount of salt to flavour your cookies perfectly.
- Eggs: using a medium egg instead of a large egg will yield the same result.
- Dulce de leche: Nestlé sell pre-made Carnation caramel in a 397g tin. Alternatively, you can make your own using condensed milk. Fill a large saucepan with water and submerge the tin in the water. Bring to the boil over a medium heat on the hob and leave to boil for 3hrs on a gentle simmer. Be sure to top up the water every 30 minutes so the tin is always submerged!
Make the caramel for these salted peanut caramel cookies
If you want to make everything from scratch, that’s totally possible! While I usually buy store bought salted caramel for filling these, it’s really simple to make your own at home. Here’s how:
Start with condensed milk
Not evaporated milk. Condensed milk. Evaporated milk is made up of cow’s milk with over half of its water content removed. Condensed milk on the other hand, is modified in a similar way but has sugar added to it. When cooked this will create your caramel.
Fill a large saucepan with water
You want a saucepan that is big enough to fit the condensed milk tin inside, and that you can submerge with water. You water should come around two-thirds of the way up your pan. Submerge the tin, and bring to the boil.
Bring to a gentle simmer
Once boiling, turn down the heat ever so slightly until your water is at a gentle simmer. Pop a lid on top, and set a timer for 3hrs.
Check your water level every 30 minutes
As the water boils, some will evaporate and the level will drop below that of the tin. Top it up every half an hour, so that the tin remains completely submerged for an even caramel. As it boils, the sugar will start to brown, creating a beautiful golden colour.
Be careful handling your tin
When the time is up, turn off the heat and carefully remove the tin from the water. I recommend slowly pouring the boiling water into the sink and leaving your tin to cool for 30 minutes before attempting to open it with a can opener. Once cooled, open the can and stir in a few pinches of flaky sea salt for a homemade salted caramel sauce!
Storing your caramel and salted peanut caramel cookies
Scrape any leftover caramel from the tin in a glass jar fitted with an airtight lid, and place in the fridge. It should keep for up to a week. Once the cookies have been prepared, they should keep for 2-3 days in an airtight container.
Salted peanut caramel cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies
- 50 g salted peanuts plus extra for decoration
- 225 g plain flour sifted
- 150 g icing sugar sifted
- 150 g unsalted butter diced and chilled
- 2 large egg yolks Clarence Court sell these in cartons
For the filling
- 50 g unsalted butter softened
- 75 g crunchy peanut butter
- 75 g icing sugar sifted
- 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 100 g dulce de leche or caramel
- Pinch flaky sea salt
Instructions
For the cookies
- Place your peanuts in the bowl of a food processor or a nutribullet and pulse until finely ground. If you don’t have a food processor, you can also place your peanut in a sealable food bag and bash with a rolling pin until they resemble ground almonds.
- Sift your flour and icing sugar into a bowl and add the ground peanuts. Mix to combine.
- Add the diced butter and using your hands, rub between your fingers until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. You want to make sure you’ve broken down all the butter, and everything is nicely combined, but not yet a dough.
- Add the egg yolks and stir in gently. It might seem as though there isn’t enough liquid. At this point, use your hands to knead the dough ver lightly and gently until it starts to come together in clumps.
- Turn it out onto your work surface and using your hands again, keep working until it forms one uniform ball of dough.N.B. Overworking or kneading the dough too much will result in tough cookies. You want to handle it as little as possible!
- Divide the dough into two halves, press them into discs and then wrap in clingfilm. Refrigerate for at least an hour or until the dough is firm.
- Roll each piece of dough out separately between two pieces of parchment until roughly 5mm thick. As the dough is high in butter, it may be flexible and soft, so place it onto a baking tray and refrigerate once more until firm.
- Preheat your oven to 180C/160C fan. Remove one of the dough sheets from the fridge and carefully peel off the top piece of parchment, using this to line a baking tray. Using a 5cm round cookie cutter, cut out as many cookies as you can, placing them onto the prepared baking tray. You can bake them fairly close together, as they won’t spread much in the oven.
- Repeat with the second sheet of dough and then collect the scraps together to form another uniform ball of leftover dough. Repeat by rolling between two sheets of baking parchment and refrigerating once more so it’s easier to handle.
- Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for about 12 minutes, rotating the trays halfway through baking, until the cookies are lightly browned around the edges.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the filling
- Using an electric mixer, beat together the butter and peanut butter until smooth and creamy. Sift in the icing sugar and beat on high speed until light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla and beat to combine.
To assemble your cookies
- Once your cookies have baked and cooled completely, pipe or spread half of your cookies with the buttercream. Top with a scant teaspoon of caramel and sprinkle over a few extra chopped peanuts and some flay sea salt. Then sandwich them all together.
Notes
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