Who wants dinner?: Salted Caramel & Salted Hot Fudge Thumbprint Cookies

Back by popular demand. Salted caramel and salted hot fudge thumbprint cookies. Everyone loves these!!

First, you will need to make the cookie dough. I was so excited about making the cookies that I didn't do the best job with taking photos.

Start by creaming together 1 cup of butter and 1 1/2 cups of sugar.
Next, mix 3 1/2 cups of gluten free flour or regular flour with 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

To the butter/sugar mixture, add 2 eggs and 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla. Then add the flour mixture. Stir until combined. Separate into several small pieces of dough and wrap in plastic wrap. These will need to go into the refrigerator for a while. It is best to separate the dough so that you have smaller amounts to work with. The dough is best to work with just out of the fridge.

While the dough is in the fridge, start making the caramel. Add 2 cups of lightly packed brown sugar to a dutch oven or other thick based pot.

Begin to cook the sugar over low heat until it begins to melt, darken in color, and starts to clump together.

Once that happens, add 12 tablespoons of butter - cut in pieces. Cook that until the butter is melted and mixed well with the brown sugar.

Then add 1 cup of heavy cream.

Stir it together a little while longer until it is all mixed together. Also add about a tablespoon of sea salt.

Once the caramel is all blended and there are no sugary clumps left in it, pour it into a jar for use with the cookies.

Next make hot fudge.
Here are the ingredients:

I got so excited about the idea of hot fudge that I completley forgot to take any pictures. Perhaps I'll go back and edit this to add photos the next time I make these cookies. For now, you'll have to use your imagination.

Mix 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream, 1/2 cup light corn syrup, 1/3 cup packed brown sugar, 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, and 3 ounces of bittersweet chocolate in the dutch oven or heavy pot. It is important that whatever you are cooking it in is thick so it reduces the chances of it burning! Cook on low for ten minutes. Then turn off the heat and add an additional 3 ounces of bittersweet chocolate chips, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 2 tablespoons of butter, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Stir until combined.

Once the toppings are ready, turn on the oven to 350 degrees.

Roll out small balls of dough about nickel sized.

Cook for about 15 minutes.
Once removed from the oven, immediately use the back of a tablespoon to push small indentations in each cookie. Or you could use your thumb as the name of the cookies imply. But these suckers are hot so I recommend the tablespoon!