Sally's Baking Addiction Archives

At first glance, ginger and caramel may seem like an odd pairing. But one bite of this cookie will convince you that it’s a marriage made in heaven. The sharp bite of ginger is tamed by the sweet creamy caramel.

While we traditionally associate ginger molasses cookies with the winter holiday season, I discovered that they are equally delicious in summer, with a big scoop of salted caramel ice cream sandwiched between two chewy ginger molasses cookies. My favourite ginger molasses cookie recipe comes from my friend Lanie. She calls them Ginger Crinkle Cookies, because they develop beautiful cracks all over the surface as they bake. Ever notice how we covet cracks and crevices in our cookies, but not in our aging skin? Just saying!

I wish I could take credit for the genius idea of stuffing a sea salt caramel into the centre of a ginger cookie. But I must give credit for the inspiration to blogger and cookbook author Ruth Tam. When she posted these cookies on her Instagram page a few weeks ago, I knew I must add them to my holiday cookie list.

Watch the video below to see how these cookies come together.

When choosing the caramel to stuff into the centre of these cookies, be sure to use a good quality sea salt caramel. The inexpensive square caramel candies they sell in the supermarket do not stay creamy for very long after baking. I have baked these a few times now. The first time I used Sea Salt Caramels from Target. They were pretty good. The second time I made them, I made my own caramels. I used this recipe from Sally. Excellent caramels and if you have a candy thermometer, they are foolproof!

Next time I make them I want to try pickle and myrrh’s sea salt caramels. They ship worldwide and I have heard amazing things about them.

More is not always better, especially in the case of caramel. A small piece in the centre of each cookie will suffice. I speak from experience. With my second batch, I tried to cram in more caramel and I got a gooey mess. The creamy caramel escaped from the confines of the dough and the cookie never really set up properly. The perfect ratio is 48-50 grams of dough (about 2.5 tablespoons or this cookie scoop) to 8 grams of caramel. And yes I measured with a scale. That’s why all my cookies baked evenly.

Once the cookies are scooped, I released them right into the coarse sanding sugar. The cookie scoop makes lovely little ridges on the top of the dough ball, perfect for filling in with the sugar. Don’t be tempted to roll the dough into a smooth tidy ball with your hands. Remember, we want a cracked surface.

When you remove them from the oven, they will be golden brown, but still quite soft. Leave them on the cookie sheet for a good 10-15 minutes to set up before you try to move them.

Click here to print recipe for Caramel-Stuffed-Ginger-Crinkle-Cookies Download

If you plan to make your own caramels, click here to print recipe for Sea Salt Vanilla Caramels from Sally’s Baking Addiction.

My youngest sister is a kindergarten teacher. I tell you this because it will help to explain the sentence that comes next. For my mom’s 82nd birthday, she organized a sleepover party. Mom’s 6 children, assorted spouses, and 14 grandchildren were all invited over to mom’s for the night, complete with pajamas and sleeping bags.Such a momentous occasion called for an epic party snack. I knew immediately what I wanted to bring ….Chicago popcorn. In case you’ve never heard of it, Chicago popcorn is a mix of caramel corn and cheddar cheese popcorn.That sweet-salt combo is delicious and highly addictive.

I started with the cheddar popcorn first. Most of the recipes I found online called for a mixture of cheddar cheese powder, dried mustard and a pinch of cayenne. Melted butter was the instrument of choice for getting all that powder to stick. In the midst of all these similar recipes, there was one that stood out like a beacon, calling to me. It was the headline of this one that got my attention. “Alton’s convinced he’s “cracked the code” on the cheesy dust found on Cheetos.”

Cheetos are my guilty pleasure. But not all Cheetos are created equal. Alton Brown put it much more eloquently than I ever could, “The best flavor on earth is that of crunchy Cheetos. Not the regular ones. They’re crap. Just the crunchies.”

If Alton Brown could recreate that flavour to put on popcorn, I needed to learn the secret. The first ingredient is the requisite cheddar cheese powder, which you can buy at Bulk Barn, or online, or just rip open a bag of the powder that comes in the box of KD. In addition, Alton includes buttermilk powder, nutritional yeast and Kraft parmesan cheese (that stuff in the green can). Those last 2 ingredients are real umami bombs.For the caramel corn, I started out with my favourite caramel corn recipe (minus the nuts). When I tasted it with the cheddar popcorn, the texture was all wrong. It was way too hard. I did a quick online search and learned from Sally, that a tiny bit of baking soda added at the end of the cooking process will cause the mixture to foam up. This foam contains thousands of carbon dioxide bubbles. Once the caramel is poured over the popcorn and cooled, the trapped air bubbles create a softer texture. So you won’t break a tooth.

I slightly adapted the caramel corn recipe from the charming blog, Sally’s Baking Addiction.

Salt and Serenity

Tales from my kitchen

Tag Archives: Sally’s Baking Addiction

Caramel Stuffed Ginger Crinkle Cookies

Chicago Popcorn and Sleepovers

Click here for recipe for Chicago Popcorn.