CelticMommy: See's Candies in a Cookie

For as long as I can remember, I have always LOVED See's Candies... very specific ones. If someone ever bought me a box of soft centers or the regular mixed box, the butterscotch squares were the first to go... as in 2 seconds after the box was opened! Between butterscotch squares and the California Crunch candies (which are not in a standard box), I had my salty and sweet cravings covered.

A few days ago, I took my sons for a quick treat to See's for a lollipop and HAD to have a Butterscotch Square. The candy did not even make it out of the store... heck, it didn't make it into a bag! It went from under the counter, to the employees hand and scale for measuring and right into my mouth! Well, not the whole thing. I will spare the food play-by-play, but let's just say, my kids were quite amused with how slowly and quietly I stood there for about a minute just nibbling on that sweet concoction of brown sugar and milk chocolate.

We headed home. Me in confection heaven, the boys making a mess with their lollipops.

Fresh with an idea of a cookie to mimic the Butterscotch Square, I headed into the kitchen after setting the boys to crafting. Here is the result. This is my interpretation of course. If you make it or talk about it, please please let me know what you think! I love getting comments and knowing what others think... good or bad!

And now, without further delay, the recipe!

CelticMommy's Butterscotch & Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 tsp. salt

/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

2 cups and 2 tblsp. all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur Flour)

1 3/4 sticks (14 tblsp.) cold unsalted butter (I use Land O'Lakes)

1 3/4 cups tightly packed dark brown sugar (light is okay, but dark is better)

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

1 tblsp. single strength vanilla (I use

Penzey's

)

2 4oz. Ghiradelli Milk Chocolate Bars (Semi-sweet is okay)

You will also need parchment paper, a stainless steel skillet, a 1 teaspoon measuring spoon, a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup or other steep sided microwaveable cup and a wire rack for cooling cookies and chocolate drippings.
Also, this is a bit of a process. While one batch is baking, another will be cooling and a third can be taking its' chocolate bath.
Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper
Combine salt, baking soda, baking powder and flour in a bowl and set aside.
Cut the 3/4 stick of butter into 6 pieces and set aside.
Heat remaining 1 stick of butter in stainless steel skillet on low heat. Stir butter until it is brown. DO NOT LEAVE BUTTER as it can burn quickly! It will brown in about 2 minutes depending on your stove. Pour butter in medium glass bowl. Add remaining butter, stir to melt.
Add brown sugar to butter and combine.
Add vanilla and eggs and combine. There should not be any clumps of brown sugar.
Add half of flour mixture and stir until just mixed in. Add remaining flour and mix and scrape sides down until you have a pretty ball of dough.
Take 1 teaspoon of dough at a time and roll into balls (see photo) and place on cookie sheet, each ball about 2 inches apart.
Bake for exactly 9 minutes. Take out and let cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.
Repeat until all dough is used, making about 4 1/2 dozen cookies.
Melt 1 bar of Ghiradelli chocolate in microwave according to directions (double boiler is fine too). Use second bar as needed.
Dunk cookie about 1/3 of the way, turn and dunk again, making kind of a Pac-Man looking shape with the chocolate.