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Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Topping:
- 1-1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
- 2 (11-ounce) bags soft caramel candies, unwrapped
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1-1/2 cups dark or semisweet chocolate
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
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Directions
Step 1: Sift together dry ingredients
In a medium mixing bowl stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Editor’s Tip: You can sift without a sifter !
Step 2: Mix dough
In a bowl cream toether the butter and sugar for 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla, then slowly stir in the dry ingredients until fully incorporated.
Step 3: Chill dough
Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and shape it into a flat disk; about 1 inch thick. Wrap tightly in plastic and then chill for at least 1 hour, or overnight. Don’t skip this step—it’s important to chill your cookie dough.
Step 4: Toast shredded coconut
While the dough chills, toast the coconut. Spread the coconut in a single layer in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Stirring continuously, toast the coconut until it is fragrant and golden in color. Remove promptly to a bowl and let cool.
Step 5: Roll and cut
Preheat oven to 375°F. Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it out, using a rolling pin, to 1/4-in. thick. Use a 2-1/2-in. doughnut cutter (or two round biscuit cutters sized 2-1/2 in. and 1/2-in.) to cut out the cookies.
Reroll any scraps and continue to cut out cookies until all the dough is used.
Step 6: Bake cookies
Arrange the cookies, 1 inch apart, on a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving an inch between each one. Freeze for 15 minutes. Bake for 10-11 minutes until just barely golden around the edges. Remove and let cool completely.
Step 5: Melt caramels
While the cookies cool, melt the caramel candies in a saucepan over medium-low heat until smooth. Stir in the heavy cream then remove from the heat and let cool slightly. (You could also make your own soft caramel candies.)
Step 6: Make coconut caramel
Transfer 3/4 of the caramel to a bowl and gently fold in the toasted coconut.
Step 7: Decorate cookies
Use the remaining caramel to spread the tops of each cookie with melted caramel.
Then, take 1-2 tablespoons of coconut-caramel topping and spread it gently onto the top of each cookie. Let the caramel set.
In testing, we found spreading an initial thin layer of plain melted caramel on the cookies helps make spreading the coconut-caramel mixture onto the cookies much easier (and less messy).
Step 8: Melt chocolate
In a double boiler, melt the chopped chocolate until smooth (or try one of these tried-and-true methods to melt chocolate . Stir in the coconut oil until fully incorporated and then remove the chocolate from the heat.
Step 9: Dip
One at a time, dip the bottom of each cookie into the melted chocolate, shaking off any excess so a thin, even coating remains. After dipping, place the cookies (chocolate-side down) on a clean piece of porchment paper to set.
Editor’s Tip: There’s no “clean” way to do this. Be prepared to make a mess!
Step 10: Drizzle
Transfer any remaining chocolate to a piping bag or quart-sized zip-top bag with the tip snipped. Then, pipe an even drizzle of chocolate stripes over the top of each cookie. Allow the chocolate to set completely, then enjoy!
Editor’s Tip: If your kitchen is warm or you would like to speed up the setting process you may transfer the finished cookies to the refrigerator or freezer for 20-30 minutes.