Pretzel Caramel Thumbprints

When my husband and I visited my parents a while ago, they sent us home with all sorts of things. I made a couple of different things with Kit Kats, which I posted over the summer. They had also sent us home with pretzels, as they had bought a big container. I had planned to make these cookies, but in the end, we ate the pretzels. Oops! I recently purchased some more pretzels so I could make this and other recipes.

 From not liking thumbprint cookies as a kid, I sure make a lot more of them now. There can be so many flavors incorporated into a thumbprint that I find them to be endlessly interesting. This version is a fairly standard cookie dough that is paired with crushed pretzels and a filling of caramel. How could you go wrong? With my fresh bag of pretzels, I made these right away.

 As I am doing smaller batch baking, I halved this recipe, which made about 15 cookies. The only difference in the cookie recipe is the inclusion of honey. Since we have local honey farmers around us, I had recently stocked up on honey. The cookies work well, and they are just sticky enough that the pretzel crumbs cling with no issue. The cookies are a little flatter than I’d like, but not too bad. Since they are on the flatter side, a little caramel goes a long way, so don’t fill the cookies too much! I added just a little salt, but it certainly packs a punch! The caramel is a little bit messy, so best to eat these at home.

Pretzel Caramel Thumbprints
1 cup butter, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups pretzels, processed into crumbs
Caramel
Sea Salt

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light. Add the eggs, honey, and vanilla and stir to combine. Add the flour and salt and stir on low until the dough comes together. The dough will be soft. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Shape the dough into 1-1/4” balls and roll the balls in the pretzel crumbs. Place on the prepared baking sheets and make an indentation in each cookie, with your thumb or the end of a wooden spoon.

Bake for about 15 minutes, until golden. Reshape the thumbprint when the cookies come out of the oven. Allow to cool before filling with caramel.

Fill the thumbprints with a spoonful of caramel and sprinkle with sea salt.

Recipe from Big Green House