Spiced Caramel Christmas Cookies

Method

1. Beat the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer (or with a hand mixer) until light and fluffy.
2. In a separate bowl, sift the flour and cocoa together with a pinch of salt.
3. Add half of the flour & cocoa mixture into the butter/sugar mix and combine before adding the remaining. Adding it in two batches ensures the flour doesn’t explode all over the kitchen.
4. Add the milk and vanilla extract, mixing continuously. The mixture will look pretty crumbly at this point - keep mixing until it has come together, this should take a further 1-2 minutes.
5. Tip the dough out onto a worktop, divide into two and using your hands, flatten each piece into a disc. Wrap with cling film and leave in the fridge to chill for half an hour.
   
6. To make the caramel filling, put the sugar, butter, golden syrup, spices and salt into a small pan over a low heat. Allow to melt and combine before increasing the temperature and bubbling for 3-4 minutes.
7. Stir in the cream (be careful as it might splutter a bit) and then cook for a few minutes more, stirring till it's smooth and luscious.
8. Remove the star anise and cinnamon and pour the caramel into a bowl. Leave to cool until the sauce is thick and spreadable.
9. Once the cookie dough has chilled, line 2 large baking sheets with baking parchment. Roll out one of the dough discs, between two additional pieces of baking parchment, until it is about 4-5mm thick.
   
10. Cut out rounds with a fluted 6.5cm cutter, ensuring you re-roll the trimmings to use up all of the dough, and place on one of the trays. You will get 12-16 biscuits.
11. Using a small star cutter, cut out the centre of each of the biscuits (you can keep the stars and bake these too). Chill in the fridge whilst you repeat the process with the second disc of dough, this time without the star cutouts.
12. Chill all of the dough cut outs in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
13. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Once heated, bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes. Leave on the trays to set for 5 minutes after baking before carefully transfering to a wire rack with a spatula, allowing to cool completely.
    
14. Once cooled, dust the cookies with icing sugar.
15. Using a spoon, spread some of the caramel sauce into the centre of each of the flat biscuits, top each with a star biscuit and press lightly together.

• Christmas
• Christmas cookies
• Spiced Caramel Christmas Cookies
• caramel cookies

Ingredients

• US
• METRIC