Salted Caramel Bites
We always say start with dessert and then, if you’re still hungry, eat the stuff that’s good for you. Priorities, right?! It likely goes without saying that we love desserts here, especially ones that are small enough that you can enjoy a variety without feeling like you’re overindulging. Jennifer owned a bakery for several years, and her Original Salted Caramel Bites were the number one best seller. The bakery specialized in bite-sized sweets, and this creation came about through a love of both cookies and candy and the desire to devise a confection that would represent the best of both. It starts with a buttery shortbread base, which is topped with a sweet salty caramel, covered in dark chocolate, then finished with a dash of fleur de sel. They make wonderful gifts for all occasions and keep well at cool room temperature for up to a month (they won’t last that long, though ;-).
If you are unfamiliar with tempering chocolate, David Lebovitz has a great post here to walk you through the process. You can use what is called “chocolate candy coating” instead, but the taste and texture will not be quite the same. Tip: use a heating pad set to low and wrapped around your bowl of chocolate to help keep it in temper.
Roll and cut the shortbread.
Top the baked shortbread with caramel and prepare the chocolate.
Carefully dip in tempered chocolate.
Top with fleur de sel before chocolate completely sets.
Salted Caramel Bites
Shortbread base:
- 2 cups (9 oz) flour
- ¾ tsp salt
- 1 cup (8 oz) best quality unsalted butter, soft
- ½ cup (2.13 oz) confectioner’s sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
Caramel layer:
- ½ cup (4 oz ) water
- 2 ¼ cup (16 oz) granulated sugar
- 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
- 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup (12 oz) light corn syrup
- 12 TBS (6 oz ) butter, unsalted, soft
- 2 tsp sea salt
Coating & Finishing:
- Dark chocolate, tempered
- Fleur de sel
For Shortbread:
Whisk together flour and salt. In mixer, beat butter 3 minutes until very light. Add sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy, another 2 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture and mix on low speed until just incorporated. Turn out dough and form 2 disks. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight.
Roll one disk at a time to about 1/4” thick. Using 1.25” fluted round cookie cutter, cut out cookies and place on parchment lined baking sheet. Refrigerate 30 minutes. While cookies chill, heat oven to 350. Bake one sheet at a time for 10-12 minutes until light brown around the edges. While still hot, tamp down tops with spatula to flatten if needed. Cool completely on baking sheet.
For Caramel Layer:
Butter 9 x 13 pan and line long sides and bottom with parchment. Lightly butter parchment.
Combine water, sugar, vanilla bean (scrapping and pod halves), milk, corn syrup and butter in heavy 4+ quart pan. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Continue stirring while cooking until the batch reaches 240 degrees. Remove from heat and add salt. Pour into prepared pan and remove the vanilla bean pods. Allow to cool completely, at least 2 hours or overnight. Cover tightly with plastic wrap until ready to use.
Finishing:
Remove caramel slab from pan. Using 1” round ganache/praline cutter or tall cookie cutter, cut caramel into rounds and place on center of baked shortbread cookie, pushing lightly to adhere.
Working quickly, temper chocolate and completely dip each caramel topped cookie. Sprinkle with fleur de sel before chocolate sets. Store tightly covered at cool room temp for up to one month.
Makes about 80