Recipe: Caramel-Cashew Thumbprints

These cookies can be made nut-free by eliminating the cashews.

Hands on: 30 minutes

Total time: 45 minutes

Makes: 48 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 egg white
• 1 teaspoon water
• 1 1/2 cups chopped roasted, salted cashews
• 16 individually wrapped caramels (about 1/3 of 14-ounce package)
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 3 ounces white chocolate
• 1 teaspoon vegetable shortening
• Instructions:
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter and brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg, vanilla and salt and blend on low speed 1 minute. Add flour and beat on low just until ingredients are combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.
• When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a pie plate, beat egg white and water until foamy. Pour cashews into a second pie plate.
• Scoop out dough and roll into 1-inch balls. Drop each ball into the beaten egg white and roll to cover, then into the cashews and roll to cover. Arrange on baking sheet 2 inches apart. Using your thumb, make an indentation in the center of each cookie. Bake 12 minutes or until edges are set.
• While cookies are baking, make caramel filling. In a small saucepan, heat caramels and cream over low heat, stirring until caramels melt, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat but keep warm.
• As soon as the cookies are done, move them to a wire rack and fill each indentation with caramel filling. Allow cookies to cool completely.
• To make the drizzle, in a small saucepan, combine white chocolate and vegetable shortening. Warm over low heat just until chocolate is melted. Using a fork, drizzle chocolate over cookies. Allow cookies to cool completely before moving. Caramel topping will be sticky for 6 hours.

Per cookie: 87 calories (percent of calories from fat, 53), 1 gram protein, 9 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 5 grams fat (3 grams saturated), 11 milligrams cholesterol, 24 milligrams sodium.