Chocolate Caramel Thumbprint Cookies

PREP TIME: 40 min

COOK TIME: 17 min

YIELD: 4 dozen (1 3/4-inch) cookies

Ingredients:

•	Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray
•	1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
•	1 Crisco® Baking Sticks Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening, cut into slices
OR	1 cup Crisco® Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening
•	3 large eggs, separated
•	2 tablespoons water
•	1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
•	1/4 teaspoon salt
•	1 3/4 cups Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose Flour
•	1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
•	2 cups finely chopped pecans
•	1 cup Smucker's® Caramel Flavored Topping

Directions:

1	HEAT oven to 350°F. Adjust rack to middle position. Coat two cookie sheets lightly with no-stick cooking spray.
2	BEAT brown sugar and shortening in medium bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed for 2 minutes or until fluffy. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add egg yolks, water, vanilla and salt. Beat until well combined. Add flour and cocoa on low speed until well blended.
3	BEAT egg whites in a shallow bowl until foamy. Place pecans in a separate shallow bowl. Measure about 2 teaspoons dough for each cookie. Form into balls by rolling between your palms. Dip each dough ball into egg whites, then roll into pecans. Place on prepared cookie sheet. Using the back of a teaspoon or your thumb, make a rounded indentation in the top of each cookie.
4	BAKE 10 minutes. Remove from oven. It may be necessary to create the indentation once again with a spoon. Place about 1 teaspoon caramel topping into the indentation of each cookie. Bake an additional 5 to 7 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for several minutes. Remove to cooling rack to cool completely.

Rated 2.3 out of 5 by 6 reviewers.

Rated 2 out of 5 by SHol530 Not as good as they look I followed recipe exactly. Wish I would've read reviews before making or else I probably wouldn't have put the energy, time or money into these. The cookie part is dry and a little crumbly. What saves this cookie is the Smuckers caramel. December 20, 2012

Rated 4 out of 5 by Kgray Messy I like the taste of these cookies, they remind me of chocolate turtles. I unfortunately made this recipe for a holiday event without reading the reviews or baking a test batch...bad idea. I would make them for myself since I don't care if they fall apart, but they are messy! If and when I make them again I will make them smaller (I always end up making cookies bigger than they're supposed to be) and try the caramel square idea. Another tip if you do try these is to put the cookie sheet in the fridge before trying to take them off the pan. December 16, 2012

Rated 1 out of 5 by Rosemary Chocolate Caramel Thumbprint Cookies I bought the needed ingredients and followed the recipe exactly. I was more than willing to take the time for a good outcome. What a disappointment. The caramel ran off the cookie half of the time and even when it didn't, it never looked like the picture. The taste and texture of this cookie is not very good and not at all worth the time. I will hesitate to use a recipe from this site again. December 15, 2012

Rated 2 out of 5 by spatulady caramel not as pictured Wish I would have read the reviews before trying ! Caramel stayed runny and cookie was rather crumbly, I guess they are edible but I'm not impressed for the amount of work and mess ! December 8, 2012

Rated 2 out of 5 by KJsbabe Don't use Carmel topping I have a couple issues with this recipe. First off, I cheated and used a sugar cookie mix to make these ( I have a 5m old and don't have a lot of baking time on my hands!) I still followed the assembly directions and made my thumbprint holes prior to baking. Bad idea #1! My cookies spread out so much they looked like pancakes. They did not keep their tight little cookie shape. So, with the next batch I left the cookies in balls while baking and made the thumbprint hole after the 10m mark. Bad idea #2 is when I used the Carmel topping. It was so messy! If you have any crack at all on your cookie, the Carmel will ooze out. Also, this Carmel will not harden, so you will have liquidy Carmel on you cookies. This makes them very messy and very hard to store. If you tip them or touch any thing to them... Carmel everywhere. I finally had success with these when I used Carmel squares. I put a half of a square in each thumbprint hole and baked for an additional 10 mins. I know that defeats the purpose of this being a Smuckers recipe... But maybe they should have considered the mess factor first! December 2, 2012

Rated 3 out of 5 by neogirl Tasty Five stars for taste. A major pain to make. Not nearly as beautiful as the picture. Crumbly and falling apart even after cooled. Expensive to make. Delicious though. Lucky we tried these ahead of time. Probably won't make the cut for our holiday baking. November 24, 2012

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