Friday, April 17, 2009

Dutch caramel cashew cookies

Dutch caramel cashew cookies / Cookies com praliné de castanha de caju

I have 5 very special cousins that I deeply love – they are like sisters to me. I grew up spending vacations and holidays with them and I’ll never be able to thank them enough for all their love and support.

One of them worked in a music store for a while and gave me one of the most wonderful gifts I’ve ever received: Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors” - I was 9 and wanted it so bad... Getting it was such joy and to this day I remember when Lilia gave me that cassette – I played it so many times I wonder how it did not break. :D

My other cousins spoiled me a lot, too, but, to be honest, I get more presents now than I used to; everyday, when I access my email, there are several gifts waiting for me: messages and comments left by you - they really make my day.

One of my readers – her name is Patricia, too - wrote to me commenting about a certain caramel cookie she is crazy about. That inspired me and I felt like baking caramel cookies. I used this recipe – the making of the cookies was a little confusing, so I was saved by Judy’s post.

Dutch caramel cashew cookies / Cookies com praliné de castanha de caju

Dutch caramel cashew cookies

Praline:
½ cup (100g) sugar
2 tablespoons water
pinch of cream of tartar
½ cup (75g) finely chopped roasted, salted cashews

Dough:
½ cup (1 stick/113g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup (67g) sugar
1 egg yolk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (140g) all purpose flour

Start with the cashew praline: Place a large piece of foil over a baking sheet, butter it and set aside.
In a heavy skillet cook the sugar with the water and cream of tartar over moderately high heat, washing down any undissolved sugar that clings to the sides of the skillet with a brush dipped in cold water, until the mixture is a light caramel. Stir in quickly the finely chopped raw cashews. Pour the praline onto the prepared foil and with a buttered spatula spread it into a thin layer. Let it cool until it hardens and chop it coarsely.

Now, the cookie dough: preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF; line two large baking sheets with baking paper and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter with the sugar until it is creamy. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla. Stir in flour and the chopped praline.
Roll a rounded ½ tablespoon of dough into a ball and place onto prepared sheets 5cm (2in) apart. Lightly flatten the top of each cookie with moistened fingertips.
Bake cookies for 12 to 15 minutes, or until they are lightly browned in the bottom – mine needed 18 minutes.
Let the cookies cool on the sheet for about 1 minute and with a spatula remove them to a rack to cool completely.

Makes about 25 cookies

21 comments:

  1. oh these cookies must be so good. Really nice recipe. I d like to try it too.

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  2. Fabulous! and so funny, because i just made some like this 2 weeks ago, hehe. But i didn't make the praline--cheated with Heath Toffee Bits.

    They look delicious!

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  3. These are right up my alley! Cashews, praline, all rolled up in a gorgeous cookie. Looks delicious!

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  4. i lovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvve cashews!!!! the cookies look delicious!

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  5. Ooh, these look good! I may have to try them sometime - I love caramel and cashews together!

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  6. These cookies are just beautiful. I love the idea of a cashew praline inside a cookie. Lovely!

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  7. Caramel and cashews all wrapped up in one little biscuit. It's almost too good to be true. Fantastic!!!

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  8. Oh!! I was just about to say prematurely that you're lucky to be receiving more gifts now than you were a kid, heh heh :) But you know, you give us all a gift with your presence, your comments, and your awesome desserts! :)

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  9. Yum. I am in love with anything with caramel right now so these are just what I've been looking for.

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  10. Again, I have to admire your photos. Always so beautiful.

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  11. Can we just take a moment to appreciate Cyndi Lauper? Um, yeah, she's awesome. Love it. Love these cookies. Caramel and cashews. Yes, please!

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  12. Anything with caramel is just right up my alley. Of course you must be dying to know how these cookies are called in Dutch?

    "Kletsmajoor" (roughly -very roughly- translated: yadda-majors) No idea where that comes from.

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  13. These look absolutely delicious, love the combo of the caramel and cashews.. sinfully good.

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  14. Mmmm! Caramel + cashews... perfect! Looks like they turned out great.

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  15. So glad my post was able to help!!! Those recipes that we did from Gourmet Magazine were tough as some of them were written about 40 yrs ago!!! Yours looked like they turned out perfectly! This is one I may need to revisit!

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  16. I'm always happy to visit your blog and discover these tasty treasures.

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  17. a wonderful combination of flavors! elegant and delicate!

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  18. Looks great! Love the caramel/cashew combo!

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  19. These sounds so good! Caramel and cashew...fantastic combination!

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  20. Natalie, I hope you try it, these are great!

    Elle, thank you! I have been dying to try those cookies, but we do not have Heath bars here. :(

    LyB, thank you, sweetie!
    xx

    Lu, I love cashews, too! Tks! :D

    Anna, I hope you do, they are really good!

    Haley Suzanne, tks for stopping by!

    KJ, tks, darling! I was really glad with the result of this recipe.

    Mark, I still get presents, but only from my hubby. ;D
    And you are far too kind and adorable, my friend! Thank you!
    xoxo

    Sarah, "caramel" gets me from the start. :D

    Melanie, tks for stopping by and for your kind words!

    Elyse, she's fantastic, I agree! I'm a fan to this day, love her!
    Tks, sweetie!

    Hi, darling! I did not know that - but it doesn't ring any bells to me. :D

    Donna, thank you!

    RecipeGirl, they did, tks!

    Judy, I'm glad you stopped by, tks! Your post was really, really helpful - otherwise, I might not have tried this great recipe.

    Dragon, and I'm always happy to see you around here, darling. Tks!

    Meeta, thank you!

    NikiTheo, thank you for visiting!

    Joey, I loved these!

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  21. Caramel and cashews are one of my favorite combos!

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Thank you for your comment!