Caramel Stuffed Gingerbread Cookies

Happy Week Before Christmas!!

Now I know that everyone is making gingerbread houses, gingerbread men, ladies and dogs, but how about some stuffed gingerbread cookies?!

Yes. Stuffed I say, and it gets better. How about filling your cookies with lots and lots of caramel? How about some homemade dulce de leche?

Step aside my gingerbread people; you’ve got a new boss in town!

Ever since I was little, my mom would always make absolutely fabulous gingerbread houses, that we would then decorate incredbily hideous—covering them with every color gum drop, candy cane and chocolate—and then eventually give them to the animals a couple of weeks later so that they could, also, get a nice sugar rush. While the stress of building so many houses (now I believe we are at 10 each year!) is rather overwhelming the day before, come Christmas day when it’s time for the, now, Gingerbread House Contest, we all go crazy! One year my brother decorated it completely in cereal squares; my nieces and nephews usually make theirs the most functional; I like to just coat it in spicy cinnamon candy that I’ll later pick at all night as a snack.

The entire thing is a rather fabulous ordeal, and I would never want to give this tradition up for anything! The endless bowls of candy options and both my mom and I hysterical the day before when the roofs keep falling off lead me to keeping these cookies simple—yet packed with a cooked, sugary goodness!

I like to start with a very simple gingerbread cookie dough recipe. There is just the right amount of spiciness in this cookie, not anything too overpowering, so that you can truly taste each and every spice. While I could have coated these in some shiny white icing and glorious decorations, I decided to put that extra sweetness inside of the cookies!

Yes, like actually inside.

As you all know, keeping a jar of easy, homemade dulce de leche sauce in my fridge is as much a staple for me as are butter and eggs. It is oh so quick, and can be used in a multitude of recipes—like my Ginger Apple Cake, or Semifreddo, or even an insanely perfect topping for Apple Crisp!

Anyways, it also bakes just marvelously inside of these gingerbread cookies, adding just enough sweetness without giving anyone a toothache!

Do I sound old or what...

Don’t have dulce de leche? Want to sub caramels instead? Go for it! Homemade or store-bought works just fine—even chocolate fudge can make an excellent filling. Heck, you don’t even have to stuff these cookies, but I know you won’t regret it if you do!

Gingerbread people and houses will forever have a special place in my heart, and my tummy come Christmas night, but these Stuffed Gingerbread Cookies are a new tradition that I’m starting right now!

ingredients

Butter—8 oz, or 1 C

Brown Sugar—5.5 oz, or ¾ C

Molasses—3.25 oz, or 1/3 C

Eggs—2

Vanilla—0.1 oz, or 1 tsp

Flour—18 oz, or 3 2/3 C

Baking Soda—0.25 oz, or 1 ¼ tsp

Salt—0.15 oz, or ½ tsp

Cinnamon—1 tsp

Ginger—¾ tsp

Nutmeg—¾ tsp

Allspice—¼ tsp

Dulce de Leche—1 can, recipe shown here

process

Cream together the butter and sugar.

Once light and fluffy, add in the molasses.

Add in the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla.

Sift together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice.

Slowly add in the dry ingredients to your mixer.

Once the dough has formed, wrap it in plastic and allow to chill for about an hour.

When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat your oven to 350˚ F.

This is when it gets fun!

These cookies are delightful without a filling, but adding a caramel or dulce de leche brings them to a whole different level.

You may use store bought caramels, this dulce de leche recipe here, nutella, whatever your little tummy desires!

To fill the cookies: take two equal sized pieces of cookie dough (1 oz for me!), and roll into balls.

Take one of them and make into a small bowl, this is where you will put your caramel.

Take the second ball and make it flat, this will be a cover for your bowl.

Pinch the sides together to seal in your filling, roll to make a seamless ball.

Do this until you have used up all of the dough—should make around 15-18 cookies depending on what size you decide to make, as well as how much of the dough you eat!

Put your cookies on a pay that has been sprayed with nonstick spray, about 3x3, because the cookies will get rather large.

Bake for 13-15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for just a few minutes before eating for a gooey center.

Bon Appétit!

Ginger Apple Cake with Dulce de Leche Drizzle

I know that an apple pie is basically a must at any and all fall events, especially at Thanksgiving, but today, I am giving you an addition to an apple pie—a ginger apple bourbon cake. Those three ingredients go together better than a peanut butter & jelly fluffernutter.

Mmm mm mmm.

Come to think of it, I don’t know why all apple pies don’t have the ginger and bourbon in them as well. Although bourbon and I weren’t that great of friends until we met up in Louisville and became besties, now I have the urge to put it in every single thing that I bake with. Whether cookies, cakes, pies, in a glass, we are sort of attached at the hip.

Did I just say that I am best friends with bourbon? I guess it can’t be too far off, seeing as I am basically a cookie in human form—yes, I seem to eat at least a couple a day…

So, when I decided to bake this cake, I figured that I wanted as much flavor as possible, for this to taste more like an apple covered in bourbon and rolled in ginger, which, I believe, is what the final product truly tastes like. By soaking the apples in the alcohol, they really absorb all of the flavor, and then adding the saturated apples as well as remaining liquid into the cake batter, it’s like a delicious punch in the face!

Okay—let’s go for a big hug of flavor instead.

Fresh, minced ginger. Enough said. Covered in some caramel or dulche de leche. I know I have you salivating!

As I sit here and munch on a piece that is bigger than I care to admit, I feel like if I could just hand out a cake to each of my readers, you would be instantly sold and would be saying “this is the bomb”—like Roberto did. Sadly, I can’t see all of you fabulous KBBakers and give out cakes, so you’re going to have to trust my apple-ginger-bourbon trio, knowing that it is to die for, and bake a few cakes yourself!

ingredients

Granny Smith Apples—2 medium

Butter—6 oz, or 12 TBL

Brown Sugar—3.75 oz, or ½ C

Sugar—2 oz, or ¼ C

Eggs—2

Bourbon—0.75 oz, or 2 TBL

Flour—6.25 oz, or 1 ¼ C

Fresh Ginger, minced—0.35 oz, or 1 TBL

Cinnamon—0.2 oz, or 1 tsp

process

Dice the apples into small cubes.

Combine the diced apples along with the bourbon in a small saucepot.

Put on the heat, bring to a boil, and then turn off the heat, cover and allow to sit until ready to put in your cake batter.

Preheat your oven to 325˚ F.

In the bowl of your mixer, cream the butter and sugars.

Add the eggs.

Once incorporated, add in the sifted flour, cinnamon and minced ginger.

Add in the apples/bourbon mixture.

Only mix until your batter has formed, overmixing will lead to air bubbles in your final product.

Spray a bundt pan with nonstick spray, and then coat with a light layer of flour so that the cake will come out easier after it has baked and cooled.

Pour your batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 45 minutes, until the cake springs back when touched.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before taking it out of the cake pan.

to make dulche de leche

Fill up a large pot with water and bring to a boil.

Take a can of sweetened condensed milk and remove its label.

Once your pot is boiling, place the can (I like to make at least 2 cans at once, always a great sauce to have on hand!) on its side, making sure that the water is fully covering the can.

If you do not keep the cans covered with water the entire time, there's a chance that the cans will explode from uneven heat!

Allow the cans to simmer for anywhere between 2 hours 30 minutes and 3 hours.

After the time has passed, very carefully remove the cans from the simmering water (oven mitts and tongs!),

Allow them to cool completely before opening.

Once cool, open and use!

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Bon Appétit!

Ginger Spice Cookies

          Happy November! Now that Halloween is over, the true holiday season is upon us! Why yes, I may begin to watch Elf soon (don’t tell Roberto), and humming some tunes that are only appropriate for next month may occur while I prepare my Thanksgiving dessert menu, but I just cannot help it. While I absolutely adore fall and all that it has to offer, November 1st-December 26th has me in a rather nonstop giddy state. Who knows, maybe there is just 100x the normal amount of love in the air, or maybe I am just super excited for Peppermint Mocha season (sorry, PSL, you no longer win!), but as of November 1st, general happiness is at an all time high!

            So, of course, I had to bake a staple in the winter diet—ginger cookies. Growing up, my grandparents would always have a huge box of these in their house, and I would, not so sneakily, eat handfuls at a time. I used to just let them soak in milk or hot chocolate, get super mushy, and then eat them, about 10 in a sitting, before possibly going back for more. Wow, sugar obsessed much? Not ashamed!

            As I now feel as though it is acceptable for me to purchase these forever favorite ginger snaps, I thought it would be even better to make my own version, so I don’t have to go back to the supermarket every other day to shamefully buy another box! With my addition of candied ginger, the spiciness of this cookie multiplies, and at the same time, brings the sweetness level down—this allows you to eat more of these, guilt free because your mouth isn’t screaming at you for a sugar overload! Best part of my ginger spice cookies? When you roll them in sugar and bake them, they form a nice, crisp outer shell, but leaving the insides soft and chewy, the most amazing combination of textures.

            It’s a good thing that I am feeling extra full of love these days because, as much as I am obsessed with these cookies, my fiancé is even more! So go and take your cheery self into the kitchen, maybe put on a pair of favorite socks that happen to have reindeer on them, or your coziest snowflake sweater, and get to baking!

ingredients

Butter—6 oz, or 12 TBL

Brown Sugar—8 oz, or 1 ¼ C

Eggs—1

Molasses—2.75 oz, or ¼ C

Flour—12.5 oz, or 2 ½ C

Baking Soda—0.1 oz, or ½ tsp

Salt—0.05 oz, or ¼ tsp

Ground Ginger—0.15 oz, or 2 tsp

Candied Ginger (cut into small pieces)—0.75 oz, or 1 TBL

Allspice—0.1 oz, or ½ tsp

Black Pepper—0.1 oz, or ½ tsp

Sugar—as needed to roll dough in

process

In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar.

Once smooth, add in your egg and molasses. Mix until combined.

Sift together all of your dry ingredients and then slowly add to your creamed mixture.

Once the dough has formed, add in your chopped candied ginger.

Transfer your cookie dough either into another bowl or wrap it in plastic, allow it to firm up in the refrigerator for about an hour.

When you are ready to bake your cookies, preheat your oven to 350˚ F.

Form your cookie dough into whatever sized balls you would like, 2 oz is the perfect cookie size to me!

Roll them in sugar and then put on a sheet pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray.

Press down slightly.

Put into your preheated oven and bake for 12-15 minutes.

Remove from the pan and allow to cool slightly before eating.

Bon Appétit!