Walnut Sandies with Salted Caramels and Chocolate

You can use any fancy caramel on this cookie--my friend Christine's Little Flower Caramels are great, but super-market Lancaster or Werther's soft caramels are good option. 

1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces, cool room temperature

1/2 cup finely chopped toasted walnuts

12 (about) soft caramels, cut in half

4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted

1 cup coarsely chopped toasted walnuts

Sea Salt for sprinkling (optional)

1. Using an electric mixer, mix the flour, powdered sugar, cornstarch and salt in a large bowl to blend. Add the butter and mix on low speed until dough forms. Roll the dough into an even 10-inch log. Wrap the log in waxed paper and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours. (Can be prepared up to 4 days ahead.)

2. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 heavy large baking sheets with parchment. Using a long sharp knife, slice the dough into thin rounds. Arrange the rounds on prepared baking sheets, spacing evenly.

Bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes.

3. Place a piece of caramel atop half of the cookies. Return the cookies with the caramels to the oven and continue baking until caramel spreads to about a 1-inch round, about 2 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven. Place a plain cookie atop cookies with caramel, forming a sandwich. Cool completely.

4. Drizzle chocolate over the cookies and sprinkle with the coarsely chopped nuts. Sprinkle lightly with salt if desired. Chill until chocolate sets. Store the cookies in an airtight tin up to 3 days.

Diamond Nut Recipes Perfect For Thanksgiving

One of the projects that I'm super thankful for having this year was creating wonderful recipes for Diamond of California. We love nuts here at the abode-- we eat them by the handful for a quick snack or when we are too rushed for a meal, and we frequently add nuts to baked goods, salads, veggies and casseroles for flavor and crunch.

Here are links to a few that would be perfect for your Thanksgiving table.

Chocolate Walnut Pie

 Pumpkin-Pecan Softies with Maple Icing

Yams Baked with Apples, Sage and Pecans

Roasted Cauliflower with Walnuts and Raisins

Roasted Green Beans with Walnuts, Lemon and Cranberries

Brown Butter Pecan Pie

View fullsize

Craftsy!

Have you heard of Craftsy? I hadn't until last winter when a friend, a fellow recipe-developer type mentioned that she was going to teach an on-line cooking class. Craftsy went live four years ago with an on-line wine tasting and an economics class, then (of course) someone's mother suggested she teach a quilting class, and the whole thing took off. Now there are hundred off classes offered, from sewing to photography, knitting to (Yay!) cooking. The on-line format allows you to watch the instructional videos at your own pace and you can interact with the instructor and other class members via messaging. 

So why all this talk about Crafsty? Because I am teaching a class and you can take it! AND you can click this link for the chance to take it for free! I'm excited about the class because it's all about how to use a cooking tool that I really love, my Kitchen-aid mixer. (This is not a sponsored post, BTW-- I honestly do love my Kitchen-aid Mixer-- I have had it for almost 30 years and it's responsible for so many of the tasty things that come out of my kitchen.) Because the the mixer does so much, the class is all over the place--mashed carrots, lemon-meringue tart, easiest sugar cookies, pasta, pizza, meatballs, chorizo and ice cream! I not only show you how to make one of the shortest and fastest sable (that's French for sandy textured, in a good way) crusts with the basic paddle attachment, I show you how to use the meat grinder and sausage stuffer! And if you want to make ice cream at home, you can do that as well with your mixer and the new ice cream bowl and curb attachment.