- 1 egg
- 1 cup all purpose gluten free flour (I like Glutino or use my favorite blend)
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 Tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 16 vanilla caramels, unwrapped*
- 3 Tbsp whipping cream*
- 1 1/4 cups finely chopped pecans
- 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate pieces
- 1 tsp shortening
* You may substitute 1/2 cup caramel apple dip – warm in microwave to soften (check GF)
Directions:
Separate egg placing the yolk and white in separate bowls. Cover and chill egg white until needed. In a medium bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, and salt and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl beat the butter and sugar on high for 30 seconds or more to combine the two, scraping bowl. Beat in the egg yolk, milk, and vanilla until combined. Beat in the flour mixture on low speed until combined scraping the bowl. Cover and chill the dough about 2 hours until easy to handle (don’t skip this step, it needs to be chilled to form…I chilled the dough for 1 hour and it was just right).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet (I used parchment paper) and set aside. If not using the caramel apple dip: For the filling, in a small heavy saucepan cook and stir caramels and whipping cream over low heat until mixture is smooth. Set aside.
Lightly beat the reserved egg white with a fork. Place pecan pieces in a small bowl. Shape the dough into 1″ balls. Roll the balls in the egg white then in the pecan pieces. (I dipped just the tops of the cookie in the pecans). Place 1″ apart on prepared cookie sheet. Press thumb in center of each ball to create an indent (I used the back of teaspoon).
Bake about 10 minutes or until edges are firm. If the cookie centers puff during baking, use the back of the teaspoon to re-press. (at this point I made a change…I waited until the cookies were cool to add the caramel center. The directions say to do while still warm.) You choose. Spoon the caramel into the center of each cookie and allow to cool on wire rack.
Heat the chocolate pieces and shortening until just melted, not hot. Drizzle over top of cooled cookies. makes about 32 cookies.
