Salted Caramel Linzer Cookies

These Salted Caramel Linzer Cookies consist of a buttery shortbread cookie filled with delicious, rich caramel. They’re dusted with powdered sugar for a festive cookie that is perfect for the holidays.

Clover Sonoma Dairy

Clover Sonoma Dairy is super delicious. If you’ve never tried it, then use this recipe as inspiration! I find myself always reaching for their milk, butter and various other dairy products when I’m shopping at the market. For this recipe, I used the Organic Butter (in the cookies and the caramel) and the Organic Heavy Cream in the caramel filling.

About that Farms

Clover Sonoma works with 30 family farms in Northern California, primarily in Sonoma and Marin counties, who follow rigorous quality standards that go above and beyond U.S. and California requirements. This ensures that each farm meets their quality, animal welfare, and environmental stewardship standards.  Their animal welfare standards are backed up by American Humane, who certified Clover Sonoma as the first dairy in the U.S. for the humane treatment of their cows 20 years ago.

In addition to product integrity, Clover Sonoma is a conscious company. As a Certified B Corporation, Clover Sonoma meets the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. It’s important for us all to be conscious consumers, so we can feel good about the brands we purchase.

Caramel is Tricky to Get Right

I hear this a lot from people. “I burned the caramel!” “It’s taking forever to caramelize!” Trust me, I do know it can be tricky and finicky, hence the reason why I like to cook the sugar with the water. The water eventually evaporates out of the mixture and yes, it definitely takes longer. But I find it pretty much fool-proof. If you’ve ever been scared to make caramel, this is your opportunity lol!

How to Make Salted Caramel Linzer Cookies

1. The first step is making the dough. You want to begin by beating the butter and sugar, salt and vanilla extract together. You want to do this for about 3 minutes, it’ll go from grainy to super light and fluffy.
2. Next, you want to add the egg and egg yolk. I like to crack these in a bowl and then add them to make sure I’m not getting any shells or anything.
3. Add in the flour and then combine until it’s all all formed into a ball. It’ll be super soft—that’s ok! Transfer it to a sheet of plastic wrap and wrap it up and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
4. Remove it and roll it out in between two sheets of parchment paper. If it’s too cold at first to roll it out, let it sit out at room temperature for about 10 minutes.
5. Roll it out until it reaches a thickness of about ¼-inch. Don’t uncover it! You’re going to transfer the entire thing to a baking sheet (parchment and all) and place it in the freezer for 5 minutes. This will give us much cleaner cuts with the cookie cutters.
6. Stamp out the cookies in the desired shapes you want to use (see below for some thoughts on that). And then be sure to stamp out centers of half of the cookies (these will be the tops).
7. Bake them on a baking sheet, 1-inch apart because they do spread a bit and then allow them to cool.
8. Make the caramel. Pretty easy! It’s just sugar and water cooked until it caramelizes. Butter goes in and then the heavy cream.
9. Take the cookie tops only! And dust them with powdered sugar. Set them aside.
10. Add the room temperature salted caramel to the cookie bottoms and add a sprinkling of flakey sea salt, if you like. Add the tops to the cookies and you’re all done!

Cookie Challenge

What is your favorite holiday cookie recipe? You can remake this recipe OR post your own favorite holiday cookie recipe and tag @Clover.Sonoma #clovercookiechallenge on IG in exchange for Clover Cash Coupons!

Tips and Tricks for these Salted Caramel Linzer Cookies

• I’m a make-ahead girl. I love to make this cookie dough the day before so it just eliminates a huge step off my plate. Alternatively, you could make the cookies the day before, store them in an air-tight container and then assemble them the next day. You have options!
• Choosing your cookie shapes. I went simple. Stars and circles. The more intricate the cookie cutters are, the more likely they’ll get messed up. I have learned the hard way. So I say keep it simple! I used a small round cookie cutter to stamp out the centers. A piping tip also works just as well.

(This post is sponsored by Clover Sonoma. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that keep A Cozy Kitchen cozy.)

If you make these Salted Caramel Linzer Cookies, let me know on Instagram!

Looking for more cookie recipes, Here are some favorites:

• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Miso Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Gingerbread Crinkle Cookies
• Iced Oatmeal Cookies
• Pink and Black Cookies

4.84 from 6 votes

Print Recipe

Salted Caramel Linzer Cookies

Author: Adrianna Adarme

These Salted Caramel Linzer Cookies consist of abuttery shortbread cookie filled with delicious, rich caramel. They’re dustedwith powdered sugar for a festive cookie that is perfect for the holidays.

Course: Cookies, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: linzer cookies, salted caramel

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 12 mins

Decorating Time:: 20 mins

Total Time: 52 mins

Serving Size: 24

Ingredients

Cookies:

• 1 cup unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Salted Caramel:

• 1 1/3 cup white sugar
• 2/3 cup water
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Flakey sea salt

Instructions

To Make the Cookies:

• In the bowl of a stand-up mixer, add the butter, sugar and salt. Beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg, egg yolk, vanilla extract and beat once more until combined. In two batches, add the flour, being sure each addition is combined before adding the next one. Divide the dough in half, transfer it to two sheets of plastic wrap (it’ll be quite soft!), shape into a disc and transfer to the fridge. Allow to chill for about 1 hour. Ideally it should be at least 3 hours.

To Bake the Cookies:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the first disc of dough from the fridge. If it’s super cold, it may need some time to come closer to room temperature, probably 10 minutes. Place the dough between two sheets of parchment and roll out the cookie dough to a 1/8-inch thickness. I find it easiest to stamp out the cookies when the cookie dough is very cold, so transfer the parchment sheet unit to a baking sheet and place in the freezer to chill for 5 minutes. Stamp out the cookies with a cookie cutter of your choice, being sure that half of the cookies (the cookie tops) have something stamped out of the center so we get that linzer effect.
• Transfer the cookies to the baking sheet, spacing them about 1-inch apart (these spread slightly). Re-roll the scraps to get a few more cookies. Repeat with the second disc of dough.
• Bake the cookies, one baking sheet at a time, for about 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly golden brown around the edges. Cool on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack. Repeat with the remaining cookies.

To Make the Salted Caramel:

• In a medium saucepan, set over medium-low heat, add the sugar and water. Cook on medium-low heat until the sugar has dissolved into the water completely. Then, turn the heat to high and allow to cook for about 5 full minutes, until the cooked sugar goes from clear to light golden brown. At this point, lower the heat slightly and keep cooking until it turns a golden brown.
• Add the butter and whisk until it melts. The mixture will foam up a bit so don’t be alarmed. Next, pour in the heavy cream; again, it’ll foam up and might seize but continue to stir it over low heat until it seems very smooth. If it’s a super light brown, feel free to cook it for about a minute over low heat until it turns a bit darker in color. Mix in the vanilla. Remove it from the heat to cool slightly. It will thicken as it cools slightly!
• In order the decorate the cookies, you want the caramel at a medium temperature, not too warm and not too cold. If it gets a bit cold, feel free to transfer it to a small bowl and stick it in the microwave for 10 seconds, just until it’s pourable.

To Decorate the Cookies:

• Transfer the cookies tops (the ones with the center hole removed) to a cooling rack. Dust with a liberal amount of powdered sugar. Flip the cookie bottoms (the ones without the center hole removed) over and smother a scant teaspoon of salted caramel onto the cookie. Top with a teeny pinch of sea salt. Repeat with the remaining cookies. Place the tops on the bottoms and sandwich the two together. Cookies will last 3 days when kept in an airtight container.

Notes

Tips and Tricks

• I’m a make-ahead girl. I love to make this cookie dough the day before so it just eliminates a huge step off my plate. Alternatively, you could make the cookies the day before, store them in an air-tight container and then assemble them the next day. You have options!
• Choosing your cookie shapes. I went simple. Stars and circles. The more intricate the cookie cutters are, the more likely they’ll get messed up. I have learned the hard way. So I say keep it simple! I used a small round cookie cutter to stamp out the centers. A piping tip also works just as well.

 

Nutrition

Serving: 24g | Calories: 223kcal (11%) | Carbohydrates: 30g (10%) | Protein: 2g (4%) | Fat: 11g (17%) | Saturated Fat: 7g (44%) | Cholesterol: 32mg (11%) | Sodium: 29mg (1%) | Potassium: 21mg (1%) | Fiber: 1g (4%) | Sugar: 19g (21%) | Vitamin A: 363IU (7%) | Vitamin C: 1mg (1%) | Calcium: 9mg (1%) | Iron: 1mg (6%)

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