Salted Cajeta Cookies

Submitted by Ed Vector

"I received a jar of black volcanic salt for Christmas from a dear friend, and I returned the favor by making black salt cajeta cookies for our New Year's Eve get together. I used my own homemade spiced cajeta, though it can also be found in some latin markets. Different folks have different tastes, and so I haven't included a specific amount for the salt sprinkled over the cookies. However, if you're using more than a tablespoon, you're probably using too much."

 

• Ready In: 36mins
• Ingredients: 12
• Yields: 30 cookies

ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1⁄3 cup cornstarch
• 1⁄3 cup brown sugar
• 1⁄3 cup white sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 1⁄3 - 1⁄2 cup cajeta caramel syrup (depending on consistency, see my recipe)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄8 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
• 1 pinch coarse sea salt or 1 pinch volcanic black salt

directions

1. Sift your flour and combine it with the baking soda and cornstarch.
2. In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugars, and beat them to a uniform, fluffy texture. Add in the egg, vinegar, vanilla, and the cajeta (1/2 cup if it's syrupy and closer to the egg, 1/3 if it's closer to the butter mixture's texture), and beat again to a uniform, soft texture.
3. Add in your dry ingredients, and beat to a sticky, doughy consistency, adding in milk a little at a time to soften the batter (an electric mixer shouldn't have to struggle going through it at a medium speed).
4. Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray, and preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
5. Form balls of dough, roughly the size of a globed teaspoon, and space them on the sheet approximately 1.5 inches apart from each other. Flatten each ball slightly with your thumb. Take a pinch of salt, to your taste, and gingerly sprinkle it over the cookies, so that each cookie has a few visible granules on its surface.
6. Bake for 16 minutes, remove, cool, munch.

Reviews

[jewelsf]

I don't think these are bad cookies, but they did not live up to my imagined expectations, and I definately did not feel that the end result was worth the combined effort, between making the cajeta and then making the cookies. The end result resembles like a sugar cookie with a little salt sprinkled on top. Perhaps this is partly due to the fact that my cajeta is not spiced as heavily as the author's - I use vanilla and cinnamon instead of star anise and allspice. On the positive side I do feel that the texture and bite of the cookie is perfect and the author is spot on with 16 minutes of cooking. Not a bad cookie, but I can't see myself making these again.