Salted Cajeta Cookies

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: 36 mins
• 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.