Well this is my first assignment as a member of The Secret Recipe Club! I think this is such a great way to learn about blogs that are new, at least to me, and to hopefully get some new ideas and make some new friends along the way. This recipe comes from Meagan at A Zesty Bite. She has a very eclectic recipe collection, from appetizers to entrees and everything in between. Naturally, I chose something sweet! Meagan featured a Stuffed Sugar Cookie recipe that she had stuffed with rolo candies. I had some Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate and Caramel Squares that I wanted to incorporate into this recipe somehow. So I made just a few changes. I chilled the dough for about 15 minutes after making it to be able to roll it out to a square. And because I was starting with a thinner cookie shape, I reduced my oven to 350°F and baked them about 5 minutes longer. And to give a hint as to the luscious treat inside, I topped them with chocolate sprinkles before baking and then grated some chilled caramel candies onto them right when they came out of the oven! Thanks to Meagan at A Zesty Bite for the inspiration and recipe to a really yummy sugar cookie!
The recipe largely stays the same….I just tweaked the technique a bit to suit them to my chocolate squares.
2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla (I usually always double the vanilla in my baking)
3 TBSP buttermilk
12 Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Caramel Squares
Preheat your oven to 350°F. In a small bowl combine the flour, baking soda and baking powder. In the bowl of your mixer combine the melted butter and sugar and mix until creamy in texture, about 5 minutes. Add the egg and beat until incorporated. Then add the vanilla and beat to combine. Chill this dough until you are ready to use it or for at least 15 minutes. Unwrap your chocolate squares. Lightly sprinkle your workbench with flour and take out a handful of dough, return the rest to the fridge to wait it’s turn! Lightly flour your rolling pin and roll the dough out to about 1/8 of an inch thickness. Using a square cookie cutter that is larger than your chocolate piece, cut out your cookies. Use an offset spatula if you need help in removing the dough. Place one piece on an ungreased cookie sheet, place the chocolate square in the center and cover with another piece of dough. I only put 6 on each sheet because they will spread. Sprinkle with sanding sugar or chocolate sprinkles and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. When they come out of the oven, grate a little chilled caramel candy on top with a pinch of sea salt if you’d like. They will spread, but you can see where the square is in the middle and I just used the same square cookie cutter to reshape them again. I put the sugar cookie trimmings in a baggie and froze them to use as a cookie crust for another recipe or you can munch on them!
These sound really good and I love the shredded caramel on the top. Great pick for the SRC!
Lynne…thanks so much and these were really good and easy! : )
Yum! These look so good. You made a great selection.
Thanks Danielle! Lots of good things to choose from, but I’m glad I tried these! : )
Love the photo! These look so good.
Thank you so much Devon! These were pretty tasty! : )
What a great blog you got for SRC. You picked a wonderful recipe. Thanks for sharing.
It was a really nice blog and I got lucky! Thanks Veronica! : )
We bet those are fantastic! Chocolate, caramel and cookie! Love love love!
Hi guys and thanks so much! A great combination! : )
These look amazing! I’ve never tried to bake something like that into. cookies before but I’ll have to try it! Thanks!
Thanks Ruth! I would never have thought to ‘stuff’ a cookie either…but it worked! : )
Must say, I’ve never thought of stuffing a sugar cookie- how cute and creative! You really can’t go wrong by adding chocolate & caramel
Heather….I never thought of stuffing a sugar cookie before either! What an adventure! : )
What a lovely photo Anne (the tea cup is perfect!) – at first blush, I thought it was poppy seeds and parmesan on crackers – hee-hee! Little did I know what delightful confections lay inside and out! These turned out so well – the square shape is novel and sophisticated and I love the scalloped edge.
Thanks Kelly! Though I’m usually more of a simple shortbread kinda girl….these were different and fun to make. (That’s one of my favorite over sized mugs. And funny you should mention about the crackers….that’s one of the next things I want to tackle!) : )
These cookies are beautiful. I love the edges. Heading to check out this recipe!
Thanks Cassie….I hope you will try these! : )
Love Zesty Bite. Great choice for SRC!
Thanks! : )
I’ve never thought about stuffing a sugar cookie! What a glorious idea and a great pick for SRC, Anne!
Steph…..I never thought about stuffing a cookie before, either….but it worked! : )
Oh wow, you got assigned a great blog. Love that site. You really did an outstanding job on these. Welcome to the SRC, I just joined in the fun this month too. I love the picture. The teacup is so cute.
Kim…such a fun club, isn’t it? A great way to get exposed to new blogs, meet new people and find many GREAT new ideas! The ladies behind the scenes work so hard….but for us….it’s great fun. Thanks Angela and Amanda….this has been such a good experience! : )
YAY! Congratulations on being a member of SRC! I just love it! The cookies look amazing – but what haven’t you made that wasn’t incredible! Have a great day, Anne!
Yay Ann! Glad to finally be a member and it’s exciting scouring through your assigned blog looking for ideas! Can’t wait till next month! : )
So gorgeous and such a lovely outcome and that little deco on top is so tempting.
Thanks Nava….I love the little deco on the top and relieved that these came out ok! : )
The cookies look beautiful and sooo tempting…also, loved the tweaking you did with the original recipe.
Ohhhh thanks so much! Well I already had the chocolate squares….so I became determined to use them! LOL….and I think it worked out okay! : )
This is a very creative recipe. While we are all putting round things in our cookies, you have put something flat in there which makes for a much better looking cookie. Great for gifting and definitely hard to resist. Well done-yum!
Thanks Tina….it’s just that I got these Ghirardelli Squares on a 2 for 1 at my local market and so I was determined to make them fit! LOL. I thought they looked like ravioli’s….thus the grating of caramel. (Always thinking of food….yikes!) : )
Wow, chilled grated caramel?!?!! That’s amazing Ann. I hope you’ve patted yourself on the back many times for this, outstanding job!
Thanks Sandra…..but honestly…..was just trying to clean out the pantry! But it all came together. But I’ll take that pat anyway and give one in return…..you give me lots of inspiration you know! : )
What a fantastic adaptation of a SRC recipe. I think the idea of giving a hint as to what’s inside the cookie is stellar. Anything with caramel gets my vote so I’m double thumbs up on this cookie.
Thanks Christiane! It’s a cool club, isn’t it? Those ladies behind the scenes work too hard to pull this off. I hope it’s fun for them too. My first time….so hopefully next time will go more smoothly for me. But I had fun picking out and making this recipe! : )
Awesome secret recipe club cookie! I can’t wait til I have enough recipes to participate
So much fun!
Thanks Carsley! I can’t wait for you to have enough either. If you want…I’ll come over for a NICE LONG WEEKEND and help you knock a few things out…..all tropical, of course! Honestly…..looking forward to your participation! You always come up with interesting twists! : )
This looks like so much fun to make! My little sisters would love these for Christmas, I might give them a try, depends on if my mom will let us get a little messy. That was a very creative idea to stuff them with Ghiradelli squares, I love those things lol. Thanks for sharing, great job! =]
Thanks Kym. I hope you get a chance to make them with your sisters. If you try them, just a note. The dough spreads, so keep the square size as small as possible to fit the chocolate before you begin, and you may need to give another cut with your cookie cutter when they come out…just to finish off the edges and keep them the same size. And I love those Ghirardelli Squares, too….my favorite is the peppermint bark at Christmastime! : )
These look so good Anne! I love adding new cookies to my Christmas cookie tray and I think this will be one of them this year.
Thanks Janet! I hope you will post about them….I can only IMAGINE what you will stuff them with! ;- O
Those stuffed cookies look incredible! I have never tried making any cookies like this…love the idea.
Thanks Angie….first time stuffing a cookie for me. Now I’ve got to figure out what I’m making for the cookie swap! : )
Sugar cookies stuffed with Ghirardelli! Oh, my, WORD! Anne, you should send this to their website!!!!
Thanks Tiffany! If there is a Ghirardelli Cookbook out there….this HAS to be in it already! Good stuff…..ok….pun intended! : )
Wow! Bet they tasted fabulous! I love the idea of stuffed cookies.
Thanks! I’m more of a plain cookie lover, but these were pretty good! : )
Oh, yes!!! What a fabulous idea! I really need to stuff some sugar cookies…and anything with chocolate and caramel would be perfect! Great SRC pick….mmmmm.
Thanks Liz…chocolate and caramel are right up there with chocolate and peanut butter with me! Everyone should visit Liz for a great recipe for home made peanut butter cups! They looked scrumptious! : )
That’s a lovely-looking cookie! I could definitely use this on a holiday cookie plate.
Thanks so much! This would be very pretty for a holiday cookie plate. Or maybe a chocolate sugar cookie stuffed with a Ghirardelli Peppermint bark and decorated with some red and green edible glitter! : )
These cookies sound fabulous… I have some of those chocolate squares in the house right now. HMM…. can I squeeze these in before Thanksgiving. I finally have internet again after the move and I am glad I got to see these cookies.
Thanks Susie! I think you should definitely make these. But don’t stress yourself out! Between the move and Thanksgiving….make these for yourself when you are able to finally take a break and relax. So glad your internet is on again and that you are back! Coming to visit….. : )
Congrats Anne on your first Secret Recipe Club recipe. As always you do a fabulous job on what ever you create. I agree I love the Zesty Bite.
I also have an award for you at my blog. Hope you come check it out. 
If I don’t talk to you tomorrow… have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! I am very thankful to find a friend like you in the food world. 
Oh Ramona! You have just made my day! As a matter of fact….I am going to email you later tonight! Thank you so much for ALWAYS supporting me…..and for your unfailing friendship. I am so thankful to have met you and you know I am one of your greatest fans and always will be! Coming over to visit you now! ~hugs~
I’m so happy I found your blog! These look amazing – what’s better than home made sugar cookies? Well, you have answered that question: Chocolate Caramel STUFFED Sugar Cookies!
Thanks Donna! And I feel the same way about your blog….you and Anne have truly an amazing site and I look forward to learning a lot from the both of you. You outdid me on the popovers! They were just beautiful….and I linked from my original post to yours so everyone could see how outstanding they were! Looking forward to sharing more! : )
Oh, I love the secret recipe club! I have to join soon..so many recipes so little time. These are beautiful! I love sugar cookies and stuffing them is by far an excellent idea, to say the absolute least. Beautiful cookies.
Thanks Kate! And please join! It’s so much fun….like going into someone else’ closet and trying something on! You would really enjoy it! : )
Stuffed sugar cookies sound crazy good.
Hi Marla! While I usually prefer a simple shortbread and a cup of tea…..these turned out better than expected! Thanks for taking a moment to comment. You have a wonderful site! : )
Thanks so much for your kind words about the New England Clam Chowder I made for SRC…and for sharing such a fantastic cookie. Love your blog and cant wait to see what goodies you come with for the holidays!
Thanks Wendy! Everyone should take a look at Wendy’s site for ….as we say in New England…..a wicked good chowdah! ;- }
How delicious sounding these are!I don’t think they would last long around my house
Thanks! And it’s great that I have co-workers who are willing taste testers!
;- )
What a great idea!! I’m sure these were fabulous!
Thanks Kristy! They were definitely different from any other sugar cookie I’ve ever made! : )
I can’t wait to make these. They sound delicious and look so pretty!
Thanks Teri! If you try them….come back and tell me what you put inside them! : )
This looks like a great cookie! Your recipes here are fantastic! I am looking for an easy cookie (without any nuts) for my cookie exchange. I’m not so great at rolling out dough evenly or I would definitely try this one. Do you have a drop cookie you can recommend? I’m not a huge baker so I need easy! lol
Hi Michele! Are you doing the online cookie exchange, too? Yay!! I don’t think I’ve posted a drop cookie yet, but have tons of recipes. Let me look at some tomorrow and I’ll email you some choices. Ok? All my favorite cookies are either too gooey or too fragile to ship! Please everyone visit Michele for some fabulous recipes and a really great website that will INSTANTLY put a smile on your face when you are there. C’mon….you have to go now…aren’t you curious??? http://www.myitaliangrandmother.com/
Oh yum!
Oh yes! ;- )
So talented! The cookies look lovely, so hip to be square. I am new to SRC this month as well and it was great fun. Always interesting to check out what other people are doing. I really love the way you put your own spin on the recipe.
Thanks Aimee! Love how the SRC brings new bloggers together! So hip to be square….so cute! : )
Anne, these are so pretty and girlie! Perfect for an afternoon tea. Love the whole SRC idea.
Thanks Hester….I like being girlie sometimes! And the SRC is a great club!
: )
Welcome to the SRC! You made a great recipe choice, and I love your inventive take on it. These look yummy!
Thank you Monica!!! : )
Just noticed the date on this post. I guess my “welcome” above is a little late. But, welcome anyway!
Monica….thanks so much! It’s never too late to be made to feel so welcome! : )